Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discovering Health Beliefs in Twitter

Social networking websites such as Twitter have invigorated a wide range of studies in recent years ranging from consumer opinions on products to tracking the spread of diseases. While sentiment analysis and opinion mining from tweets have been studied extensively, surveillance of beliefs, especially those related to public health, have received considerably less attention. In our previous work, we proposed a model for surveillance of health beliefs on Twitter relying on the use of hand-picked probe statements expressing various health-related propositions. In this work we extend our model to automatically discover various probes related to public health beliefs. We present a data driven approach based on two distinct datasets and study the prevalence of public belief, disbelief or doubt for newly discovered probe statements.
Ovatodiolide of Anisomeles indica Exerts the Anticancer Potential on Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines through STAT3 and NF-κB Regulation

Pancreatic cancer is the eighth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Patients with pancreatic cancer are normally diagnosed at an advanced stage and present poor survival rate. Ovatodiolide (OV), a bioactive macrocyclic diterpenoid isolated from Anisomeles indica, showed cytotoxicity effects in pancreatic cancer cells by inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Moreover, not only were cell adhesion and invasion markedly suppressed in a dose-dependent manner, but the mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) was also significantly decreased. Western blot analysis indicated that OV potently suppressed the phosphorylation of STAT-3 and its upstream kinase including ERK1/2, P38, and AKT Ser473. Meanwhile, OV inactivated the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) by inhibiting IκB kinase (IKK α/β) activation and the subsequent suppression of inhibitor of kappa B (IκB) phosphorylation. These results demonstrated that OV could potentially inhibit Mia-PaCa2 cancer cells proliferation and induce apoptosis through modulation of NF-κB and STAT3 pathway. Moreover, OV suppressed cell invasiveness and interfered with cell-matrix adhesion in Mia-PaCa2 cancer cells by reducing MMP-9 and FAK transcription through suppressing NF-κB and STAT3 pathway. Taken together, our findings reveal a new therapeutic and antimetastatic potential of ovatodiolide for pancreatic cancer remedy.
STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENT USING DUNDEE READY EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT MEASURE (DREEM) INVENTORY

Background: Educational Environment is defined as everything that take place in class room, department, college or university and is fundamental in achievement of students' academic success. Understanding the medical student's perception about the education environment has great impact in evaluating deficiencies in exiting medical curriculum, to make comparison between different groups and to make necessary changes accordingly. The objective of our study was to evaluate the perception of under graduate medical students about their learning environment. Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study on 131 undergraduate medical students. DREEM Inventory was used to collect the data. DREEM is validated tool and universally used as diagnostic inventory to assess the quality of education environment. Data was collected after taking informed written consent. Results: Students' perceptions of learning, students' perceptions of teachers, students' academic self-perceptions, students' perceptions of atmosphere, students' social self-perceptions and total DREEM score were 25.4/48, 23.3/44, 17.3/32, 27/48, 14.3/28 and 107.5 /200, respectively. Out of total 50 item, 11 items scored less than 2 which indicate the area of significant problem and these issues need to be addressed on urgent basis. Conclusion: Over all students assessed education environment as average. There is a need for improvement in all five domains of students' perception.
Characterization of hippocampal subregional cross-frequency associations, and the effect of Deep Brain Stimulation on memory performance in Humans

Author(s): TCHEMODANOV, NATALIA | Advisor(s): Fried, Itzhak; Ringach, Dario | Abstract: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL) in humans has offered promise for improving hippocampal-dependent learning and memory, yet little is known about how it modulates the electrophysiological mechanisms associated with hippocampal communication. Here, we explore the role of theta-gamma coupling, a putative entorhinal- hippocampal organizing mechanism, in successful memory formation, while human subjects implanted with intracranial electrodes engage in hippocampal-dependent memory tasks. Our results suggest that entorhinal area DBS, previously shown to be associated with memory enhancement, also results in substantial coupling of theta and gamma oscillations within the hippocampus, suggesting a possible mechanism for stimulation related memory enhancement. Further, we address hippocampal cross-frequency dynamics during encoding and retrieval at the level of hippocampal subfields, showing that CA1 theta high-gamma coupling increases preferentially during encoding of subsequently recollected objects, while both CA1 and CA2- 3-DG exhibit memory specific cross-frequency coupling changes during retrieval. Finally, we perform a multi-task analysis to assess how generalizable is the effect of DBS across multiple entorhinal stimulation targets, memory modalities, and stimulation protocols; our results show that stimulation of entorhinal white matter enhances declarative memory encoding.
A Longitudinal Case Study of Exceptional Leadership Talent

