Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incidence and Risk Factors for Weight Loss During Dual HIV/Hepatitis C Virus Therapy

Background:Clinical observations suggest that patients with HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) may lose body weight during dual therapy, but this has not been confirmed analytically. Objectives:To determine if the incidence and degree of weight loss among patients with HIV/HCV receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and pegylated (PEG)-interferon plus ribavirin were greater than in (1) HCV-monoinfected patients receiving PEG-interferon plus ribavirin and (2) HIV-monoinfected patients receiving HAART. Risk factors for weight loss among patients with HIV/HCV were also examined. Methods:A retrospective cohort study was performed among HIV/HCV-coinfected, HCV-monoinfected, and HIV-monoinfected patients. Body weights were assessed up to 6 months before and up to 12 months after initiation of HCV therapy (HIV/HCV-coinfected and HCV-monoinfected subjects) and over 18 months on HAART (HIV-monoinfected subjects). The primary outcome was clinically significant weight loss (≥5% of baseline weight). Results:Of 192 subjects, 63 had HIV/HCV, 64 had HCV alone, and 65 had HIV alone. Clinically significant weight loss occurred in 48 (76%) subjects with HIV/HCV versus 25 (39%) subjects with HCV (P < 0.001) and 2 (3%) subjects with HIV (P < 0.001), yielding adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of 2.76 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.67 to 4.55) and 38.5 (95% CI: 8.5 to 174.7), respectively. Receipt of more than 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors increased the risk of clinically significant weight loss (adjusted HR = 8.17, 95% CI: 2.37 to 28.20). Conclusions:The incidence of weight loss is greater in dually treated patients with HIV/HCV than in treated HCV- or HIV-monoinfected patients. Prospective studies should evaluate additional risk factors for weight loss and changes in body composition to elucidate the mechanism for this weight loss.
Qualitative Life-Grids: A Proposed Method for Comparative European Educational Research

Drawing upon their large three-year mixed-method study comparing four English university sociology departments, the authors demonstrate the benefits to be gained from concisely recording biographical stories on life-grids. They argue that life-grids have key benefits which are important for comparative European educational research. Some of these advantages are common to all biographical methods; for example, they facilitate: nuanced understandings of the impact of education policies in different national contexts; more complex depictions of cross-national and withincountry variation and similarity; theoretical and conceptual developments based upon commonality and difference across national boundaries; and insight into the relationship between the macro, meso and micro levels for case-based approaches. Life-grids also have the advantage of being less resourceintensive than recorded and transcribed biographical interviews. They are an easier method for researchers to use and comparative checks for quality are simple and can be ongoing. The data generated is more conducive to comparison and designing the life-grid ensures that cross-cultural understanding and dialogue between researchers is inbuilt. The physical act of co-producing life-grids with participants builds relationships and knowledge of participants' lives in ways that can be useful to other aspects of data collection.
Validation of the Stalking Assessment and Management Checklist (SAM) in Law Enforcement: A Prospective Study of 153 Cases of Stalking in Two Swedish Police Counties

The overall aim of this study was to test the validity and the practical usefulness of the Stalking Assessment and Management checklist (SAM) within the police. Police officers in two police counties in Sweden were trained in using the Stalking Assessment and Management checklist (Kropp, Hart, & Lyon, 2007) in real-life cases of reported stalking during the period May 2005 to December 2006 (N = 230). Results showed that the SAM was easy to code for the police, since there were very few cases of missing information coded by the police. Most importantly, the validity of the SAM was found to be very strong in terms of a strong correlation between factors included in the SAM and the degree of risk assessed by the police officers. The more SAM risk factors coded by the police officers concerning the alleged perpetrators, the higher the risk assessed for repeated stalking and violence. The same results were found concerning victim vulnerability factors. Those victims that were assessed to be at higher risk than others generally had more of the SAM victim vulnerability factors. We conclude that the SAM seems to be a valid and useful tool for use by law enforcement professionals in cases of alleged stalking.
NLRP3 signaling drives macrophage-induced adaptive immune suppression in pancreatic carcinoma

