Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of olmesartan on blood pressure, endothelial function, and cardiovascular outcomes

The vascular endothelium, the largest “organ” in the body, synthesizes and releases a wide spectrum of vasoactive substances into the circulation. Endothelial dysfunction links hypertension and other cardiovascular (CV) risk factors that promote the development of atherosclerotic plaque, CV disease, and fatal and nonfatal CV events. Blood pressure (BP) reduction is the most effective way to reduce CV risk in patients with hypertension, but it is unknown whether endothelial dysfunction is a cause or consequence of hypertension. Renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system blockers improve endothelial function and have favorable vascular, metabolic, cardiac, and renoprotective effects that are independent of BP reduction. Olmesartan effectively reduces BP and also has vasoprotective properties, including reductions in endothelial dysfunction and inflammation, prevention of microalbuminuria, and reversal of vascular remodeling. Large-scale, long-term studies are needed to confirm that olmesartan has vasoprotective effects that are independent of BP control and to determine whether these pleiotropic effects translate into improved CV disease outcomes.
Applications of microwave remote sensing of soil moisture for agricultural applications

Agricultural irrigation is the largest (80%) user of freshwater resources. With increasing freshwater demand, it is important to make optimal use of water resources with improved agricultural productivity through objective and accurate information provided by remote sensing. This paper reviews the potential of applications of microwave remote sensing of soil moisture and vegetation for agricultural application. Microwave remote sensing can be used to estimate soil moisture on the basis of large contrast that exists between the dielectric constant values for dry and wet soils. Temporal monitoring of water availability at soil root zone during growth periods of crop could prevent water stress and improve the productivity. At field scales, the high resolution soil moisture data can be better used for irrigation scheduling through precision agriculture. At larger scales, low resolution soil moisture data as alternative to vegetation index can be used to monitor and predict crop yield. Because microwaves penetrate cloud, microwave remote sensing could be a good alternative to VIS/IR hyperspectral data for monitoring vegetation distribution, health and water needs for agricultural applications.
An improved procedure to quantify tumour vascularity using true colour image analysis. Comparison with the manual hot‐spot procedure in a human melanoma xenograft model

In a number of recent papers, the degree of tumour vascularization has been described as a promising new prognostic factor. Methods for the assessment of vascular density involve immunohistochemical staining of the vasculature, followed by counting the number of vessel profiles in the angiogenic hot spot. One of the problems of this procedure is the selection of the angiogenic hot spot, which has been described as being subject to inter‐observer variation. In this study, the value of true colour image analysis in reducing inter‐observer variation has been assessed. Highly (MV3) and poorly (M14) vascularized human melanoma xenografts were used to evaluate the image analysis procedure, and the image analysis results were compared with results from the conventional manual hot‐spot procedure. Assessment by image analysis was performed on measurement fields covering the entire tumour tissue specimens rather than on a single hot‐spot field. Also, by selecting the most densely vascularized area from all fields assessed by the semi‐automatic procedure, it was possible to objectify the hot spot selection (automated hot‐spot procedure). Manual assessment showed a good correlation between two independent observers for MV3 xenografts (r‐0·74, P‐0·014), but a poor correlation for M14 xenographs (r‐0·4, P>0·05). Automated assessment by different operators showed good correlations for both MV3 xenografts (r‐0·99, P<0·001) and M14 xenografts (r‐0·80, P‐0·006). It is concluded that although both manual vessel counting and semi‐automated image analysis can differentiate between the level of vascularization in the two types of xenograft (P<0·001 for both methods), the automated method is favourable in that it showed no significant inter‐observer effects. In M14 xenografts, the manual hot‐spot vessel densities did not correlate well with the automated hot‐spot densities (r‐0·27, P>0·05), indicating that selection of angiogenic hot spots in this tumour type is indeed subject to observer bias. The automated hot‐spot vessel densities were a reliable indicator of overall tumour vessel density in both tumour types. Image analysis allows analysis of vessel subclasses based on morphological criteria such as vessel profile area or diameter. In the model system used, the discrimination between MV3 and M14 xenografts was further enhanced by selectively examining vessels with diameters between 6 and 9 μm (P<0·0005). In conclusion, image analysis appears to offer an objective and more reproducible method to quantify tumour vascularity than manual counting of vessel profiles in the hot spot. Analysis of subclasses of vessels may further enhance the value of vessel density measurements in discriminating between tumour types differing in biological behaviour. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Getting Off on the Wrong Foot: The Timing of a Breach and the Restoration of Trust

