Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Passive Stretching on Muscle Injury and HSP Expression during Recovery after Immobilization in Rats

Objective: Stretching exercise is known to induce muscle hypertrophy and is implicated in the modulation of muscle fiber behavior. We aim to determine whether stretching exercise is protective against reloading-induced muscle damage in immobilized rat soleus muscle. Methods: Rat hindlimbs in 54 eight-week-old male Wistar rats were immobilized by cast for 4 weeks, followed by reloading alone through normal ambulation in 24 (group NS) and after passive stretch in 25 rats (group S). Stretching exercise (30 min each day) lasted 6 days. To determine if passive stretching affects expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in rat soleus muscle during reloading following cast immobilization, the ratio of invading muscle fibers and HSPs expression were measured following cast removal. Results: The ratio of invading muscle fibers increased during the first and second days of reloading in group NS. Compared with reloading alone, stretching exercise reduced invading muscle fibers at most time points following cast removal (group S). Additionally, expression of HSP25 and HSP72 increased with time during reloading only in the group without passive stretch (group NS). Conclusion: Following immobilization, in the rat soleus muscle passive stretching exercise protects against injury induced by reloading. Furthermore, the protection provided by passive stretch is independent of HSPs.
Investigating the Moderating Impact of National Culture in Information Systems Security Policy Violation: The Case of Italy and Ethiopia

Information systems security (ISS) has become one of the top agendas of companies located in the developed world. Despite this fact, there is an increasing trend in the types and frequency of ISS breaches. Most of the time researchers and practitioners focus on threat that are caused by external agents while most of the threats are originated from insiders. In addition to this, the majority of the investments and researches around ISS are limited to technically oriented solutions. It is now realized that the technical approach alone couldn’t bring the required level of ISS, and this led ISS researchers to embark on socio-technical approaches. One of the critical social factors that has been given little emphasis is culture. Thus, this research investigates the impact of national culture on employees’ ISS behaviour. Specifically, it answers the question “what is the moderating impact of national culture on the influence of ISS countermeasures on employees’ intention to violate ISS policies? ” We will develop and test an empirical ISS compliance model, using rational choice theory and national culture constructs. Survey will be used to collect data from Italy and Ethiopia.
NtcA-Dependent Expression of the devBCAOperon, Encoding a Heterocyst-Specific ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter in Anabaena spp

ABSTRACT The devBCA operon, encoding subunits of an ATP-binding cassette exporter, is essential for differentiation of N2-fixing heterocysts in Anabaena spp. Nitrogen deficiency-dependent transcription of the operon and the use of its transcriptional start point, located 762 (Anabaena variabilis strain ATCC 29413-FD) or 704 (Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120) bp upstream of the translation start site, were found to require the global nitrogen transcriptional regulator NtcA. Furthermore, NtcA was shown to bind in vitro to the promoter ofdevBCA.
Music Genre Classification via Compressive Sampling

Compressive sampling (CS) is a new research topic in signal processing that has piqued the interest of a wide range of researchers in different fields recently. In this paper, we present a CS-based classifier for music genre classification, with two sets of features, including short-time and long-time features of audio music. The proposed classifier generates a compact signature to achieve a significant reduction in the dimensionality of the audio music signals. The experimental results demonstrate that the computation time of the CS-based classifier is only about 20% of SVM on GTZAN dataset, with an accuracy of 92.7%. Several experiments were conducted in this study to illustrate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed methods as compared to other approaches.
The oestrogen pathway underlies the evolution of exaggerated male cranial shapes in Anolis lizards

Sexual dimorphisms vary widely among species. This variation must arise through sex-specific evolutionary modifications to developmental processes. Anolis lizards vary extensively in their expression of cranial dimorphism. Compared with other Anolis species, members of the carolinensis clade have evolved relatively high levels of cranial dimorphism; males of this clade have exceptionally long faces relative to conspecific females. Developmentally, this facial length dimorphism arises through an evolutionarily novel, clade-specific strategy. Our analyses herein reveal that sex-specific regulation of the oestrogen pathway underlies evolution of this exaggerated male phenotype, rather than the androgen or insulin growth factor pathways that have long been considered the primary regulators of male-biased dimorphism among vertebrates. Our results suggest greater intricacy in the genetic mechanisms that underlie sexual dimorphisms than previously appreciated.
High-Risk Cardiovascular Patients: Clinical Features, Comorbidities, and Interconnecting Mechanisms

