Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utilization of rye as energy source affects bacterial translocation, intestinal viscosity, microbiota composition, and bone mineralization in broiler chickens

Two independent trials were conducted to evaluate the utilization of rye as energy source on bacterial translocation (BT), intestinal viscosity, gut integrity, gut microbiota composition, and bone mineralization, when compared with a traditional cereal (corn) in broiler chickens. In each experiment, day-of-hatch, broiler chickens were randomly assigned to either a corn or a rye diet (n = 20 chickens/group). At 10 d of age, in both experiments, 12 chickens/group were randomly selected, and given an oral gavage dose of fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran (FITC-d). After 2.5 h of oral gavage, blood samples were collected to determine the passage of FITC-d. The liver was collected from each bird to evaluate BT. Duodenum, ileum, and cecum gut sections were collected to evaluate intestinal viscosity and to enumerate gut microbiota. Tibias were collected for observation of bone parameters. Broilers fed with rye showed increased (p < 0.05) intestinal viscosity, BT, and serum FITC-d. Bacterial enumeration revealed that chickens fed with rye had increased the number of total lactic acid bacteria in all three sections of the gastrointestinal tract evaluated when compared to chickens fed with corn. Chickens fed with rye also had significantly higher coliforms in duodenum and ileum, whereas the total number of anaerobes increased only in duodenum. A significant reduction in bone strength and bone mineralization was observed in chickens fed with rye when compared with corn fed chickens. In conclusion, rye evoked mucosal damage in chickens that alter the intestinal viscosity, increased leakage through the intestinal tract, and altered the microbiota composition as well as bone mineralization. Studies to evaluate dietary inclusion of selected DFM candidates that produce exogenous enzymes in rye fed chickens are currently being evaluated.
Challenges Associated with Estimating Minimal Clinically Important Differences in COPD—The NHLBI Perspective

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common lung disease that exemplifies the value, as well as the difficulties and challenges, of using minimal clinically important differences (MCID) in clinical research. Development and validation of better endpoints for clinical studies is critical to research progress in COPD. However, the clinical, genetic, and pharmacological heterogeneity of the COPD patient population complicates attempts to define and validate MCIDs for COPD. It is difficult to identify a single measurable outcome that reflects the many components of the COPD patient's health state. Acute exacerbations of symptoms, which COPD patients often experience, present another challenge in the development of MCIDs for this disease. Consequently, the NHLBI does not require the use of MCIDs in clinical research. This allows research on the causes, prevention and diagnosis of COPD and use of endpoints for which an MCID is not yet known. It is important for the scientific community to reach agreement on what is a meaningful MCID in therapeutic trials for COPD. Further research into the concept of the MCID and its application should enable therapeutic trials in COPD to yield knowledge that is more effectively translated into improved public health.
Lateral positioning at the dorsal midline: Slit and Roundabout receptors guide Drosophila heart cell migration

Heart morphogenesis requires the coordinated regulation of cell movements and cell–cell interactions between distinct populations of cardiac precursor cells. Little is known about the mechanisms that organize cardiac cells into this complex structure. In this study, we analyzed the role of Slit, an extracellular matrix protein and its transmembrane receptors Roundabout (Robo) and Roundabout2 (Robo2) during morphogenesis of the Drosophila heart tube, a process analogous to early heart formation in vertebrates. During heart assembly, two types of progenitor cells align into rows and coordinately migrate to the dorsal midline of the embryo, where they merge to assemble a linear heart tube. Here we show that cardiac-specific expression of Slit is required to maintain adhesion between cells within each row during dorsal migration. Moreover, differential Robo expression determines the relative distance each row is positioned from the dorsal midline. The innermost CBs express only Robo, whereas the flanking pericardial cells express both receptors. Removal of robo2 causes pericardial cells to shift toward the midline, whereas ectopic robo2 in CBs drives them laterally, resulting in an unfused heart tube. We propose a model in which Slit has a dual role during assembly of the linear heart tube, functioning to regulate both cell positioning and adhesive interactions between migrating cardiac precursor cells.
Normal Hematopoietic Stem Cells within the AML Bone Marrow Have a Distinct and Higher ALDH Activity Level than Co-Existing Leukemic Stem Cells

Persistence of leukemic stem cells (LSC) after chemotherapy is thought to be responsible for relapse and prevents the curative treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. LSC and normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) share many characteristics and co-exist in the bone marrow of AML patients. For the development of successful LSC-targeted therapy, enabling eradication of LSC while sparing HSC, the identification of differences between LSC and HSC residing within the AML bone marrow is crucial. For identification of these LSC targets, as well as for AML LSC characterization, discrimination between LSC and HSC within the AML bone marrow is imperative. Here we show that normal CD34+CD38– HSC present in AML bone marrow, identified by their lack of aberrant immunophenotypic and molecular marker expression and low scatter properties, are a distinct sub-population of cells with high ALDH activity (ALDHbright). The ALDHbright compartment contains, besides normal HSC, more differentiated, normal CD34+CD38+ progenitors. Furthermore, we show that in CD34-negative AML, containing solely normal CD34+ cells, LSC are CD34– and ALDHlow. In CD34-positive AML, LSC are also ALDHlow but can be either CD34+ or CD34–. In conclusion, although malignant AML blasts have varying ALDH activity, a common feature of all AML cases is that LSC have lower ALDH activity than the CD34+CD38– HSC that co-exist with these LSC in the AML bone marrow. Our findings form the basis for combined functionally and immunophenotypically based identification and purification of LSC and HSC within the AML bone marrow, aiming at development of highly specific anti-LSC therapy.
Sociodemographic diversity and behavioral medicine.