The development of leadership talent in a gifted individual was the focus of this 15-year longitudinal case study. Four major themes explained the development of his leadership talent. Crucial family factors and support served as a foundation for his psychosocial development and contributed significantly to his talents as a leader. Emotional intelligence evident in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood was an important asset as his leadership skills grew. In addition, strong practical intelligence applied to his everyday life enabled him to meet the goals and objectives he established for himself. Woven throughout his life story was evidence of a strong internal motivation that drove him personally and professionally. Implications of the findings are presented along with suggestions for designing effective leadership development experiences for talented students.
Syntaxin N-terminal peptide motif is an initiation factor for the assembly of the SNARE–Sec1/Munc18 membrane fusion complex

Intracellular membrane fusion is mediated by the concerted action of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) and Sec1/Munc18 (SM) proteins. During fusion, SM proteins bind the N-terminal peptide (N-peptide) motif of the SNARE subunit syntaxin, but the function of this interaction is unknown. Here, using FRET-based biochemical reconstitution and Caenorhabditis elegans genetics, we show that the N-peptide of syntaxin-1 recruits the SM protein Munc18-1/nSec1 to the SNARE bundle, facilitating their assembly into a fusion-competent complex. The recruitment is achieved through physical tethering rather than allosteric activation of Munc18-1. Consistent with the recruitment role, the N-peptide is not spatially constrained along syntaxin-1, and it is functional when translocated to another SNARE subunit SNAP-25 or even when simply anchored in the target membrane. The N-peptide function is restricted to an early initiation stage of the fusion reaction. After association, Munc18-1 and the SNARE bundle together drive membrane merging without further involving the N-peptide. Thus, the syntaxin N-peptide is an initiation factor for the assembly of the SNARE-SM membrane fusion complex.
Very Weak Estimates for a Rough Poisson-Dirichlet Problem with Natural Vertical Boundary Conditions

This work is a continuation of [3]; it deals with rough boundaries in the simplified context of a Poisson equation. We impose Dirichlet boundary conditions on the periodic microscopic perturbation of a flat edge on one side and natural homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions are applied on the inlet/outlet of the domain. To prevent oscillations on the Neumann-like boundaries, we introduce a microscopic vertical corrector defined in a rough quarter-plane. In [3] we studied a priori estimates in this setting; here we fully develop very weak estimates a la Necas [17] in the weighted Sobolev spaces on an unbounded domain. We obtain optimal estimates which improve those derived in [3]. We validate these results numerically, proving first order results for boundary layer approximation including the vertical correctors and a little less for the averaged wall-law introduced in the literature [13, 18].
Democracy and Ethno-religious Conflict in Iraq

How can an escalation of tensions between the major ethno-religious groups be avoided in a democratizing Iraq? The first section explains why and under which conditions democratization may stir up, rather than palliate ethnic conflicts: when networks of civil society organizations have not yet developed and if the state is too weak and poor to be able to treat all citizens equally. The second section looks at the political history of Iraq, which is characterized by increasing fragmentation and conflict along ethnic lines. Pan-Arabism became the official state ideology and Shii, Kurds, Jews and Christians were excluded from positions of power and gradually driven out of the officers corps and the higher ranks of the administration. This Arabization of the Iraqi state was contested right from the beginning, as a review of the history of Kurdish and Shii uprisings will show. Throughout this history, the divisions along ethno-religious lines have deepened. Cross-ethnic parties (such as the Communists) and organizations have split along these lines too. Rising levels of repression increasingly directed against the civilian population have further estranged Kurds, Shiis and Christians from the Iraqi state and bolstered support for their respective ethno-religious organizations. Elections are likely to stir up ethno-religious conflicts in the future, if democratic institutions are not designed to foster moderation and compromise. Several such designs are discussed in the last section and the following will be recommended: an electoral system that favors vote pooling across ethnic lines; federalism on a non-ethnic basis with a strong component of fiscal decentralization; a strong regime of minority rights and a judicial apparatus capable of enforcing the rule of law. Elections should come last, not first in the process of institutional transformation. International institutions can provide the legitimacy for the continued outside supervision and support that are needed, during years to come, to make democracy sustainable.
Digital Simulation of Direct Torque Fuzzy Control of PMSM Servo System

Fuzzy logic is recently getting increasing emphasis in soft computing applications in the recent days. This paper presents an application of the fuzzy logic scheme to control the speed of an AC servo system & the same is proposed for a space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) inverter-fed permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive. Based on the analysis of the PMSM transient response, a Direct Torque Fuzzy Control (DTFC) is developed. A high-performance AC servo motor system modeling and the designing simulation scheme of direct torque fuzzy control of a low speed permanent magnet synchronous motor is proposed. Direct torque control is known to produce quick and robust response in AC drive system. However, during steady state, torque, flux and current ripple occurs. Due to large torque ripples in low speed conditions, a permanent magnet synchronous motor, the PI-type speed controller in a conventional DTC is replaced by a fuzzy logic controller. The direct torque fuzzy control strategy of a permanent magnet synchronous motor drive system is simulated by using MATLAB-Simulink. This scheme integrates the direct torque fuzzy controller strategy, the time speed measurement algorithm, the fuzzy logic regulating technique and the space vector pulse width modulation principle. The simulation results indicate the DTFC provides satisfactory high dynamic and static performance compare to conventional DTC. The method presented in this paper shows the effectiveness of the scheme which is further verified through the simulation results. Index Terms—Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC), Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM), Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM), Direct Torque Control (DTC), Direct Torque Fuzzy Control (DTFC).
Evaluation of Not-Activated and Activated PRP in Hair Loss Treatment: Role of Growth Factor and Cytokine Concentrations Obtained by Different Collection Systems

