Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Acute Effect of Exercise Intensity on Vascular Function in Adolescents.

INTRODUCTION Impairments in vascular function are present in asymptomatic youths with risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Exercise can promote vascular health in youth, but the effects of exercise intensity and the time course in response to acute exercise are unknown. METHODS Twenty adolescents (10 male, 14.1 ± 0.3 yr) performed the following on separate days in a counterbalanced order: 1) cycling at 90% of the gas exchange threshold (moderate-intensity exercise (MIE)) and 2) 8 × 1-min cycling at 90% peak power with 75-s recovery (high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE)). The duration of MIE (25.8 ± 2.1 min) was work-matched to HIIE (23.0 min). Macro- and microvascular functions were assessed before, immediately after, and 1 and 2 h after exercise by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and laser Doppler imaging (total reactive hyperemia). RESULTS FMD was attenuated immediately after HIIE (P < 0.001, effect size (ES) = 1.20) but not after MIE (P = 0.28, ES = 0.26). Compared with that before exercise, FMD was elevated 1 and 2 h after HIIE (P < 0.001, ES = 1.33; P < 0.001, ES = 1.36) but unchanged in MIE (P = 0.67, ES = 0.10; P = 0.72, ES = 0.08). Changes in FMD were unrelated to shear or baseline arterial diameter. Compared with that in preexercise, total reactive hyperemia was always greater after MIE (P < 0.02, ES > 0.60 for all) and HIIE (P < 0.001, ES > 1.18 for all). Total reactive hyperemia was greater in HIIE compared with that in MIE immediately after (P = 0.03, ES = 0.67) and 1 h after (P = 0.01, ES = 0.62) exercise, with a trend to be greater 2 h after (P = 0.06, ES = 0.45). CONCLUSIONS Exercise intensity is positively associated with macro- and microvascular function 1 and 2 h after exercise. Performing HIIE may provide superior vascular benefits than MIE in adolescents.
Characterization of Exopolysaccharide Produced by Streptococcus thermophilus CC30

An exopolysaccharide (EPS) producing strain CC30 was isolated from raw milk and identified as Streptococcus thermophilus with morphological and 16S sequencing analysis. The strain was shown to produce 1.95 g/L of EPS when grown in skim milk lactose medium at 30°C by increasing the viscosity of the medium. The EPS was isolated and purified, and it was shown to consist of glucose and galactose in 1 : 1 ratio, with molecular weights ranging from 58 to 180 kDa. FTIR spectroscopy indicated the EPS to have amide, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups. Under Atomic Force Microscopy, EPS showed spike-like lumps of EPS. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) studies showed that it had irregular lumps with a coarse surface. The EPS displayed pseudoplastic nature. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) reported a degradation temperature of 110.84°C. The purified EPS exhibited reducing activity, hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activity, and emulsification activity. The results of the present study indicated that EPS producing Streptococcus thermophilus could serve as a promising candidate for further exploitation in food industry.
Embryonal tumor with abundant neuropil and true rosettes: Morphological, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural and molecular study of a case showing features of medulloepithelioma and areas of mesenchymal and epithelial differentiation

Embryonal tumors are a group of malignant neoplasms that most commonly affect the pediatric population. Embryonal tumor with abundant neuropil and true rosettes is a recently recognized rare tumor. It is composed of neurocytes and undifferentiated neuroepithelial cells arranged in clusters, cords and several types of rosettes in a prominent neuropil‐rich background. We describe a new case of this tumor. The patient, a 24‐month‐old female infant, was referred to the Meyer Children's Hospital with a history of right brachio‐crural deficit associated with occasional episodes of headache and vomiting. Computed tomography scan and MRI revealed a large bihemispheric mass. The patient underwent two consecutive surgeries. The resultant surgical resection of the tumor was macroscopically complete. The postoperative period was uneventful. On light microscopy the tumor showed a composite morphology: embryonal tumor with abundant neuropil and true rosettes (specimen from the first surgery); medulloepithelioma with mesenchymal and epithelial areas (specimen from the second surgery). The immunohistochemistry evidenced the heterogeneous (neuronal, mesenchymal and epithelial) immunoprofile of tumoral cells. By real‐time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), the PTEN gene expression in the tumor was lower than in the five non‐neoplastic brain tissues used as control. Mutation analysis did not show any variation in INI‐1 and PTEN sequence while P53 analysis showed the presence of homozygote P72R variation. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis showed polysomy of chromosome 2 while amplification of N‐MYC was not detected. Owing to the rarity of embryonal tumor with abundant neuropil and true rosettes, each new case should be recorded to produce a better clinical, pathological and molecular characterization of this lesion.
Fitting and Calibrating a Multilevel Mixed-Effects Stem Taper Model for Maritime Pine in NW Spain