The tumor microenvironment (TME) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is characterized by immune tolerance, which enables disease to progress unabated by adaptive immunity. However, the drivers of this tolerogenic program are incompletely defined. In this study, we found that NLRP3 promotes expansion of immune-suppressive macrophages in PDA. NLRP3 signaling in macrophages drives the differentiation of CD4+ T cells into tumor-promoting T helper type 2 cell (Th2 cell), Th17 cell, and regulatory T cell populations while suppressing Th1 cell polarization and cytotoxic CD8+ T cell activation. The suppressive effects of NLRP3 signaling were IL-10 dependent. Pharmacological inhibition or deletion of NLRP3, ASC (apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD complex), or caspase-1 protected against PDA and was associated with immunogenic reprogramming of innate and adaptive immunity within the TME. Similarly, transfer of PDA-entrained macrophages or T cells from NLRP3−/− hosts was protective. These data suggest that targeting NLRP3 holds the promise for the immunotherapy of PDA.
Gaze behavior in autism

Abstract Gaze behavior was assessed in 20 autistic individuels and in an age- and mental-age-matched mentally retarded control group. A time-sample technique was used to collect frequency of gaze directed at staff, at task, and elsewhere (at other) in familiar educational settings as subjects interacted with familiar staff and engaged in familiar educational activities. Gaze behaviors were sampled in each of three interactional conditions defined by staff-subject ratio. Significant effects of the intensity of the interactional condition were observed for both groups. Overall autistic subjects were more likely to look elsewhere than the matched control cases and looked less at staff during one-to-one interaction. Relationships to age, developmental level, and other measures are discussed.
A Prospective Study of W-Acetyltransferase Genotype , Red Meat Intake , and Risk of Colorectal Cancer 1

Carcinogenic heterocyclic amines are activated by A'-acetyltransferase (NAT) enzymes, encoded by NATI and NAT2, to genotoxic compounds that can form DNA adducts in the colon epithelium. We have examined the relation of polymorphisms in the genes coding for both enzymes to risk of colorectal cancer and the gene-environment interaction with red meat intake among participants in the prospective Physicians' Health Study. Baseline blood samples from 212 men subsequently diagnosed with colo rectal cancer during 13 years of follow-up were genotyped, along with 221 controls. NAT genotypes were analyzed by a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Effect modification of the relation of red meat intake and risk of colorectal cancer by NAT genotype was assessed using conditional logistic regression. There was no overall independent association of NAT acetylation genotypes and colorectal cancer risk. The relative risks for the rapid acetylation genotype were 0.93 [95% confi dence interval (CI), 0.61-1.42] for NATI, 0.80 (95% CI, 0.53-1.19) for NAT2, and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.52-1.27) for NAT1/NAT2 combined. We observed a stronger association of red meat intake with cancer risk among NAT rapid acetylators, especially among men 60 years old or older. Among those men who were rapid acetylators for both NATI and NAT2, consumption of > 1 serving of red meat per day was associated with a relative risk of 5.82 (95% CI, 1.11-30.6) compared with consumption of Â£0.5serving per day (P, trend = 0.02). These prospective data, which need to be confirmed in other studies, suggest that polymorphisms in the VU genes confer differential susceptibility to the effect of red meat consumption on colorectal cancer risk.
MechanismsStress-Dependent and -Independent Expression through Oxidative Hemozoin Induces Macrophage Chemokine

