Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Social Support: The Social Support Questionnaire.

Abstract : A measure of social support, the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), is described and four empirical studies employing it are described. The SSQ yields scores for (a) number of social supports, and (b) satisfaction with social support that is available. Three of the studies deal with the SSQ's psychometric properties, its correations with measures of personality and adjustment, and the relationship of the SSQ to positive and negative life changes. The fourth study was an experimental investigation of the relationship between social support and persistence in working on a complex, frustrating task. The research reported suggests that the SSQ is a reliable instrument, and that social support is (1) more strongly related to positive than negative life changes, (2) more related in a negative direction to psychological discomfort among women than men, and (3) an asset in enabling a person to persist at a task under frustrating conditions. Research and clinical implications are discussed. (Author)
Prasugrel, a New Thienopyridine Antiplatelet Drug, Weakly Inhibits Cytochrome P450 2B6 in Humans

Prasugrel, a thienopyridine prodrug, is hydrolyzed in vivo by esterases to a thiolactone followed by a single cytochrome P450 (CYP)‐dependent step to an active metabolite that is a potent inhibitor of adenosine diphosphate–induced platelet aggregation. This open‐label, multiple‐dose, 2‐period, fixed‐sequence study assessed CYP2B6 inhibition by prasugrel using bupropion as a probe substrate, where its active metabolite, hydroxybupropion, is almost exclusively formed by CYP2B6. Thirty healthy subjects received a single 150‐mg oral dose of sustained‐release bupropion. After a 7‐day washout, a 60‐mg prasugrel loading dose, followed by a 10‐mg daily maintenance dose for 10 days, was administered. Bupropion (150 mg) was given with prasugrel on day 7 of this phase. Prasugrel weakly inhibited CYP2B6 activity as it increased bupropion Cmax and AUC0‐∞ by 14% and 18%, respectively, and decreased hydroxybupropion Cmax and AUC0‐∞ by 32% and 23%. These results are consistent with patients receiving prasugrel not requiring dose adjustments when treated with drugs primarily metabolized by CYP2B6.
Glycolytic inhibitor 2-deoxyglucose prevents cortical hyperexcitability after traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes cortical dysfunction and can lead to post-traumatic epilepsy. Multiple studies demonstrate that GABAergic inhibitory network function is compromised following TBI, which may contribute to hyperexcitability and motor, behavioral, and cognitive deficits. Preserving the function of GABAergic interneurons, therefore, is a rational therapeutic strategy to preserve cortical function after TBI and prevent long-term clinical complications. Here, we explored an approach based on the ketogenic diet, a neuroprotective and anticonvulsant dietary therapy which results in reduced glycolysis and increased ketosis. Utilizing a pharmacologic inhibitor of glycolysis (2-deoxyglucose, or 2-DG), we found that acute in vitro glycolytic inhibition decreased the excitability of excitatory neurons, but not inhibitory interneurons, in cortical slices from naïve mice. Employing the controlled cortical impact (CCI) model of TBI in mice, we found that in vitro 2-DG treatment rapidly attenuated epileptiform activity seen in acute cortical slices 3-5 weeks after TBI. One week of in vivo 2-DG treatment immediately after TBI prevented the development of epileptiform activity, restored excitatory and inhibitory synaptic activity, and attenuated loss of parvalbumin-positive inhibitory interneurons. In summary, inhibition of glycolysis with 2-DG may have therapeutic potential to restore network function following TBI. One Sentence Summary Following traumatic brain injury in mice, in vivo treatment with the glycolytic inhibitor 2-deoxyglucose prevented cortical network pathology including cortical hyperexcitability, changes in synaptic activity, and loss of parvalbumin-expressing GABAergic interneurons.
Wisconsin firearm deer hunting season: injuries at a level I trauma center, 1999-2004.