Stem taper data are usually hierarchical (several measurements per tree, and several trees per plot), making application of a multilevel mixed-effects modelling approach essential. However, correlation between trees in the same plot/stand has often been ignored in previous studies. Fitting and calibration of a variable-exponent stem taper function were conducted using data from 420 trees felled in even-aged maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stands in NW Spain. In the fitting step, the tree level explained much more variability than the plot level, and therefore calibration at plot level was omitted. Several stem heights were evaluated for measurement of the additional diameter needed for calibration at tree level. Calibration with an additional diameter measured at between 40 and 60% of total tree height showed the greatest improvement in volume and diameter predictions. If additional diameter measurement is not available, the fixed-effects model fitted by the ordinary least squares technique should be used. Finally, we also evaluated how the expansion of parameters with random effects affects the stem taper prediction, as we consider this a key question when applying the mixed-effects modelling approach to taper equations. The results showed that correlation between random effects should be taken into account when assessing the influence of random effects in stem taper prediction.
Querying Spatio-temporal Patterns in Mobile Phone-Call Databases

Call Detail Record (CDR) databases contain many millions of records with information about mobile phone calls, including the users' location when the call was made/received. This huge amount of spatio-temporal data opens the door for the study of human trajectories on a large scale without the bias that other sources, like GPS or WLAN networks, introduce in the population studied. Furthermore, it provides a platform for the development of a wide variety of studies ranging from the spread of diseases to planning of public transportation. Nevertheless, previous work on spatio-temporal queries does not provide a framework "flexible" enough for expressing the complexity of human trajectories. In this paper we present Spatio-Temporal Pattern System (STPS) to query spatio-temporal patterns in very large CDR databases. STPS uses a regular-expression query language that is intuitive and that allows for any combination of spatial and temporal predicates with constraints, including the use of variables. The design of the language takes into consideration the layout of the areas being covered by the cellular towers, as well as "areas" that label places of interested (e.g. neighborhoods, parks, etc). A full implementation of the STPS is currently running with real, very large CDR databases at Telefonica Research Labs. An extensive performance evaluation of the STPS shows that it can efficiently find very complex mobility patterns in large CDR databases.
Discordance between Patient and Physician Assessments of Disease Severity in Systemic Sclerosis

Objective. To describe the magnitude and correlates of discordance between patient and physician assessments of disease severity in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods. Subjects were patients enrolled in the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group Registry. The outcomes of interest were patient and physician global assessments of disease severity (scales ranging from 0–10). Predictors of disease severity represented the spectrum of disease in SSc (skin involvement, severity of Raynaud’s phenomenon, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal symptoms and pain, number of fingertip ulcers, tender and swollen joints, creatinine, and fatigue). The results of the analysis were validated in an independent sample of patients with SSc from the United States. Results. Patients perceived greater disease severity than physicians (mean difference 0.78 ± 2.65). The agreement between patient and physician assessments of disease severity was, at best, modest (intraclass correlation 0.3774; weighted κ 0.3771). Although both patients and physicians were influenced by skin scores, breathlessness, and pain, the relative importance of these predictors differed. Patients were also influenced by other subjective symptoms, while physicians were also influenced by disease duration and creatinine. The predictors explained 56% of the deviance in the patient global assessments and 29% in the physician assessments. These findings were confirmed in the US dataset. Conclusion. Patients and physicians rate SSc disease severity differently in magnitude and are influenced by different factors. Patient-assessed and physician-assessed measures of severity should be considered as complementary and used together in future studies of SSc.
A Fast Algorithm for Subgraph Pattern Matching on Large Labeled Graphs

In recent years, the robustness of graphs for representing complex data has led to a proliferation of research on graph databases and analytics. One important topic in the field is graph pattern matching, which can be used, for example, in the processing of queries in graph databases. Though fast querying is highly desirable, pattern matching algorithms are hindered by the NP-completeness of the subgraph isomorphism problem. This paper presents a conceptually simple, memory-efficient, pruning-based algorithm for the subgraph isomorphism problem that outperforms commonly used algorithms by orders of magnitude on large labeled graphs. This speedup is due in large part to the effectiveness of the pruning algorithm, known as dual simulation, which in many cases removes a large percentage of the vertices not found in isomorphic matches. In this paper, the runtime of the algorithm is tested on synthetic graphs of up to 10 million vertices and 250 million edges and on two real life datasets, comparing when possible to an adjacency list version of Ullmann’s algorithm and to the VF2 algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to test a centralized subgraph isomorphism algorithm on graphs of this magnitude. The algorithm is tested extensively to determine the effects of label density, edge density, data graph size, degree distribution, and query graph size and type on runtime. The effectiveness of the algorithm is then demonstrated on two large real life graphs. The algorithm is easily extendable to graphs with multiple attributes on vertices and edges, making it an ideal candidate to serve as the backbone of a query processing engine for a graph database. Index words: pattern matching, graph, subgraph isomorphism, query processing A Fast Algorithm for Subgraph Pattern Matching on Large Labeled Graphs
Pattern Reversal Visual and Brain Stem Auditory Evoked Potentials : Influence of Gender , Head Circumference and Body Size in Normal Healthy Adults