Few interpersonal relationships endure without one party violating the other's expectations. Thus, the ability to build trust and to restore cooperation after a breach can be critical for the preservation of positive relationships. Using an iterated prisoner's dilemma, this article presents two experiments that investigated the effects of the timing of a trust breach—at the start of an interaction, after 5 trials, after 10 trials, or not at all. The findings indicate that getting off on the wrong foot has devastating long-term consequences. Although later breaches seemed to limit cooperation for only a short time, they still planted a seed of distrust that surfaced in the end.
Evaluating positive leadership: pilot study on the psychometric properties of a reduced version of the Positive Leadership Assessment Scale / Evaluando el liderazgo positivo: estudio piloto de las propiedades psicométricas de una versión reducida del Positive Leadership Assessment Scale

Abstract Positive leadership is considered a fundamental factor which contributes significantly to the development of healthy organizations. Positive leadership has been address via other leadership models, primarily transformational and authentic leadership, with which some affinities have been established. Although there is a large body of literature on positive leadership, especially related to its practical aspects, the construct is not properly delimited and there are only a few relevant contributions on how to measure it. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a pilot study to examine the psychometric properties of a reduced version of the PLAS (Positive Leadership Assessment Scale). Results from a confirmatory factorial analysis show that a five-correlated factors model achieves a good fit with the empirical data (on a sample of Spanish students). Likewise, this study also offers a range of evidence of validity, showing a relationship with the constructs of both transformational and authentic leadership and engagement.
Behavioral and physiological responses to fruit availability of spider monkeys ranging in a small forest fragment

Numerous animal species currently experience habitat loss and fragmentation. This might result in behavioral and dietary adjustments, especially because fruit availability is frequently reduced in fragments. Food scarcity can result in elevated physiological stress levels, and chronic stress often has detrimental effects on individuals. Some animal species exhibit a high degree of fission–fusion dynamics, and theory predicts that these species reduce intragroup feeding competition by modifying their subgroup size according to resource availability. Until now, however, there have been few studies on how species with such fission–fission dynamics adjust their grouping patterns and social behavior in small fragments or on how food availability influences their stress levels. We collected data on fruit availability, feeding behavior, stress hormone levels (measured through fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGCM)), subgroup size, and aggression for two groups of brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) in a small forest fragment in Colombia and examined whether fruit availability influences these variables. Contrary to our predictions, spider monkeys ranged in smaller subgroups, had higher FGCM levels and higher aggression rates when fruit availability was high compared to when it was low. The atypical grouping pattern of the study groups seems to be less effective at mitigating contest competition over food resources than more typical fission–fusion patterns. Overall, our findings illustrate that the relationship between resource availability, grouping patterns, aggression rates, and stress levels can be more complex than assumed thus far. Additional studies are needed to investigate the long‐term consequences on the health and persistence of spider monkeys in fragmented habitats. Am. J. Primatol. 76:1049–1061, 2014. © 2014 The Authors. American Journal of Primatology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Model Accuracy and Runtime Tradeoff in Distributed Deep Learning: A Systematic Study

Deep learning with a large number of parametersrequires distributed training, where model accuracy and runtimeare two important factors to be considered. However, there hasbeen no systematic study of the tradeoff between these two factorsduring the model training process. This paper presents Rudra, aparameter server based distributed computing framework tunedfor training large-scale deep neural networks. Using variants ofthe asynchronous stochastic gradient descent algorithm we studythe impact of synchronization protocol, stale gradient updates, minibatch size, learning rates, and number of learners on runtimeperformance and model accuracy. We introduce a new learningrate modulation strategy to counter the effect of stale gradientsand propose a new synchronization protocol that can effectivelybound the staleness in gradients, improve runtime performanceand achieve good model accuracy. Our empirical investigationreveals a principled approach for distributed training of neuralnetworks: the mini-batch size per learner should be reducedas more learners are added to the system to preserve the modelaccuracy. We validate this approach using commonly-used imageclassification benchmarks: CIFAR10 and ImageNet.
PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CO‐EXPRESSION OF p53 AND c‐erbB‐2 PROTEINS IN BREAST CANCER