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world with an increase over the last few decades. Atherosclerosis with its different manifestations in the coronary artery tree, the cerebral, as well as peripheral arteries is the basis for cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and cardiovascular death. The pathophysiological understanding of the mechanisms that promote the development of vascular disease has changed over the last few decades, leading to the recognition that inflammation and inflammatory processes in the vessel wall are major contributors in atherogenesis. In addition, a subclinical inflammatory status, e.g., in patients with diabetes or the presence of a chronic inflammatory disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, have been recognized as strong risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The present review will summarize the different inflammatory processes in the vessel wall leading to atherosclerosis and highlight the role of inflammation in diabetes and chronic inflammatory diseases for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Changes on the Physiological Lactonase Activity of Serum Paraoxonase 1 by a Diet Intervention for Weight Loss in Healthy Overweight and Obese Women

Low caloric diet (LCD) is used for weight loss. Paraoxonase 1 (PON-1) is associated with the antioxidant functions of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Among limited data on the relationships between obesity and PON-1, there has been no study on the effects of a stand-alone LCD on the physiological lactonase activity of PON-1. We investigated the prospective effects of LCD intervention (2 months) for weight loss on serum PON-1 activities (lactonase, arylesterase [mono-esterase] and tri-esterase) and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), and their association with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in overweight and non-morbidly obese but otherwise healthy women (n = 30; mean age, 50.3 years; mean body mass index [BMI], 28.5 kg/m2). In addition to the data such as BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose and lipids, PON-1 activities were examined between pre- and post-intervention. The intervention reduced all metabolic outcomes, and PON-1 lactonase activity (determined with 5-[thiobutyl]butyrolactone) significantly decreased by 6.1%, paralleled by arylesterase (by 7.3%) and tri-esterase (by 7.8%). In multiple regression analysis, the percent change of PON-1 lactonase was significantly, positively and independently correlated to that of LDL-C (β = 0.51), HDL-C (β = 0.40), and BMI (β = 0.37). Our results showed that the solo diet treatment on weight loss might reduce serum PON-1 lactonase activity with reduced HDL-C and LDL-C. The relationship between the lactonase and LDL-C may be adaptive, plausibly hypothesizing less need for PON-1 activity as an antioxidant property to protect lipoproteins. Further research is needed to confirm this prediction.
Tagging the Neuronal Entrainment to Beat and Meter

Feeling the beat and meter is fundamental to the experience of music. However, how these periodicities are represented in the brain remains largely unknown. Here, we test whether this function emerges from the entrainment of neurons resonating to the beat and meter. We recorded the electroencephalogram while participants listened to a musical beat and imagined a binary or a ternary meter on this beat (i.e., a march or a waltz). We found that the beat elicits a sustained periodic EEG response tuned to the beat frequency. Most importantly, we found that meter imagery elicits an additional frequency tuned to the corresponding metric interpretation of this beat. These results provide compelling evidence that neural entrainment to beat and meter can be captured directly in the electroencephalogram. More generally, our results suggest that music constitutes a unique context to explore entrainment phenomena in dynamic cognitive processing at the level of neural networks.
Prospective randomized trial to compare the stapled double lumen pouch and the sutured quadruple pouch for restorative proctocolectomy