DOI: 10.21276/sjams.2018. 6.1. 49 Abstract: Evoked potential studies are important neurophysiological tests that are useful in investigating the physiology and pathophysiology of central and peripheral nervous systems. Age, sex, brain size and body size are a variety of physiological parameters that influence the evoked potential variables. Hence the present study is aimed to study the gender differences in healthy adults and also to find out effect of BMI and head size on different evoked potential parameters. Evoked potentials were recorded in 102 healthy adults in the age-group of 20-65 years using the Data Acquisition and Analysis System. The study group comprised of 55 males and 47 females. Means were compared between males and females by using the unpaired student t test and head size and BMI were correlated with parameters by Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and statistical significance was analyzed. The study demonstrated statistically significant differences between males and females in all the parameters of VEP and in interpeak latencies I-III and III-V of BERA. Also in this study, BAEP showed a positive correlation with head circumference and VEP revealed a significant correlation with BMI. We concluded that gender is an important variable along with BMI and head size affecting the VEP and BAEP parameters. Hence these should be considered while standardizing the normative data for lab and for using it as a clinical tool.
Consumer Ethnocentrism in the Middle East: Measurement Properties of the CETSCALE in Tunisia and Lebanon

Country of origin is an important construct in consumer decision making relative to purchasing foreign or domestic products or services. Consumer ethnocentrism has been shown to be an important determinant in purchasing foreign versus domestic products. The CETSCALE used to measure consumer ethnocentrism was introduced in the U.S. by Shimp and Sharma (1987). Given the importance of country of origin to international marketers, the role of consumer ethnocentrism in decision making has been studied in many countries in order to understand their consumer attitudes toward purchasing foreign products or services. However, the measurement properties of CETSCALE have been evaluated in only a limited number of countries with mixed results. Therefore it is increasingly necessary to examine the measurement properties of the CETSCALE in important national and regional markets The Arab Middle East is certainly an import region but it is neglected in such research. This study seeks to fill that gap by examining the measurement properties of the CETSCALE with a sample of 300 Lebanese and 164 Tunisian consumers. A modified 7item CETSCALE demonstrated very good cross-national reliability and validity in these two Arab Middle East countries.
Valence of emotions and moral decision-making: increased pleasantness to pleasant images and decreased unpleasantness to unpleasant images are associated with utilitarian choices in healthy adults

Moral decision-making is a key asset for humans’ integration in social contexts, and the way we decide about moral issues seems to be strongly influenced by emotions. For example, individuals with deficits in emotional processing tend to deliver more utilitarian choices (accepting an emotionally aversive action in favor of communitarian well-being). However, little is known about the association between emotional experience and moral-related patterns of choice. We investigated whether subjective reactivity to emotional stimuli, in terms of valence, arousal, and dominance, is associated with moral decision-making in 95 healthy adults. They answered to a set of moral and non-moral dilemmas and assessed emotional experience in valence, arousal and dominance dimensions in response to neutral, pleasant, unpleasant non-moral, and unpleasant moral pictures. Results showed significant correlations between less unpleasantness to negative stimuli, more pleasantness to positive stimuli and higher proportion of utilitarian choices. We also found a positive association between higher arousal ratings to negative moral laden pictures and more utilitarian choices. Low dominance was associated with greater perceived difficulty over moral judgment. These behavioral results are in fitting with the proposed role of emotional experience in moral choice.
Carcinoid tumor in the urinary bladder: unreported features.

