Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Initial validity evidence for the behavioral regulation in exercise questionnaire-2 among Greek exercise participants.

The present study investigated the factor structure, scale dimensionality, discriminant validity, internal consistency, simplex structure, and nomological validity of the Greek translation of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2; Markland & Tobin, 2004). A total of 733 Greek exercise participants completed the translated scale to indicate their reasons for participation in structured exercise programs. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the a priori 5-factor structure with strong internal consistency for the instrument subscales. Further support was obtained for the simplex pattern as well as the nomological correlations of the translated BREQ-2 responses with self-determination theory variables. Overall, the results provided initial support for the psychometric value of the Greek translation of the BREQ-2, rendering it appropriate for continued self-determination exercise research among Greek-speaking exercise participants.
A Measure of Perceived Family Stigma: Validity in a Military Sample

The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the newly developed Perceived Family Stigma Scale (PFSS) in a diverse sample of 623 military veterans. The PFSS is a 4-item scale that has acceptable internal consistency (&agr; = .86) and strong interitem correlations (r = .51 to .76). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated the single factor model was a good fit statistically (&khgr;2[df = 2, N = 620] = .34, p = .84) and descriptively (CFI = 1.00, RMSEA < .001). Multigroup CFA was performed to test the measurement invariance of the PFSS across demographic indicators. The PFSS achieved full scalar invariance across deployment history, education level, urban/rural location, marital status, and military rank, and partial scalar invariance across gender, ethnicity/race, and income level. Results of a logistic regression analysis indicated significant relationships of mean PFSS scores and gender with likelihood of needing help for an emotional problem, above and beyond a measure of self- and public stigma. Specifically, each point increase in mean PFSS scores predicted an almost 4 times higher probability of reporting a need for help, and men were also 6 times more likely than women to report a need for help. However, there was a significant relationship between the PFSS and gender such that, for women, each 1 point increase in mean PFSS scores predicted a likelihood of reporting a need/desire for help for an emotional problem 3 times that of men.
Modulation of &bgr;-glucocerebrosidase increases &agr;-synuclein secretion and exosome release in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease

Glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) mutations are the most common genetic contributor to Parkinson's disease (PD) and are associated with decreased glucocerebrosidase (GCase) enzymatic activity in PD. PD patients without GBA mutations also exhibit lower levels of GCase activity in the central nervous system suggesting a potential contribution of the enzyme activity in disease pathogenesis, possibly by alteration of lysosomal function. α-synuclein (ASYN), a protein with a central role in PD pathogenesis, has been shown to be secreted partly in association with exosomes. It is possible that a dysfunction of the endocytic pathway through GCase may result in altered exosome release of ASYN. The aim of this study was to examine whether manipulating GCase activity in vivo and in vitro could affect ASYN accumulation and secretion. GCase overexpression in vitro resulted in a significant decrease of exosome secretion. Chronic inhibition of GCase activity in vivo, by administration of the covalent inhibitor conduritol-B epoxide in A53T-synuclein alpha gene Tg mice significantly elevated intracellular oligomeric ASYN species. Importantly, GCase inhibition, induced a profound increase in the number of brain exosomes released, as well as exosome-associated ASYN oligomers. Finally, virus-mediated expression of mutant GBA in the mouse striatum increased ASYN secretion in the same region. Together, these results provide for the first time evidence that a decrease of GCase or overexpression of mutant GCase in a chronic in vivo setting can affect ASYN secretion. Such effects may mediate enhanced propagation of ASYN, driving pathology in GBA-associated PD.
Accuracy of octa‐polar bioelectrical impedance analysis for the assessment of total and appendicular body composition in children and adolescents with HIV: comparison with dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry and air displacement plethysmography