Thirty‐three consecutive patients having restorative proctocolectomy since April 1986 were randomly allocated to reconstruction using a stapled J pouch (n = 18) or a sutured W pouch (n = 15). There were no deaths, but one patient required pouch excision for isohaemia (J). One patient developed a leak from the pouch necessitating loop ileostomy (J) and one patient had a low pouch vaginal fistula successfully treated by a seton (W). There were no other major complications. Median (range) operative time was 200 min (165–290) for J pouch and 255 min (220–330) for the W pouch (P<0.05). In 24 patients followed up for more than 4 months after restoring intestinal continuity, median frequency of defaecation over 24 h was 4 (3–6) for the J pouch and 4 (3–6) for the W pouch. There was no incontinence, urgency or soiling. These results indicate that the quicker J pouch provides identical functional results to the larger W pouch in this series of patients.
Relation of body mass index to asthma and atopy in children: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study III

BACKGROUND An increase in the prevalence of obesity and asthma over recent decades has been reported in affluent societies. Both overweight and obesity have been shown to be inversely related to having been breastfed, which is also a potential protective factor against childhood atopic diseases. The aim of this analysis was to explore the relation of body mass index (BMI) to asthma and atopy in a large representative sample of the United States population. METHODS Children aged 4–17 years were included in the NHANES III survey. Prevalences of atopic diseases and potential confounding factors such as exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, birth weight, breast feeding, and household size were assessed using structured interviews with parents. Height and weight were measured, and BMI was calculated as kg/m2 and transformed into Z scores. Children underwent skin prick tests for atopy to a battery of food and inhalant allergens. RESULTS The prevalence of asthma (8.7% v 9.3%v 10.3% v14.9%, p=0.0001) and atopy (48.6% v 50.5%v 53.0% v53.2%, p=0.05) rose significantly with increasing quartiles of BMI. After adjustment for confounders, a significant positive association between BMI and asthma remained (adjusted OR 1.77, 95% confidence interval 1.44 to 2.19 between the highest and lowest quartiles of BMI), whereas no independent relation between BMI and atopy was evident. No effect modification by sex or ethnic group was seen. CONCLUSIONS The effects of increased BMI on asthma may be mediated by mechanical properties of the respiratory system associated with obesity or by upregulation of inflammatory mechanisms rather than by allergic eosinophilic inflammation of the airway epithelium.
The Stigma of Suicide Survivorship and Related Consequences—A Systematic Review

Background considerable proportion of the population experiences major life disruptions after losing a loved one to suicide. Social stigma attached to suicide survivors adds to complications occurring in the course of suicide bereavement. Despite its known risks, stigma related to suicide survivors has been sparsely investigated. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo and PsyArticles, of studies indexed up through August 2015. Articles were eligible for inclusion if they addressed experiences of stigma in suicide survivors, compared them to other bereavement populations, or investigated stigmatizing attitudes within the public. The search was restricted to English-language studies. Results 25 records matched inclusion criteria. Study designs were heterogeneous, making comparisons difficult. Results demonstrated that suicide survivors experience stigma in the form of shame, blame, and avoidance. Suicide survivors showed higher levels of stigma than natural death survivors. Stigma was linked to concealment of the death, social withdrawal, reduced psychological and somatic functioning, and grief difficulties. Only one study investigated stigmatizing attitudes towards suicide survivors among the general population. Limitations Internal and external validity of the studies was restricted by a lack of valid measures and selection bias. Conclusions More methodologically sound research is needed to understand the impact of stigma on suicide survivors’ grief trajectories and to separate it from other grief aspects. Clinicians and grief-counselors as well as the public should be educated about the persistent stigma experienced by suicide survivors.
No evidence of circulating autoantibodies against osteoprotegerin in patients with celiac disease.