with Michael Nagar and Jonathan I. Epstein on the fact that epithelial changes can be attributed to the effect of neoplastic cells on the epithelium. The stroma within the STUMP and SS, although neoplastic, is homologous to normal prostatic stroma. In the normal prostate and in prostate carcinogenesis, there is a recognized epithelial-mesenchymal crosstalk. Mesenchymal (stromal) cells have the ability to stimulate epithelial cell growth by production of extracellular matrix, secretion of growth factors and cytokines, and supporting angiogenesis. Many effects on the prostatic epithelium can be elicited by the paracrine action of the hormone receptorpositive mesenchyme. In particular, imbalance of the hormone milieu with a predominance of estrogens may induce metaplastic changes in the human prostate. Nonkeratinizing squamous metaplasia is a reliable marker for estrogen action on the prostate. Studies on mouse prostatic epithelium showed that, after estrogen administration, the induction of nonkeratinizing squamous metaplasia involves proliferation of cells with a basal cell phenotype and upregulation of PR expression. Basal cell hyperplasia has been reported to coexist with sclerosing adenosis, a rare lesion characterized by a mixture of a distinctive cellular stroma and well-formed glands with basal cells showing the phenotype of myoepithelial cells. These myoepithelial cells may arise through a metaplastic process from prostatic basal cells. In the human mammary gland, myoepithelial cells play an important role in the survival and differentiation of luminal cells, in the response to estrogens, and in the modulation of stromalepithelial interactions. The different associated epithelial proliferations within different patterns of STUMPs and SSs may reflect differences in these epithelialmesenchymal interactions.
Microfluidic Fabrication Solutions for Tailor-Designed Fiber Suspensions

Fibers are widely used in different industrial processes, for example in paper manufacturing or lost circulation problems in the oil industry. Recently, interest towards the use of fibers at the microscale has grown, driven by research in bio-medical applications or drug delivery systems. Microfluidic systems are not only directly relevant for lab-on-chip applications, but have also proven to be good model systems to tackle fundamental questions about the flow of fiber suspensions. It has therefore become necessary to provide fiber-like particles with an excellent control of their properties. We present here two complementary in situ methods to fabricate controlled micro-fibers allowing for an embedded fabrication and flow-on-a-chip platform. The first one, based on a photo-lithography principle, can be used to make isolated fibers and dilute fiber suspensions at specific locations of interest inside a microchannel. The self-assembly property of super-paramagnetic colloids is the principle of the second fabrication method, which enables the fabrication of concentrated suspensions of more flexible fibers. We propose a flow gallery with several examples of fiber flow illustrating the two methods' capabilities and a range of recent laminar flow results.
HIV-1 Vpr Oligomerization but Not That of Gag Directs the Interaction between Vpr and Gag

ABSTRACT During HIV-1 assembly, the viral protein R (Vpr) is incorporated into newly made viral particles via an interaction with the C-terminal domain of the Gag polyprotein precursor Pr55Gag. Vpr has been implicated in the nuclear import of newly made viral DNA and subsequently in its transcription. In addition, Vpr can affect the cell physiology by causing G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Vpr can form oligomers, but their roles have not yet been investigated. We have developed fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy-fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based assays to monitor the interaction between Pr55Gag and Vpr in HeLa cells. To that end, we used enhanced green fluorescent protein-Vpr that can be incorporated into the virus and tetracysteine (TC)-tagged Pr55Gag-TC. This TC motif is tethered to the C terminus of Pr55Gag and does not interfere with Pr55Gag trafficking and the assembly of virus-like particles (VLPs). Results show that the Pr55Gag-Vpr complexes accumulated mainly at the plasma membrane. In addition, results with Pr55Gag-TC mutants confirm that the 41LXXLF domain of Gag-p6 is essential for Pr55Gag-Vpr interaction. We also report that Vpr oligomerization is crucial for Pr55Gag recognition and its accumulation at the plasma membrane. On the other hand, Pr55Gag-Vpr complexes are still formed when Pr55Gag carries mutations impairing its multimerization. These findings suggest that Pr55Gag-Vpr recognition and complex formation occur early during Pr55Gag assembly.
Using financial markets to estimate the macro effects of monetary policy: An impact-identified FAVAR

In this paper, I use high-frequency nancial market estimates to identify the monetary policy shock in a non-recursive 133 variable FAVAR. All restrictions are imposed exclusively on impact, and only on nancial market variables. Using the economy's underlying factor structure as the link between its real and nancial sides, I nd that high-frequency responses contain valuable information about the behavior of lower-frequency macro variables. Even though the proposed identi cation scheme does not fall back on any of the standard (FA)VAR identifying assumptions, it con rms the classical nding that monetary policy has strong and signi cant delayed e ects on real activity. I also obtain stock market responses that are compatible with the e cient market hypothesis and nd that consumer prices react very little to monetary policy.
Semantic segmentation of aerial images with explicit class-boundary modeling

In this work we propose an end-to-end trainable supervised Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) targeting the task of semantic-segmentation with the addition of class-aware boundary detection. Through this explicit modeling of the class-boundaries, we enforce the network to extract coherent and complete objects, suppressing the uncertainty influencing these regions. Importantly, we show that class-boundary networks in conjunction with DCNN performs optimally, achieving over 90% overall accuracy (OA) on the challenging ISPRS Vaihingen Semantic Segmentation benchmark.