Platelet rich plasma (PRP) was tested as a potential therapy for androgenetic alopecia (AGA) through two different clinical protocols in which one population (18 participants) received half-head treatment with autologous non-activated PRP (A-PRP) produced by CPunT Preparation System (Biomed Device, Modena, Italy) and the other half-head with placebo, and a second separated population in which all participants (n = 6, 3 participants per group) received treatment with calcium-activated PRP (AA-PRP) produced from one of two different PRP collection devices (Regen Blood Cell Therapy or Arthrex Angel System). For the A-PRP study, three treatments were administered over 30-day intervals. Trichoscan analysis of patients, three months post-treatment, showed a clinical improvement in the number of hairs in the target area (36 ± 3 hairs) and in total hair density (65 ± 5 hair cm2), whereas negligible improvements in hair count (1.1 ± 1.4 hairs) and density (1.9 ± 10.2 hair cm2) were seen in the region of the scalp that received placebo. Microscopic evaluation conducted two weeks after treatment showed also an increase in epidermal thickness, Ki67+ keratinocytes, and in the number of follicles. The AA-PRP treatment groups received a singular set of injections, and six months after the treatments were administered, notable differences in clinical outcomes were obtained from the two PRP collection devices (+90 ± 6 hair cm2 versus −73 ± 30 hair cm2 hair densities, Regen versus Arthrex). Growth factor concentrations in AA-PRP prepared from the two collection devices did not differ significantly upon calcium activation.
Improving Response Rates in Web Surveys with Default Setting: The Effects of Default on Web Survey Participation and Permission

Researchers are increasingly using internet instruments such as email and online surveys as data-collection methods. However, web survey response rates are fairly low, which threatens the efficiency of web surveys. To use web surveys to gather data effectively, it is thus critical to improve the response rate of participants without compromising the low-cost advantage of this approach. The goal of this study is to explore the effects of default settings on consumers' web survey participation with a series of online field experiments. The findings are as follows. First, default settings affect respondents' choice of online survey participation. Compared with the ‘no default’ condition, nearly 25% more respondents chose to take a longer survey when ‘taking longer survey’ was set as the default option. Second, survey length influences respondents' willingness to participate in a future survey. Respondents who took longer surveys were more likely to accept an invitation to participate in a future survey. Third, default settings and survey length create a significant interaction effect that drives participation. Default effects are stronger when respondents have participated in a short survey instead of a long one. Finally, in the context of a web-based survey, default settings change both consumer participation and email invitations permission rates due to the ‘trade-off aversion’ principle.
Scheduling and Resource Allocation in OFDMA Wireless Systems

Scheduling and resource allocation are essential components of wireless data systems. Here by scheduling we refer the problem of determining which users will be active in a given time-slot; resource allocation refers to the problem of allocating physicallayer resources such as bandwidth and power among these active users. In modern wireless data systems, frequent channel quality feedback is available enabling both the scheduled users and the allocation of physical layer resources to be dynamically adapted based on the users’ channel conditions and quality of service (QoS) requirements. This has led to a great deal of interest both in practice and in the research community on various “channel aware” scheduling and resource allocation algorithms. Many of these algorithms can be viewed as “gradient-based” algorithms, which select the transmission rate vector that maximizes the projection onto the gradient of the system’s total utility [1–4, 8, 9, 25, 28, 29]. One example is the “proportionally fair rule” [3,4] first proposed for CDMA 1xEVDO based on a logarithmic utility function of each user’s throughput. A larger class of throughput-based utilities is considered in [2] where efficiency and fairness are allowed to be traded-off. The “Max Weight” policy (e.g. [6–8]) can also be viewed as a gradient-based policy, where the utility is now a function of a user’s queue-size or delay. Compared to TDMA and CDMA technologies, OFDMA divides the wireless resource into non-overlapping frequency-time chunks and offers more flexibility for resource allocation. It has many advantages such as robustness against intersymbol
CUBN as a Novel Locus for End-Stage Renal Disease: Insights from Renal Transplantation