Chemokine production has been associated with the immunopathology related to malaria. Previous ﬁndings indicated that hemozoin (HZ), a parasite metabolite released during schizogeny, might be an important source of these proinﬂammatory mediators. In this study we investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying HZ-inducible macrophage (M (cid:1) ) chemokine mRNA expression. We found that both Plasmodium falciparum HZ and synthetic HZ increase mRNA levels of various chemokine transcripts (MIP-1 (cid:2) /CCL3, MIP-1 (cid:3) /CCL4, MIP-2/CXCL2, and MCP-1/CCL2) in murine B10R M (cid:1) . The cellular response to HZ involved ERK1/2 phosphorylation, NF- (cid:4) B activation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and ROS-dependent protein-tyrosine phosphatase down-regulation. Selective inhibition of either I (cid:4) B (cid:2) or the ERK1/2 pathway abolished both NF- (cid:4) B activation and chemokine up-regulation. Similarly, blockage of HZ-inducible M (cid:1) ROS with superoxide dismutase suppressed chemokine induction, strongly reduced NF- (cid:4) B activation, and restored HZ-mediated M (cid:1) protein-tyrosine phosphatase inactivation. In con-trast, superoxide dismutase had no effect on EKR1/2 phosphorylation by HZ. Collectively, these data indicate that HZ triggers ROS-dependent and -independent signals, leading to increased chemokine mRNA expression in M (cid:1) . Overall, our ﬁndings may help to better understand the molecular mechanisms through which parasite components, such as HZ, modulate the immune the two agonists exert different biological effects on (cid:2)
AM-FM signal Analysis by Teager Huang Transform: application to underwater acoustics. (Analyse des signaux AM-FM par Transformation d'Huang Teager: application à l'acoustique sous marine)

The Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is new data driven signal processing tool dedicated to the analysis of non-stationary signals derived or not from linear systems. In EMD, the core idea is the fitting splines to extrema in the process of extracting the oscillatory components, called Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs), and a residual in the decomposition of the input signal. In this thesis a new EMD is introduced where smoothing interpolation instead of exact interpolation is used to construct the upper and lower envelopes of the signal to be decomposed. The new EMD is more robustness against noise compared to conventional one and reduces the number of unwanted or insignificant IMFs (over-decomposition). Combining the new EMD and the Energy Separation Algorithm (ESA) based on the Teager-Kaiser Energy Operator (TKEO), a new approach for demodulating multi-component AM-FM noisy signals called EMD-ESA is presented. Different versions of the EMD-ESA are detailed and their performances analyzed. For Time-Frequency (TF) analysis, a mathematical formulation of the TF map of the EMD-ESA called Teager-Huang Transform (THT) is presented. This TF Representation (TFR) cross-terms free is compared to classical TFRs such as spectrogram, scalogram, Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD), Pseudo-WVD and reassigned Pseudo-WVD. Combining the new formulation of the THT and the Hough transform (HT), a new tracking scheme (detection and estimation) of multi-component linear frequency modulation signals is introduced and compared to WVD-Hough transform. The introduced detection method is called Teager Huang Hough Transform (THHT) for short. Finally, a TF analysis by the THT and classical TFRs (WVD, Pseudo-WVD,\ldots) of real signals backscattered by a cylindrical shell of different dimensions and physical parameters is performed. The obtained results show the interest of the THT as a TF tool.
Psychosocial determinants of attending yoga classes: An application of the theory of planned behavior

The practice of yoga leads to many positive health and wellness outcomes. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used to understand intention to attend at least one yoga class each week for the next three months among those who have begun to attend class. One hundred fifty-seven participants were recruited through yoga studios in Indiana. Analysis predicting intention from global constructs of the theory of planned behavior yielded a multiple correlation of 0.62 with beta weights for attitude (0.13, p < 0.01), subjective norm (0.06, ns), and perceived behavioral control (0.56, p < 0.01). Perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor of intention to attend at least one yoga class each week for the next three months. The control beliefs of having enough time, enough money, good studio location, sufficient parking, and believing that yoga will make them feel better were all strongly related to perceived behavioral control and intention of attending classes. Implications for encouraging a regular yoga practice will be discussed regarding salient circumstances and consequences of attending at least one yoga class each week for the next three months.
Academic Mobility, Language, and Cultural Capital