CONTEXT Hunting continues to be a passion and common pastime for many US citizens, especially in rural areas. Unfortunately, with the large volume of hunters entering the woods each season, hunting injuries continue to be common. OBJECTIVE Review the experience of a level I trauma center during each of Wisconsin's 9-day deer firearm hunting seasons over a 6-year period and identify potential prevention elements based on the findings. DESIGN We retrospectively reviewed all hunting-related injury patient data entered into the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinic's (UWHC) level I trauma registry from 1999 to 2004, for each 9-day Wisconsin deer hunting firearm season. We compared injury occurrence with Wisconsin DNR statewide hunting-related firearm injury incidence data over the same time frame. The study was conducted at a level I university tertiary referral trauma center. The study included any patient admitted to the UWHC during the study period with a hunting-related injury entered into the trauma registry. OUTCOMES MEASURED Primary outcomes recorded included patient demographics, mechanism of injury, types of injuries, comorbidities, injury severity scores, and mortality. RESULTS Twenty-four patients were treated for hunting-related injuries during the study period. The majority of hunters were male (95%), with an average age of 44.5 years. Treestand injuries accounted for 16 of the 24 injuries treated; the rest of the injuries were firearm-related. Most of the injuries (18) occurred during the first 3 days of the hunting season, with the remaining 6 injuries taking place around the Thanksgiving holiday period. Injury severity scores (ISS) ranged from 1 to 50. Orthopedic concerns accounted for 79% of the injuries, while general surgical was 50%, and neurosurgical was 12.5%. Two fatalities occurred due to complications from injuries caused by falling from a treestand. CONCLUSION Falls from a tree-stand and firearm shootings represent 2 mechanisms for severe hunting-related injuries during the 9-day deer firearm hunting season in Wisconsin. Formal treestand safety instruction should be emphasized during hunting education classes and all hunters need to heed safe hunting recommendations pertaining to firearms and treestands, and be particularly cautious during the first few days of the hunting season.
Recent advances in aqueous actinide chemistry and thermodynamics.

Thermodynamics Marcus Altmaier,*,† Xavier Gaona,† and Thomas Fanghan̈el‡,§ †Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany ‡Institute for Transuranium Elements, Joint Research Center, European Commission, P.O. Box 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe, Germany Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 253, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Arterial microanatomy determines the success of energy-based renal denervation in controlling hypertension

Local tissue anatomy determines the success of renal nerve ablation and explains its variable effects on blood pressure. Details matter Interrupting the innervation to the kidney can ameliorate hypertension, but clinical trials have been disappointing. To better understand why, Tzafriri et al. examined the damaged tissue surrounding the heat delivery electrode in pigs. They also modeled heat transfer, including the effect of irrigation of the electrode and of the microanatomy surrounding the ablation site. They concluded that the extent of the ablation and the nerve damage varied as a result of local blood vessels, lymph nodes, and other substructures. Blood pressure decreased more in pigs that suffered damage to more nerves, indicating that microanatomy-caused variation in the effectiveness of nerve ablation could be responsible for variation in the effectiveness of renal denervation. Renal denervation (RDN) is a treatment option for patients with hypertension resistant to conventional therapy. Clinical trials have demonstrated variable benefit. To understand the determinants of successful clinical response to this treatment, we integrated porcine and computational models of intravascular radiofrequency RDN. Controlled single-electrode denervation resulted in ablation zone geometries that varied in arc, area, and depth, depending on the composition of the adjacent tissue substructure. Computational simulations predicted that delivered power density was influenced by tissue substructure, and peaked at the conductivity discontinuities between soft fatty adventitia and water-rich tissues (media, lymph nodes, etc.), not at the electrode-tissue interface. Electrode irrigation protected arterial wall tissue adjacent to the electrode by clearing heat that diffuses from within the tissue, without altering periarterial ablation. Seven days after multielectrode treatments, renal norepinephrine and blood pressure were reduced. Blood pressure reductions were correlated with the size-weighted number of degenerative nerves, implying that the effectiveness of the treatment in decreasing hypertension depends on the extent of nerve injury and ablation, which in turn are determined by the tissue microanatomy at the electrode site. These results may explain the variable patient response to RDN and suggest a path to more robust outcomes.
Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) Inhibition Constrains Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) Activity in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Cells

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) metabolizes L-tryptophan to kynurenines (KYN), inducing T-cell suppression either directly or by altering antigen-presenting-cell function. Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of prostaglandins, is over-expressed by several tumours. We aimed at determining whether COX-2 inhibitors down-regulate the IFN-γ-induced expression of IDO1 in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells. IFN-γ at 100 ng/mL up-regulated COX-2 and IDO1 in HL-60 AML cells, both at mRNA and protein level. The increased COX-2 and IDO1 expression correlated with heightened production of prostaglandin (PG)E2 and kynurenines, respectively. Nimesulide, a preferential COX-2 inhibitor, down-regulated IDO1 mRNA/protein and attenuated kynurenine synthesis, suggesting that overall IDO inhibition resulted both from reduced IDO1 gene transcription and from inhibited IDO1 catalytic activity. From a functional standpoint, IFN-γ-challenged HL-60 cells promoted the in vitro conversion of allogeneic CD4+CD25− T cells into bona fide CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells, an effect that was significantly reduced by treatment of IFN-γ-activated HL-60 cells with nimesulide. Overall, these data point to COX-2 inhibition as a potential strategy to be pursued with the aim at circumventing leukaemia-induced, IDO-mediated immune dysfunction.
Evaluation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Tumor Response After Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization Using Gadobenate Dimeglumine–Enhanced Liver Magnetic Resonance