BACKGROUND Body composition analysis has been used to investigate fat mass (FM) and bone mineral content (BMC) in children and adolescents diagnosed with HIV. Investigating the validity of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is interesting with respect to testing useful techniques for monitoring body composition in children and adolescents in clinical practice. The present study aimed to determine the validity of body composition analysis by BIA compared to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and air displacement plethysmography (ADP) in children and adolescents an HIV diagnosis. METHODS Sixty-four children and adolescents (35 females and 29 males) with a mean (SD) age of 12.22 (2.13) years and with an HIV diagnosis participated in the study. Fat-free mass (FFM), FM and body fat percentage (%BF) were obtained by BIA for comparison with DXA and ADP. Segmented FM (trunk, legs and arms), lean soft tissue mass (LSTM) (total and segmented) and BMC were obtained by BIA for comparison with DXA. RESULTS BIA presented a clinically acceptable correlation with DXA and ADP for FFM. Values found by BIA were underestimated compared to ADP, and overestimated compared to DXA. BIA presented a clinically acceptable correlation with DXA for LSTM estimates (total and segmented parameters) in both sexes (underestimating FM and overestimating LSTM). For other components (%BF, FM and BMC), BIA had a clinically unacceptable correlation with the reference methods in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS BIA was suitable for evaluating FFM and LSTM in children and adolescents with an HIV diagnosis. For FM, %BF and BMC, BIA was not suitable for performing an evaluation in both sexes.
Ultrasound Combined with Microbubbles Enhances the Effects of Methylprednisolone in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Human Mesangial Cells

A novel drug delivery system mediated by ultrasound (US) combined with microbubbles (MBs) (US+MB) could improve local drug concentration to enhance its efficacy. To investigate the influence of US+MB on methylprednisolone (MP), the effect of US+MB combined with MP (US+MB+MP) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced human mesangial cells (HMCs) and the underlying mechanism were explored in this study. The results revealed that HMCs treated with LPS underwent significant proliferation and exhibited an increase in nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) expression and a decrease in cellular apoptosis. This effect was significantly inhibited by MP (30–100 μg/ml), US combined with MBs (3.22 × 107 and 8.05 × 107 bubbles/ml), and US combined with both MBs (1.29 × 107 bubbles/ml) and MP (12 μg/ml) (US+MB1+MP12). The effect of US+MB1+MP12 was better than the effect of 12 μg/ml of MP alone and was similar to the effect of 100 μg/ml of MP. Additionally, the intracellular free MP content was significantly higher in the US+MB1+MP12 group than in the MP12 group. US combined with MBs not only inhibited LPS-induced HMC proliferation and NF-κB and TGF-β1 expression and increased cellular apoptosis but also synergized with the pharmacologic effect of MP. The mechanism is partially due to the US-assisted MB local drug delivery and the anti-inflammatory effect induced by US combined with MBs.
Sleep deprivation increases formation of false memory

DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12436 SUMMARY Retrieving false information can have serious consequences. Sleep is important for memory, but voluntary sleep curtailment is becoming more rampant. Here, the misinformation paradigm was used to investigate false memory formation after 1 night of total sleep deprivation in healthy young adults (N = 58, mean age SD = 22.10 1.60 years; 29 males), and 7 nights of partial sleep deprivation (5 h sleep opportunity) in these young adults and healthy adolescents (N = 54, mean age SD = 16.67 1.03 years; 25 males). In both age groups, sleep-deprived individuals were more likely than well-rested persons to incorporate misleading post-event information into their responses during memory retrieval (P < 0.050). These findings reiterate the importance of adequate sleep in optimal cognitive functioning, reveal the vulnerability of adolescents’ memory during sleep curtailment, and suggest the need to assess eyewitnesses’ sleep history after encountering misleading information.
MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY- DENSITY RELATIONSHIP IN FIBROUS THERMAL INSULATIONS FOR PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Relationship between thermal conductivity (λt) and density (ρ) of mineral wool insulations has a wide band of measured data, follows some form of median curve which is called reference curve. Departures from this curve are mainly due to the fact that manufacturing conditions change. But the deviation from the curve should be in a limited range because it will affect the quality conformity. With finding t λ = f(ρ) as a reference curve and using routine test results it is possible to note the changes in quality of the products. On the other hand λt may be evaluated indirectly using ρ measurements and the established reference curve for a specific production line. For finding the suitable model for λt = f(ρ), a large amount of data was studied in this article. Different semi-empirical models were presented and statistically compared with the experimental results to evaluate the best one.
Saturation of Alfvén modes in tokamak plasmas investigated by Hamiltonian mapping techniques