The immunohistochemical expression of p53 and c‐erbB‐2 gene proteins was examined in a series of 130 breast adenocarcinomas. This study intended to investigate whether the frequency of the altered expression of the tumour suppressor gene p53 and the overexpression of the oncogene c‐erbB‐2 in breast cancer tissue cells correlated with other variables known to affect the biological behaviour of these tumours and the overall survival of the patients (median follow‐up time: 6 years). The expression of p53 protein and c‐erbB‐2 gene product was evaluated immunohistochemically. Expression of p53 protein was detected in 30 (23 per cent) of the neoplasms examined, while 26 (20 per cent) out of the 130 cases demonstrated positive c‐erbB‐2 immunoreactivity. There was a statistically significant association between p53 protein expression and primary tumour size, lymph node involvement, and oestrogen receptor positivity. The incidence of c‐erbB‐2 positivity was significantly correlated with high tumour grade, axillary node invasion, large tumour size, and the absence of steroid receptors. p53 immuno‐expression was clearly associated with c‐erbB‐2 protein overexpression. Concomitant p53 and c‐erbB‐2 positive immunolabelling, which emerged in 14 out of the 130 cases (10·7 per cent), was clearly associated with high grade, large size, positive nodal status, ductal infiltrating (NOS) histological type, and low values of progesterone receptors. Overall survival of patients was not significantly related to the immunoreactivity of either p53 or c‐erbB‐2 considered separately, whereas there was a clearly significant trend to worse overall prognosis in cancers with double p53/c‐erbB‐2 positive phenotype. The simultaneous immunodetection of p53/c‐erbB‐2 appears to have greater negative prognostic relevance than their separate expression.
Survey of the Anaerobic Biodegradation Potential of Organic Chemicals in Digesting Sludge

The degradation potential of 77 organic chemicals under methanogenic conditions was examined with an anaerobic digesting sludge from the United Kingdom. Degradation was assessed in terms of net total gas (CH4 plus CO2) produced, expressed as a percentage of the theoretical production (ThGP). The compounds tested were selected from various chemical groups and included substituted phenols and benzoates, pesticides, phthalic acid esters, homocyclic and heterocyclic ring compounds, glycols, and monosubstituted benzenes. The results obtained were in good agreement with published surveys of biodegradability in U.S. digesting sludges and other methanogenic environments. In general, the presence of chloro or nitro groups inhibited anaerobic gas production, while carboxyl and hydroxyl groups facilitated biodegradation. The relationship between substituent position and susceptibility to methanogenic degradation was compound dependent. The following chemicals were completely degraded (≥80% ThGP) at a concentration of 50 mg of carbon per liter: phenol, 2-aminophenol, 4-cresol, catechol, sodium benzoate, 4-aminobenzoic acid, 3-chlorobenzoic acid, phthalic acid, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, sodium stearate, and quinoline. 3-Cresol, 4-chlorobenzoic acid, dimethyl phthalate, and pyridine were partially degraded. Although the remaining chemicals tested were either persistent or toxic, their behavior may differ at more environmentally realistic chemical-to-biomass ratios. Our findings suggest that biodegradability assessments made with sludge from one source can be extrapolated to sludge from another source with a reasonable degree of confidence and should help in predicting the fate of an organic chemical during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.
Long-Term Room Temperature Storage of Dry Ribonucleic Acid for Use in RNA-seq Analysis

RNA is an essential biological material for research in genomics and translational medicine. As such, its storage for biobanking is an important field of study. Traditionally, long-term storage in the cold (generally freezers or liquid nitrogen) is used to maintain high-quality (in terms of quantity and integrity) RNA. Room temperature (RT) preservation provides an alternative to the cold, which is plagued by serious problems (mainly cost and safety), for RNA long-term storage. In this study, we evaluated the performance of several RT storage procedures, including the RNAshell from Imagene, where the RNA is dried and kept protected from the atmosphere, and the vacuum drying of RNA with additives such as the Imagene stabilization solution and a home-made trehalose solution. This evaluation was performed through accelerated (equivalent to 10 years for RNAshell) aging and real-time studies (4 years). To check RNA quality and integrity, we used RNA integrity number values and RNA-seq. Our study shows that isolation from atmosphere offers a superior protective effect for RNA storage compared with vacuum drying alone, and demonstrates that RNAshell permits satisfactory RNA quality for long-term RT storage. Thus, the RNA quality could meet the demand of downstream applications such as RNA-seq.
Social inclusion for young people with and without psychosis : the importance of internal and external factors