Objective Use of gadobenate dimeglumine–enhanced liver magnetic resonance (MR) for evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma tumor response after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods Forty-five patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were imaged with multiphase gadobenate dimeglumine–enhanced MR examination at baseline and 1-month follow-up after TACE. Nodule size, enhancement, and apparent diffusion coefficient were measured for both examinations by 2 reviewers. Changes in tumor nodule size, enhancement, and apparent diffusion coefficient were evaluated using the Student t test. Results Nineteen of 45 patients completed the study, and a total of 34 hepatocellular carcinoma nodules were analyzed. On the posttreatment follow up, there was no significant change in nodule size. Target lesions demonstrated significant decrease in tumor enhancement after TACE (P < 0.001). Intense contrast accumulation along the periphery of the presumed necrotic tumor on the delayed hepatobiliary phase helped to differentiate viable from non-viable tumor. Conclusion Gadobenate dimeglumine–enhanced liver MR may help differentiate between viable and necrotic tumor after TACE.
The intermediates take it all: Asymptotics of higher criticism statistics and a powerful alternative based on equal local levels

The higher criticism (HC) statistic, which can be seen as a normalized version of the famous Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic, has a long history, dating back to the mid seventies. Originally, HC statistics were used in connection with goodness of fit (GOF) tests but they recently gained some attention in the context of testing the global null hypothesis in high dimensional data. The continuing interest for HC seems to be inspired by a series of nice asymptotic properties related to this statistic. For example, unlike Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests, GOF tests based on the HC statistic are known to be asymptotically sensitive in the moderate tails, hence it is favorably applied for detecting the presence of signals in sparse mixture models. However, some questions around the asymptotic behavior of the HC statistic are still open. We focus on two of them, namely, why a specific intermediate range is crucial for GOF tests based on the HC statistic and why the convergence of the HC distribution to the limiting one is extremely slow. Moreover, the inconsistency in the asymptotic and finite behavior of the HC statistic prompts us to provide a new HC test that has better finite properties than the original HC test while showing the same asymptotics. This test is motivated by the asymptotic behavior of the so‐called local levels related to the original HC test. By means of numerical calculations and simulations we show that the new HC test is typically more powerful than the original HC test in normal mixture models.
Glass Transition and Food Technology: A Critical Appraisal

ABSTRACT: Most low water content or frozen food products are partly or fully amorphous. This review will discuss the extent to which it is possible to understand and predict their behavior during processing and storage, on the basis of glass transition temperature values (Tg) and phenomena related to glass transition. Two main conclusions are provisionally proposed. Firstly, glass transition cannot be considered as an absolute threshold for molecular mobility. Transport of water and other small molecules takes place even in the glassy state at a significant rate, resulting in effective exchange of water in multi-domains foods or sensitivity to oxidation of encapsulated materials. Texture properties (crispness) also appear to be greatly affected by sub-Tg relaxations and aging below Tg. Secondly, glass transition is only one among the various factors controlling the kinetics of evolution of products during storage and processing. For processes such as collapse, caking, crystallization, and operations like drying, extrusion, flaking, Tg data and WLF kinetics have good predictive value as regards the effects of temperature and water content. On the contrary, chemical/biochemical reactions are frequently observed at temperature below Tg, albeit at a reduced rate, and WLF kinetics may be obscured by other factors.
An evolutionary fuzzy c-means approach for clustering of bio-informatics databases

Recently, the scientific community has started to show increasing interest in finding clusters in high-dimensional data sets such as gene product (protein or RNA) data sets in bio-informatics. In this paper we consider the problem of finding fuzzy clusters in such very high dimensional data. In fact, even if fuzzy clustering has been successfully applied to numerous data sets, for such high-dimensional databases it often produces trivial solutions where all cluster centers coincide and all memberships are equal. To solve this problem, we present an evolutionary approach that integrates fuzzy c-means clustering and feature selection. Reducing the dimensionality of the space, feature selection improves the quality of the partitions generated, and, at the same time, can help to build both faster and more cost-effective predictors, as well as a better understanding of the underlying generation process. We exhibit the good quality of the clustering results by applying our approach to two real-world data sets from bio-informatics.
Pattern of rheumatoid arthritis in West Malaysia.

Common diseases are subject to considerable variation in incidence and expression due to influence of geographical factors, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an example of this. Greenwood (1969) indicated that RA in tropical Africa is more benign than in temperate climates. In West Malaysia the severity and incidence appear to be intermediate between that in tropical Africa and in the temperate zones. Environmental, ethnic, and social factors interact in determining the pattern. Furthermore, the condition occurs at equivalent incidence with other rheumatic disorders, particularly gout and autoimmune disease as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This report is a study ofRA in the three main ethnic groups in West Malaysia.
Evolution and variation of the yeast (Saccharomyces) genome.