Nonlinear dynamics of single toroidal number Alfvén eigenmodes destabilised by the the resonant interaction with fast ions is investigated, in tokamak equilibria, by means of Hamiltonian mapping techniques. The results obtained by two different simulation codes, XHMGC and HAGIS, are presented for n = 2 Beta induced Alfvén eigenmodes and, respectively n = 6 toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes. Simulations of the bump-on-tail instability performed by a 1-dimensional code, PIC1DP, are also analysed for comparison. As a general feature, modes saturate as the resonant-particle distribution function is flattened over the whole region where mode-particle power transfer can take place in the linear phase. Such region is limited by the narrowest of resonance width and mode width. In the former case, mode amplitude at saturation exhibits a quadratic scaling with the linear growth rate; in the latter case, the scaling is linear. These results are explained in terms of the approximate analytic solution of a nonlinear pendulum model. They are also used to prove that the radial width of the single poloidal harmonic sets an upper limit to the radial displacement of circulating fast ions produced by a single-toroidal-number gap mode in the large n limit, irrespectively of the possible existence of a large global mode structure formed by many harmonics.
HK2 Proximal Tubule Epithelial Cells Synthesize and Secrete Plasma Proteins Predominantly Through the Apical Surface

Renal proximal tubule epithelial cells (PTECs) are known to reabsorb salts and small plasma proteins filtered through Bowman's capsule. Following acute kidney injury, PTECs assume some characteristics of hepatocytes in producing various plasma proteins. We now demonstrate that even at a resting state, a PTEC cell line, HK2 expresses mRNAs for and synthesizes and secretes plasma proteins in a complex with complement C3, an α2‐macroglobulin family chaperone, including albumin, transferrin, α1‐antitrypsin, α1‐antichymotrypsin, α2‐HS‐glycoprotein, ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin, C1‐inhibitor, secreted phosphoprotein‐24, and insulin‐like growth factor‐1. When grown on transwell inserts, HK2 cells predominantly secrete (∼90%) plasma proteins into the apical side and a smaller fraction into the basolateral side as determined by ELISA assays. When cultured in the presence of exogenous cytokines such as IL1β, IL6, TNFα, BMP2, or TGFβ1, HK2 cell mRNA expressions for plasma proteins were variably affected whereas basolateral secretions were elevated to or in excess of those of the apical level. In addition, HK2 cells produce proTGFβ1 with its intact N‐terminal latency associated peptide and latent‐TGF‐β‐binding proteins. The complex cannot be dissociated under conditions of SDS, heating, and electrophoresis. Moreover, HK2 cells maintain their ability to quickly uptake exogenously added serum proteins from the culture medium, as if they are recognized differently by the endocytic receptors. These results provide new insight into the hepatization of PTECs. In addition to their unique uptake of plasma proteins and salts from the filtrate, they are a source of urinary proteins under normal conditions as wells as in chronic and acute kidney diseases. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 924–933, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Novel Kernel SVM Algorithm with Game Theory for Network Intrusion Detection

Network Intrusion Detection (NID), an important topic in the field of information security, can be viewed as a pattern recognition problem. The existing pattern recognition methods can achieve a good performance when the number of training samples is large enough. However, modern network attacks are diverse and constantly updated, and the training samples have much smaller size. Furthermore, to improve the learning ability of SVM, the research of kernel functions mainly focus on the selection, construction and improvement of kernel functions. Nonetheless, in practice, there are no theories to solve the problem of the construction of kernel functions perfectly. In this paper, we effectively integrate the advantages of the radial basis function kernel and the polynomial kernel on the notion of the game theory and propose a novel kernel SVM algorithm with game theory for NID, called GTNID-SVM. The basic idea is to exploit the game theory in NID to get a SVM classifier with better learning ability and generalization performance. To the best of our knowledge, GTNID-SVM is the first algorithm that studies ensemble kernel function with game theory in NID. We conduct empirical studies on the DARPA dataset, and the results demonstrate that the proposed approach is feasible and more effective.
The hallmarks of cell-cell fusion