AIM To investigate risk factors for low bone mineral density (BMD) in celiac disease (CD) patients, focusing on circulating autoantibodies against osteoprotegerin (OPG). METHODS Seventy asymptomatic CD adult patients on gluten-free diet (GFD) and harbouring persistent negative CD-related serology were recruited. Conventional risk factors for osteoporosis (e.g., age, sex, menopausal status, history of fractures, smoke, and body mass index) were checked and BMD was assessed by dual energy X ray absorptiometry. Serum calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels were evaluated. Thirty-eight patients underwent repeat duodenal biopsy. Serum samples from a selected sub-group of 30 patients, who were also typed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQ2 and DQ8 haplotype, were incubated with homodimeric recombinant human OPG and tested by western blotting with an anti-OPG antibody after immunoprecipitation. RESULTS Despite persistent negative CD-related serology and strict adherence to GFD, 49 out of the 70 (74%) patients displayed low BMD. Among these patients, 13 (24%) showed osteoporosis and 36 (76%) osteopenia. With the exception of age, conventional risk factors for osteoporosis did not differ between patients with normal and low BMD. Circulating serum calcium and PTH levels were normal in all patients. Duodenal mucosa healing was found in 31 (82%) out of 38 patients who underwent repeat duodenal biopsy with 20 (64%) still displaying low BMD. The remaining 7 patients had an incomplete normalization of duodenal mucosa with 6 (84%) showing low BMD. No evidence of circulating antibodies against OPG was found in the serum of 30 celiac patients who were tested for, independent of BMD, duodenal histology, and HLA status. CONCLUSION If any, the role of circulating autoantibodies against OPG in the pathogenesis of bone derangement in patients with CD is not a major one.
Effect of Ground Corn Cob Replacement for Cassava Chip on Feed Intake, Rumen Fermentation and Urinary Derivatives in Swamp Buffaloes

Four Thai - rumen fistulated male swamp buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), about four years old with 400±20 kg liveweight, were randomly assigned according to a 4×4 Latin square design to receive dietary treatments. The treatments were: ground corn cob (GCC) replacement for cassava chip (CC) in concentrate at 0% (T1); GCC replacement at 33% (T2); GCC replacement at 67% (T3); and GCC replacement at 100% (T4), respectively. During the experiment, concentrate was offered at 0.5% BW while 5% urea-treated rice straw was given at ad libitum. The result revealed that there was no effect of GCC replacement on DMI among treatments. In addition, digestibilities of DM, OM and CP were not different while aNDF linearly increased with an increasing level of GCC replacement. However, GCC replacement did not affect rumen fermentation such as ruminal pH, NH3-N and VFA concentration; except C3 proportion which was the highest at 33% replacement while the lowest was at 100% replacement. All replacements of GCC resulted in similar protozoal and bacterial populations and microbial protein synthesis (MPS). Purine derivatives (PD) concentration in urine and PD to creatinine (PDC) index were varied with time of urination and among treatments at 0 to 8 and 8 to 16 h post feeding and higher values were shown among the GCC replacement groups. However at 16 to 24 h-post feeding, it was untraceable. In addition, creatinine concentration was similar among all treatments at every sampling time. Based on the above results, GCC can be used as an energy source for swamp buffalo fed with rice straw. Spot sampling of urine can be used for purine derivatives determination.
Prostaglandin E2 Impairs P2Y2/P2Y4 Receptor Signaling in Cerebellar Astrocytes via EP3 Receptors

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is an important bioactive lipid that accumulates after tissue damage or inflammation due to the rapid expression of cyclooxygenase 2. PGE2 activates specific G-protein coupled EP receptors and it mediates pro- or anti-inflammatory actions depending on the cell-context. Nucleotides can also be released in these situations and they even contribute to PGE2 production. We previously described the selective impairment of P2Y nucleotide signaling by PGE2 in macrophages and fibroblasts, an effect independent of prostaglandin receptors but that involved protein kinase C (PKC) and protein kinase D (PKD) activation. Considering that macrophages and fibroblasts influence inflammatory responses and tissue remodeling, a similar mechanism involving P2Y signaling could occur in astrocytes in response to neuroinflammation and brain repair. We analyzed here the modulation of cellular responses involving P2Y2/P2Y4 receptors by PGE2 in rat cerebellar astrocytes. We demonstrate that PGE2 inhibits intracellular calcium responses elicited by UTP in individual cells and that inhibiting this P2Y signaling impairs the astrocyte migration elicited by this nucleotide. Activation of EP3 receptors by PGE2 not only impairs the calcium responses but also, the extracellular regulated kinases (ERK) and Akt phosphorylation induced by UTP. However, PGE2 requires epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) transactivation in order to dampen P2Y signaling. In addition, these effects of PGE2 also occur in a pro-inflammatory context, as evident in astrocytes stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). While we continue to investigate the intracellular mechanisms responsible for the inhibition of UTP responses, the involvement of novel PKC and PKD in cerebellar astrocytes cannot be excluded, kinases that could promote the internalization of P2Y receptors in fibroblasts.
Introduction Association between the receptor for advanced glycation end products gene polymorphisms and cancer risk : a systematic review and meta-analysis