This article is concerned with the experiences of transnational academics teaching and researching in British higher education institutions (HEI). Although there is a plethora of studies related to the issues of international students and Western academics teaching abroad, very little has been written about the recent global phenomenon in which academics from non-English-speaking backgrounds move to English universities. This underresearched area is explored drawing on an in-depth study considering the cases of seven international academics in five different universities. The study identifies a range of their distinctive experiences which constitutes an exigent “field” in their struggle to adapt to the new cultural setting. The “logistic challenges” may exist but are transitory. Although providing an opportunity for professional development is helpful, “the offer of support” is a sensitive notion and may be perceived as a threat to both their status and identity.
Aceclofenac-loaded chondroitin sulfate conjugated SLNs for effective management of osteoarthritis

Abstract Background: In intra-articular drug delivery, there are number of shortcomings such as lymphatic drainage from the synovial cavity, frequent dosing, adverse side effects and patient discomfort in the management of osteoarthritis (OA). Purpose: This research work reports the development and characterization of aceclofenac-loaded chondroitin sulfate (CS) conjugated (CS-SLN) and unconjugated solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) for the effective management of OA. Methods: The SLNs were prepared using modified solvent injection method and coupled with CS. They were further characterized for size and size distribution, zeta potential, surface morphology, % entrapment efficiency and in vitro drug release profile. Anti-inflammatory activity and in vivo performance was also predicted. Results: The particle size of the SLN and CS-SLN was found to be 143.4 ± 0.9 nm and 154.2 ± 1.1 nm, respectively. SLNs exhibited sustained drug release (SLN, 64.25 ± 0.75%; CS-SLN, 57.82 ± 0.62%) in vitro for more than 24 h. In vivo performance studies revealed the highest uptake of SLNs by the knee joint. Discussion: SLNs enhanced accumulation at the knee joint due to specific interactions with CD44, annexin and leptin receptors attributed to CS coupling. Conclusion: CS-SLN could be potentially effective vector for the treatment or management of OA.
Shortening and Improving the Embryonic Stem Cell Test through the Use of Gene Biomarkers of Differentiation

The embryonic Stem cell Test (EST) is a validated assay for testing embryotoxicity in vitro. The total duration of this protocol is 10 days, and its main end-point is based on histological determinations. It is suggested that improvements on EST must be focused toward molecular end-points and, if possible, to reduce the total assay duration. Five days of exposure of D3 cells in monolayers under spontaneous differentiation to 50 ng/mL of the strong embryotoxic 5-fluorouracil or to 75 μg/mL of the weak embryotoxic 5,5-diphenylhydeantoin caused between 20 and 74% of reductions in the expression of the following genes: Pnpla6, Afp, Hdac7, Vegfa, and Nes. The exposure to 1 mg/mL of nonembryotoxic saccharin only caused statistically significant reductions in the expression of Nes. These exposures reduced cell viability of D3 cells by 15, 28, and 34%. We applied these records to the mathematical discriminating function of the EST method to find that this approach is able to correctly predict the embryotoxicity of all three above-mentioned chemicals. Therefore, this work proposes the possibility of improve EST by reducing its total duration and by introducing gene expression as biomarker of differentiation, which might be very interesting for in vitro risk assessment embryotoxicity.
A diagnostic challenge: Language difficulties and hearing impairment in a secondary-school student from a non-English-speaking background

Children who have sensory, cognitive or oromotor deficits, or come from a bilingual-speaking background are currently excluded from the diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI). Emerging evidence, however, suggests that at least 7% of all children have language learning difficulties, irrespective of other diagnoses or language learning background. The aim of this study was to investigate the language abilities of an adolescent boy with pre-lingual, severe-profound hearing loss who comes from a non-English-speaking background. This student’s performance on standardized tests is described and qualitative language analyses examine his impairment. His abilities are compared with that of a matched control. The language difficulty identified could not be attributed to either hearing impairment or non-English-speaking background. The student’s data suggest the need to expand the concept of SLI to include children with other impairments and from different language backgrounds in order to provide equity of support services and access to the classroom curriculum.
DOA estimation under unknown mutual coupling and multipath