In this review we describe the role of the yeast Saccharomyces in the development of human societies including the use of this organism in the making of wine, bread, beer, and distilled beverages. We also discuss the tremendous diversity of yeast found in natural (i.e., noninoculated) wine fermentations and the scientific uses of yeast over the past 60 years. In conclusion, we present ideas on the model of "genome renewal" and the use of this model to explain the mode by which yeast has evolved and how diversity can be generated.
Attention to childbirth and delivery in a university hospital: comparison of practices developed after Network Stork

Objective to compare, after four years of the implementation of the Stork Network, the obstetric practices developed in a university hospital according to the classification of the World Health Organization. Method cross-sectional study carried out in the year of adherence to the Stork Network (377 women) and replicated four years later (586 women). Data were obtained through medical records and a structured questionnaire. The Chi-square test was used in the analysis. Results four years after the implementation of the Stork Network, in Category A practices (demonstrably useful practices/good practices), there was increased frequency of companions, non-pharmacological methods, skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding stimulation, and decreased freedom of position/movement. In Category B (harmful practices), there was reduction of trichotomy and increased venoclysis. In Category C (practices with no sufficient evidence), there was increase of Kristeller’s maneuver. In Category D (improperly used practices), the percentage of digital examinations above the recommended level increased, as well as of analgesics and analgesia, and there was decrease of episiotomy. Conclusion these findings indicate the maintenance of a technocratic and interventionist assistance and address the need for changes in the obstetric care model. A globally consolidated path is the incorporation of midwife nurses into childbirth for the appropriate use of technologies and the reduction of unnecessary interventions.
Effect of fatigue on stroking characteristics in an arms-only 100-m front-crawl race.

PURPOSE Race analyses during swimming provide information on the time-dependent values of, among other variables, a swimmer's clean swimming speed (v), stroke rate (SR), and stroke length (SL). The effect of fatigue on changes in v, SR, and SL was investigated. METHODS Lap-averaged values of v, SR, and SL while swimming 100 m all out with arms only (trial 1) were related to the decline in mechanical power output measured during an all-out 100-m swim on the MAD system (trial 2), with legs immobilized in both trials. RESULTS Swimming a 100-m front-crawl sprint using arms only led to a significant 24% decrease in lap-averaged mechanical power output (from 200 to 153 W, P < 0.01). This reduction in power-generating capacity led to a 12.4% decrease in v when lap 1 was compared with lap 4 (from 1.69 to 1.48 m x s(-1), P < 0.01). SR declined throughout the race by 10.6% from 0.85 Hz (lap 1) to 0.76 Hz (lap 4, P < 0.05). Analysis revealed that this decrease in SR was linearly related to the decrease in v. The reduction in SR reflected the reduced propulsive force required to overcome the v-dependent, and therefore lower, drag. CONCLUSION Decreases in swimming speed throughout a 100-m front-crawl race are the result of decreases in the power-producing capacity of the swimmer (fatigue). This fatigue-induced reduction in swimming speed will lead to a reduction in drag. The SR seems to be accommodated to this reduced power output capacity and concomitant diminished propulsion requirements.
The invasive ‘mothcatcher’ (Araujia sericifera Brot.; Asclepiadoideae) co-opts native honeybees as its primary pollinator in South Africa

Araujia sericifera is a South American milkweed which is an invasive/exotic species in South Africa. This species relies on pollinators for sexual reproduction and we show it has co-opted native South African honeybees as primary pollinators in its adopted country. Moths also visit the flowers of this species, but contribute little to its relatively high pollination success.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Using WordNet to measure semantic orientations of adjectives

Current WordNet-based measures of distance or similarity focus almost exclusively on WordNet’s taxonomic relations. This effectively restricts their applicability to the syntactic categories of noun and verb. We investigate a graph-theoretic model of WordNet’s most important relation—synonymy—and propose measures that determine the semantic orientation of adjectives for three factors of subjective meaning. Evaluation against human judgments shows the effectiveness of the resulting measures.
Capacitor placement to minimize active loss in distribution systems using bio-inspired optimization

This paper presents the development of a hybrid optimization model to minimize active losses in distribution systems through capacitor placement and sizing. The proposed model uses relaxed objective values obtained by a continuous non-linear optimization of the discrete variables as a base of comparison to the Ant Colony optimization model. The objective is to evaluate the model ability to present good solutions with a reduced number of individuals in the search process. A brief result is presented, demonstrating the gain of the proposed methodology when compared to other studies.
Exact Solutions in Structured Low-Rank Approximation

Structured low-rank approximation is the problem of minimizing a weighted Frobenius distance to a given matrix among all matrices of fixed rank in a linear space of matrices. We study exact solutions to this problem by way of computational algebraic geometry. A particular focus lies on Hankel matrices, Sylvester matrices and generic linear spaces.