Cell-cell fusion is essential for fertilization and organ development. Dedicated proteins known as fusogens are responsible for mediating membrane fusion. However, until recently, these proteins either remained unidentified or were poorly understood at the mechanistic level. Here, we review how fusogens surmount multiple energy barriers to mediate cell-cell fusion. We describe how early preparatory steps bring membranes to a distance of ∼10 nm, while fusogens act in the final approach between membranes. The mechanical force exerted by cell fusogens and the accompanying lipidic rearrangements constitute the hallmarks of cell-cell fusion. Finally, we discuss the relationship between viral and eukaryotic fusogens, highlight a classification scheme regrouping a superfamily of fusogens called Fusexins, and propose new questions and avenues of enquiry. Summary: This Review describes the actions of cell fusogens during the three stages of developmental cell-cell fusion: the dehydration of plasma membranes, hemifusion, and fusion pore opening and expansion.
The genome of the ammonia-oxidizing Candidatus Nitrososphaera gargensis: insights into metabolic versatility and environmental adaptations.

The cohort of the ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) of the phylum Thaumarchaeota is a diverse, widespread and functionally important group of microorganisms in many ecosystems. However, our understanding of their biology is still very rudimentary in part because all available genome sequences of this phylum are from members of the Nitrosopumilus cluster. Here we report on the complete genome sequence of Candidatus Nitrososphaera gargensis obtained from an enrichment culture, representing a different evolutionary lineage of AOA frequently found in high numbers in many terrestrial environments. With its 2.83 Mb the genome is much larger than that of other AOA. The presence of a high number of (active) IS elements/transposases, genomic islands, gene duplications and a complete CRISPR/Cas defence system testifies to its dynamic evolution consistent with low degree of synteny with other thaumarchaeal genomes. As expected, the repertoire of conserved enzymes proposed to be required for archaeal ammonia oxidation is encoded by N. gargensis, but it can also use urea and possibly cyanate as alternative ammonia sources. Furthermore, its carbon metabolism is more flexible at the central pyruvate switch point, encompasses the ability to take up small organic compounds and might even include an oxidative pentose phosphate pathway. Furthermore, we show that thaumarchaeota produce cofactor F420 as well as polyhydroxyalkanoates. Lateral gene transfer from bacteria and euryarchaeota has contributed to the metabolic versatility of N. gargensis. This organisms is well adapted to its niche in a heavy metal-containing thermal spring by encoding a multitude of heavy metal resistance genes, chaperones and mannosylglycerate as compatible solute and has the genetic ability to respond to environmental changes by signal transduction via a large number of two-component systems, by chemotaxis and flagella-mediated motility and possibly even by gas vacuole formation. These findings extend our understanding of thaumarchaeal evolution and physiology and offer many testable hypotheses for future experimental research on these nitrifiers.
Stochastic Evolutionary Demography under a Fluctuating Optimum Phenotype

Many natural populations exhibit temporal fluctuations in abundance that are consistent with external forcing by a randomly changing environment. As fitness emerges from an interaction between the phenotype and the environment, such demographic fluctuations probably include a substantial contribution from fluctuating phenotypic selection. We study the stochastic population dynamics of a population exposed to random (plus possibly directional) changes in the optimum phenotype for a quantitative trait that evolves in response to this moving optimum. We derive simple analytical predictions for the distribution of log population size over time both transiently and at stationarity under Gompertz density regulation. These predictions are well matched by population- and individual-based simulations. The log population size is approximately reverse gamma distributed, with a negative skew causing an excess of low relative to high population sizes, thus increasing extinction risk relative to a symmetric (e.g., normal) distribution with the same mean and variance. Our analysis reveals how the mean and variance of log population size change with the variance and autocorrelation of deviations of the evolving mean phenotype from the optimum. We apply our results to the analysis of evolutionary rescue in a stochastic environment and show that random fluctuations in the optimum can substantially increase extinction risk by both reducing the expected growth rate and increasing the variance of population size by several orders of magnitude.
Gastroprotective Effect of Thymoquinone on Water Immersion Restraint Stress Induced Ulceration in Rats