glycation end products (RAGE) gene may influence the risk of cancer, but the results are inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a systematic review to identify statistical evidence of the association between the 3 polymorphisms rs2070600 G/S (82G>S), rs1800624 T/A ( -374 T>A) and rs1800625C/T (-429 C>T) and the risk of cancer. Methods: We searched PubMed database (http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), EMBASE database (http://www.elsevier.com/online-tools/embase ) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database (http://www.cnki.net/) until Aug 30, 2014 to identify eligible studies. Results: The pooled analysis revealed positive association between RAGE rs2070600 polymorphism and cancer risk in all genetic models (homozygous: OR=1.831, 95%CI: 1.548-2.166, p<0.001, allele: OR=1.321, 95%CI: 1.164-1.499, p<0.001, heterozygous: OR=1.42, 95%CI:1.126-1.792, p=0.003, dominant: OR=1.499, 95%CI: 1.200-1.874 ; p<0.001, recessive: OR=1.376, 95%CI: 1.197-1.583, p<0.001). We failed to get an effective conclusion about the association between the rs1800624 and rs1800625 polymorphisms and cancer risk in overall comparison. But in subgroup analysis, the rs1800624 polymorphism significantly increased lung cancer susceptibility in the homozygous model (OR=1.486, 95%CI:1.147-1.924, p=0.003) and the allele model (OR=1.15, 95%CI:1.029-1.285, p=0.014), but most likely contributed to decreased susceptibility to breast cancer in the allele model (OR=0.791 95%CI: 0.648-0.965, p=0.021), the heterozygous model (OR=0.733, 95%CI:0.577-0.931, p=0.011) and the dominant model (OR=0.741, 95%CI:0.588-0.934, p=0.011). No significant association was found between RAGE rs1088625 polymorphism and cancer risk in Caucasians, but these results should be interpreted with caution. Conclusion: The polymorphism of rs2070600 in the RAGE gene may increase the susceptibility to several human cancers, especially to lung cancer and to Asians. The rs1800264 most likely contributes to decreased susceptibility to breast cancer but increased susceptibility to lung cancer. However, large-scale studies involving various cancer types and different populations are needed for a precise conclusion.
Elderly medication adherence monitoring with the Internet of Things

With the growth in elderly population in Singapore, healthcare expenditure and prevalence of age-related illnesses are expected to increase. Non-adherence among the elderly is a common issue that leads to adverse health complications, particularly among those with chronic conditions. However, existing studies typically focus on identifying predictors of medication adherence, and provide neither user-friendly nor actionable solutions that can be easily adopted by the elderly. In this paper, we use the Internet of Things to monitor medication adherence and detect changes in medication consumption patterns among the elderly, thus enabling timely interventions by caregivers to take place. Sensor-enabled medication boxes are deployed in the residences of ten elderly participants for more than four months, since Jul 2015. Preliminary results indicate that our solution can effectively monitor medication intake patterns, and identify elderly who are non medication-adhering.
Scattering of the SH0 Mode from Geometrical Discontinuities in Plates

This paper investigates the interaction of the SH0 elastic wave mode with discontinuities in plates and explains some of the physical phenomena involved in this interaction. The significance of the non‐propagating modes in the scattering from thickness steps and notches is examined. A method for predicting the reflection from notches using knowledge of the reflection from steps is proposed. The limits of validity of this procedure are also investigated.