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex disorder. As genome-wide association studies identified cubilin gene CUBN as a locus for albuminuria, and urinary protein loss is a risk factor for progressive CKD, we tested the hypothesis that common genetic variants in CUBN are associated with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and proteinuria. First, a total of 1142 patients with ESRD, admitted for renal transplantation, and 1186 donors were genotyped for SNPs rs7918972 and rs1801239 (case-control study). The rs7918972 minor allele frequency (MAF) was higher in ESRD patients comparing to kidney donors, implicating an increased risk for ESRD (OR 1.39, p = 0.0004) in native kidneys. Second, after transplantation recipients were followed for 5.8 [3.8–9.2] years (longitudinal study) documenting ESRD in transplanted kidneys – graft failure (GF). During post-transplant follow-up 92 (9.6%) cases of death-censored GF occurred. Donor rs7918972 MAF, representing genotype of the transplanted kidney, was 16.3% in GF vs 10.7% in cases with functioning graft. Consistently, a multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that donor rs7918972 is a predictor of GF, although statistical significance was not reached (HR 1.53, p = 0.055). There was no association of recipient rs7918972 with GF. Rs1801239 was not associated with ESRD or GF. In line with an association with the outcome, donor rs7918972 was associated with elevated proteinuria levels cross-sectionally at 1 year after transplantation. Thus, we identified CUBN rs7918972 as a novel risk variant for renal function loss in two independent settings: ESRD in native kidneys and GF in transplanted kidneys.
Equivalent Number of Scatterers for SAR Speckle Modeling

In this paper, the equivalent number of scatterers of a rough scattering surface is defined, physically justified, and evaluated. New-generation spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors are acquiring images at such a high ground resolution that, quite often, the statistics of these images do not match with those predicted by the classical Rayleigh speckle model. Non-Rayleigh speckle is frequently mathematically modeled via K-distribution in terms of a parameter that presently can be estimated (i.e., a posteriori) on the SAR images and is linked to the number of scatterers per resolution cell. However, to model and predict (i.e., a priori) the statistical behavior of the SAR images, a full characterization of the scatterers is required. To this aim, the concept of equivalent number of scatterers of a rough scattering surface is here defined and physically justified. This parameter is then analytically evaluated in closed form as a function of the roughness of the illuminated surface and of SAR sensor parameters. The presented analytical evaluation applies to both classical and fractal descriptions of the surface roughness. Finally, the dependence of the equivalent number of scatterers on the roughness of the illuminated surface and on SAR sensor parameters is analyzed for a range of values of roughness parameters actually encountered in natural surfaces and by considering typical system parameters of modern high-resolution spaceborne SAR systems. It is shown that, actually, for some combinations of realistic surface and system parameters, the equivalent number of scatterers can be on the order of unity.
Relationship of Blood Pressure in 20–39‐year‐old Men to Subsequent Blood Pressure and Incidence of Hypertension Over a 30‐year Observation Period

The objective of this investigation was to determine the relationship of blood pressure (BP) in young men, ages 20-39 years, to their subsequent BP from the perspective of BP tracking, position in BP distribution and later evidence of hypertensive BP values. Since 1948, the Manitoba Study group has followed 3983 men, 90% of whom were 20-39 years old at entry. BP in persons not prescribed antihypertensive medications was examined at 5-year intervals during the 30-year observation period to 1978. To adjust for age, BP was examined within 5-year age groups at entry. The correlations between entry and subsequent BP at the same length of follow-up were greater for systolic than diastolic BP and increased with older ages. The correlation decreased with every 5-year examination after entry for all ages. Men whose BP was below the mean at entry were less likely to have a BP > 1 standard deviation (SD) above the mean at any of the examinations. Men with an entry BP > 1 SD above the mean were more likely to have BP > 1 SD above the mean later, but the relationship decreased considerably after 20 years, especially in 20-24-year age group. The results were similar for the probability of hypertensive values (systolic BP 2 140 or 150 mm Hg, diastolic BP 2 90 or 95 mm Hg) at later examinations. Thus, BP in later life can be predicted from BP at ages 20-39 years and can identify groups at high or low risk for hypertension.
Is the Phoneme Usage-Based ? – Some Issues 1

After a brief review of the history of the phoneme, from its origins in the nineteenth century to Optimality Theory, including some Cognitive Linguists’ views of the concept. I argue that current ‘usage-based’ theorists views of the phoneme may not be able to explain some facts about how naïve speakers process language, both consciously and subconsciously. These facts include the invention of and worldwide preference for alphabetic writing systems, and language processing evidence provided by Spoonerisms, historical sound changes affecting all (or most) lexical items in a language and each other, and the fact that allophonic processes normally do not show lexical conditioning. I further suggest that storing speech in terms of a small number of production/perception units such as phonemes could be due to the fact that phonemes seem to optimize both efficiency and informativeness in much the same way as other basic-level categories.