Abstract Objective To evaluated the role of thymoquinone (TQ) on stress induced ulceration progress in rats subjected to water immersion restraint as a stress (WRS) condition model. Materials and Methods Wistar albino rats were divided into different groups; the animals were subjected to WRS. TQ (10 mg/kg) alone and TQ with ranitidine (20 mg/kg) were administered per orally as pre treatment for 7 days. On 8th day the animals were sacrificed, gastric juice, pH, acid secretion, acid output, ulcer index and markers of oxidative stress and histopathology were determined. Results Volume of gastric juice, acid secretion was increased, while pH decreased in WRS animals. TQ pre-treated group showed reduction in the above parameters. The combination group showed more significant results than TQ and ranitidine alone on the above parameters. TQ decreased the ulcer index (UI), again combination group showed more significant decreased in UI. Oxidative stress markers were reduced and antioxidant enzymes were augmented. Gastric mucosa was protected as demonstrated by histological slides. Conclusion The present study is one of its kinds to demonstrate anti ulcer effect of TQ against the water immersion restraint method of stress ulceration. Thus, TQ has the potential to be the promising drug for stress induced gastric ulcers.
Submodular Trajectories for Better Motion Segmentation in Videos

We propose a new trajectory clustering method using submodular optimization for better motion segmentation in videos. A small number of representative trajectories are first selected by submodular maximization automatically. Then all the initial trajectories can be segmented into fragments with the representative trajectories as centers of fragments. At last, fragments are merged into clusters by a two-stage bottom-up clustering method, and each cluster shows the motion of one moving object. The submodular energy function integrates the quality of all trajectories and their correlations. As a result, thousands of initial trajectories are replaced by only dozens of representative trajectories, which will reduce the negative influence of inaccurate initial trajectories on motion segmentation. The representative trajectories will have larger weights while extracting color or texture information of each moving entity at the step of motion segmentation. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can divide trajectories into more accurate clusters. The final motion segmentation results also illustrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art motion segmentation methods based on trajectory clustering.11Our source code is available at https://github.com/shenjianbing/submodularmotion.
Evolution of Synonymous Codon Usage Bias in West African and Central African Strains of Monkeypox Virus

The evolution of bias in synonymous codon usage in chosen monkeypox viral genomes and the factors influencing its diversification have not been reported so far. In this study, various trends associated with synonymous codon usage in chosen monkeypox viral genomes were investigated, and the results are reported. Identification of factors that influence codon usage in chosen monkeypox viral genomes was done using various codon usage indices, such as the relative synonymous codon usage, the effective number of codons, and the codon adaptation index. The Spearman rank correlation analysis and a correspondence analysis were used for correlating various factors with codon usage. The results revealed that mutational pressure due to compositional constraints, gene expression level, and selection at the codon level for utilization of putative optimal codons are major factors influencing synonymous codon usage bias in monkeypox viral genomes. A cluster analysis of relative synonymous codon usage values revealed a grouping of more virulent strains as one major cluster (Central African strains) and a grouping of less virulent strains (West African strains) as another major cluster, indicating a relationship between virulence and synonymous codon usage bias. This study concluded that a balance between the mutational pressure acting at the base composition level and the selection pressure acting at the amino acid level frames synonymous codon usage bias in the chosen monkeypox viruses. The natural selection from the host does not seem to have influenced the synonymous codon usage bias in the analyzed monkeypox viral genomes.