Psychosis most commonly first occurs during adolescence or early adulthood, disrupting the social and occupational transitions characterising this time. Studies on social and occupational outcomes in psychosis have tended to focus on observer-rated, dysfunction-based outcomes. However, mental health services are increasingly adopting a personal recovery model; focusing on facilitating hopeful and individually meaningful lives. Social inclusion is paramount to personal recovery but there is a need for greater awareness of the processes by which mental health services facilitate social inclusion for young people with psychosis. Cognitive models and research with longterm psychosis service users suggests that negative self-beliefs contribute to poorer social outcomes in psychosis, whereas personal recovery models emphasise the role of hopefulness and therapeutic relationships with optimistic mental health professionals. This thesis first investigates a structural model of social inclusion and its association with hope and negative self-beliefs for healthy young people (n= 387). Then the processes by which young service users’ self-beliefs, therapeutic relationships and professionals’ beliefs influence social inclusion are explored using directed path models (n= 51). Directed path models then test how professional characteristics, focusing on attachment styles and job attitudes, facilitate therapeutic relationships (n= 61). Finally, the contributions of self-beliefs, therapeutic relationships, professional beliefs and social inclusion in predicting vocational outcomes are explored (n= 51). Current findings support the relative importance of hopefulness over negative selfbeliefs in social inclusion for young people with and without psychosis. Hope appears particularly important for adolescents compared to young adults. Positive relationships with optimistic professionals predict service users’ hopefulness, social inclusion and vocational activity. Findings suggest that professionals’ own attachment style and job attitudes may aid in positive therapeutic relationship formation. These findings encourage a greater focus on therapeutic relationships and service users’ hopefulness in youth psychosis service provision. Professional training should encourage greater awareness of professionals’ own attachment style and job attitudes, and how these factors impact on positive therapeutic relationship development
Personal knowledge perceptions and memory for information : When does feeling ignorant make me remember more ?

Subjective knowledge refers to consumers’ perceptions about how knowledgeable they are in a specific domain. The present research investigates the impact of manipulating subjective knowledge on information processing and retrieval strategies. In a first study, we show that consumer self-esteem moderates the relationship between subjective knowledge manipulations and different measures of memory for new information. In a second study, we identify moderating mechanisms and boundary effects for the hypothesized effects. The third study specifies the scope of the memory effect. Finally, the fourth study extends the generalizability of the findings by adopting another subjective knowledge manipulation and covering a different domain of knowledge. Implications of these results are discussed and future tracks for research are provided
Comparison of the Efficacy of Three Progestins in the Treatment of Simple Endometrial Hyperplasia without Atypia

Aim: To evaluate the treatment of endometrial hyperplasia (EH) with different progestins. Methods: Eighty-two women with simple EH without atypia were included. Patients were offered oral progestagens and were randomized to one of three options for 3 months: medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA, 10 mg/day), lynestrenol (LYN, 15 mg/day) and norethisterone (NET, 15 mg/day) for 10 days per cycle. Patients were reevaluated after treatment. Women diagnosed with proliferative and nonatypical EH at the second curettage were offered the same progestins for another 3 months. The primary outcome of the study was the proportion of women requiring further treatment. Results: Of the 82 women, 46 (56.1%) received MPA (23.2%), LYN (13.4%) and NET (19.5%) therapy for another 3 months at the end of the first 3 months of treatment. The patients receiving MPA showed resolution in 36.7% of the cases versus 37% in the NET group. The highest resolution rate (56%) was observed in the LYN group, although there was no statistically significant difference between progestins regarding the proportion of women requiring further treatment (χ2 = 2.608; p = 0.271). Conclusion: It seems that the efficacies of oral progestins are similar at these dosages in simple EH without atypia.
A New d-DNNF-Based Bound Computation Algorithm for Functional E-MAJSAT

We present a new algorithm for computing upper bounds for an optimization version of the EMAJSAT problem called functional E-MAJSAT. The algorithm utilizes the compilation language d-DNNF which underlies several state-of-the-art algorithms for solving related problems. This bound computation can be used in a branch-and-bound solver for solving functional E-MAJSAT. We then present a technique for pruning values from the branch-and-bound search tree based on the information available after each bound computation. We evaluated the proposed techniques in a MAP solver and a probabilistic conformant planner. In both cases, our experiments showed that the new techniques improved the efficiency of state-of-the-art solvers by orders of magnitude.
A moisture-in-oil model for power transformer monitoring - Part II: Experimental verification

For Part I see ibid., p.1417-22, 2005. In the companion paper, a model to detect failures leading to an increase of the water content in transformer oil was proposed. In this paper, the experimental verification of the model is presented. The model was tested in a 1500-kVA test transformer constructed as a reduced scale model of a 60-MVA 220-kV transformer. In order to load the transformer to have the capability of varying load and power factor over a wide range, the opposition method described in IEC 60076-2 Standard was used. Sensors to measure temperature and moisture in oil were installed in the test transformer. The model was adjusted and validated using a set of data corresponding to different operating conditions. The transformer was submitted to an accelerated aging process studying the model response in such a case. In order to verify the model's ability to detect failures, a water ingress in the transformer was simulated.