We propose a new method for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation in the presence of multipath propagation and mutual coupling for a frequency hopping (FH) system. With the use of pilot symbols and assuming perfect time-frequency synchronization for a linear array, we take mutual coupling and multipath propagation into account, and derive a maximum likelihood (ML) estimator for both the mutual coupling matrix and DOA estimation. We then formulate an iterative alternating minimization (AM) algorithm for finding the mutual coupling and DOA parameters in an alternate manner. Simulation results illustrating the performance of the algorithm and comparison with the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) are also presented.
Semaphorin3D Regulates Axon–Axon Interactions by Modulating Levels of L1 Cell Adhesion Molecule

The decision of a growing axon to selectively fasciculate with and defasciculate from other axons is critical for axon pathfinding and target innervation. Fasciculation can be regulated by cell adhesion molecules that modulate interaxonal adhesion and repulsive molecules, expressed by surrounding tissues that channel axons together. Here we describe crosstalk between molecules that mediate these mechanisms. We show that Semaphorin3D (Sema3D), a classic repulsive molecule, promotes fasciculation by regulating L1 CAM levels and axon–axon interactions rather than by creating a repulsive surround. Knockdown experiments show that Sema3D and L1 genetically interact to promote fasciculation. Sema3D overexpression increases and Sema3D knockdown decreases levels of axonal L1 protein. Moreover, excess L1 rescues defasciculation caused by the loss of Sema3D. In vivo time-lapse imaging reveals that Sema3D or L1 knockdown cause identical defects in growth cone behaviors during axon–axon interactions, consistent with a loss of adhesion. These results reveal a novel mechanism by which a semaphorin promotes fasciculation and modulates axon–axon interactions by regulating an adhesion molecule.
Women Studying Violent Male Institutions:

To promote discussions of methodological issues associated with cross-gender research in criminology, we focus on two women's studies of Latin American police. This uncovered five working propositions about women studying organizations dominated numerically and structurally by men. First, feminist scholarship provides some guidelines for such research, but its applicability is neither direct nor immediate. Second, for example, much cross-gender research requires negotiating and maintaining power differentials between researcher and researched. Third, particularly in cross-gender research on secrecy and danger, inter-gender dynamics can thwart some research objectives and promote others. Fourth, inter-gender dynamics can complicate the ethical dilemmas associated with research on powerful agents and agencies of the state. Finally, the emotional reflexivity associated with such inter-gender research is epistemologically relevant for understanding research outcomes.
Drinking behaviour, protective behavioural strategies and school performance of college students

Aims: Concepts that may be effective in alleviating negative alcohol-related consequences among college students are protective behavioural strategies (PBSs), such as alternating alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Our study used an innovative hypothesis-testing statistical technique (structural equation modelling, SEM) to examine the relationship of PBSs, drinking behaviour and school performance among college student drinkers. Methods: We used confirmatory factor analysis and SEM to explore the relationship between drinking behaviour, PBSs and school performance among a sample of college students (N = 371) who reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days. Findings: Results indicated that PBSs were positively associated with school performance and drinking behaviour mediated the relationship. Based on the combinatory rules for standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) and comparative fit index (CFI), this model represented a good fit to the data (χ2 = 34.4, df = 17, SRMR = 0.03 and CFI = 0.98). Conclusions: Our study extends the line of research examining the relationship between drinking behaviour, including PBSs, and academic performance of college students by showing the usefulness of an innovative hypothesis-testing statistical technique – SEM. Researchers might want to consider utilizing SEM when examining such relationships in the future. In addition, based on the results of our analyses, colleges and universities with an interest in the academic performance of their students may want to consider implementing and promoting programmes that concern increasing the awareness of PBSs.