The broad array of economic and cultural diversity in the U.S. population correlates with and impacts on the study of behavioral aspects of health. The purpose of this article was to provide a selective overview of behavioral medicine research on sociodemographically diverse populations, with a focus on ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Suggestions are provided with regard to methodological refinement of research and insights into possible future directions in behavioral medicine research on ethnically and economically diverse populations.
Compressive Sensing via Nonlocal Smoothed Rank Function

Compressive sensing (CS) theory asserts that we can reconstruct signals and images with only a small number of samples or measurements. Recent works exploiting the nonlocal similarity have led to better results in various CS studies. To better exploit the nonlocal similarity, in this paper, we propose a non-convex smoothed rank function based model for CS image reconstruction. We also propose an efficient alternating minimization method to solve the proposed model, which reduces a difficult and coupled problem to two tractable subproblems. Experimental results have shown that the proposed method performs better than several existing state-of-the-art CS methods for image reconstruction.
On the convergence of traffic measurement and queueing analysis: a Statistical-MAtch Queueing (SMAQ) tool

The analytical tool developed in this paper provides a general solution technique for the integration of traffic measurement and queueing analysis. The frequency-domain approach is used to combine the advanced techniques in two areas: signal processing and queueing analysis. Essentially, signal processing techniques are used to obtain the steady-state and second-order statistics of a traffic stream. The focus here is on the construction of a special class of Markov chains that can statistically match with each given traffic stream (or superposition of different traffic streams). The analytical queueing solutions can therefore be obtained by the folding-algorithm based on the Markov chain input modeling. Comprehensive numerical examples show the great potential of the SMAQ tool to solve measurement-based traffic management issues.
Comparing effects of a low-energy diet and a high-protein low-fat diet on sexual and endothelial function, urinary tract symptoms, and inflammation in obese diabetic men.

INTRODUCTION Abdominal obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus are associated with sexual and endothelial dysfunction, lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), and chronic systemic inflammation. AIM To determine the effects of diet-induced weight loss and maintenance on sexual and endothelial function, LUTS, and inflammatory markers in obese diabetic men. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Weight, waist circumference (WC), International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) score, Sexual Desire Inventory (SDI) score, International Prostate Symptom Scale (IPSS) score, plasma fasting glucose and lipids, testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [CRP] and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) and soluble E-selectin, and brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) were measured at baseline, 8 weeks, and 52 weeks. METHODS Over 8 weeks, 31 abdominally obese (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m(2) , WC ≥ 102 cm), type 2 diabetic men (mean age 59.7 years) received either a meal replacement-based low-calorie diet (LCD) ∼1,000 kcal/day (N = 19) or low-fat, high-protein, reduced-carbohydrate (HP) diet (N = 12) prescribed to decrease intake by ∼600 kcal/day. Subjects continued on, or were switched to, the HP diet for another 44 weeks. RESULTS At 8 weeks, weight and WC decreased by ∼10% and ∼5% with the LCD and HP diet, respectively. Both diets significantly improved plasma glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), SHBG, IIEF-5, SDI and IPSS scores, and endothelial function (increased FMD, reduced soluble E-selectin). Erectile function, sexual desire, and urinary symptoms improved by a similar degree with both diets. CRP and IL-6 decreased with the HP diet. At 52 weeks, reductions in weight, WC, and CRP were maintained. IIEF-5, SDI, and IPSS scores improved further. CONCLUSIONS Diet-induced weight loss induces rapid improvement of sexual, urinary, and endothelial function in obese diabetic men. A high-protein, carbohydrate-reduced, low-fat diet also reduces systemic inflammation and sustains these beneficial effects to 1 year.
How Modification of Accessible Lysines to Phenylalanine Modulates the Structural and Functional Properties of Horseradish Peroxidase: A Simulation Study

Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) is one of the most studied peroxidases and a great number of chemical modifications and genetic manipulations have been carried out on its surface accessible residues to improve its stability and catalytic efficiency necessary for biotechnological applications. Most of the stabilized derivatives of HRP reported to date have involved chemical or genetic modifications of three surface-exposed lysines (K174, K232 and K241). In this computational study, we altered these lysines to phenylalanine residues to model those chemical modifications or genetic manipulations in which these positively charged lysines are converted to aromatic hydrophobic residues. Simulation results implied that upon these substitutions, the protein structure becomes less flexible. Stability gains are likely to be achieved due to the increased number of stable hydrogen bonds, improved heme-protein interactions and more integrated proximal Ca2+ binding pocket. We also found a new persistent hydrogen bond between the protein moiety (F174) and the heme prosthetic group as well as two stitching hydrogen bonds between the connecting loops GH and F′F″ in mutated HRP. However, detailed analysis of functionally related structural properties and dynamical features suggests reduced reactivity of the enzyme toward its substrates. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that substitutions narrow the bottle neck entry of peroxide substrate access channel and reduce the surface accessibility of the distal histidine (H42) and heme prosthetic group to the peroxide and aromatic substrates, respectively. Results also demonstrated that the area and volume of the aromatic-substrate binding pocket are significantly decreased upon modifications. Moreover, the hydrophobic patch functioning as a binding site or trap for reducing aromatic substrates is shrunk in mutated enzyme. Together, the results of this simulation study could provide possible structural clues to explain those experimental observations in which the protein stability achieved concurrent with a decrease in enzyme activity, upon manipulation of charge/hydrophobicity balance at the protein surface.
The Implicit Curriculum in Social Work Education: The Culture of Human Interchange

This article focuses on the culture of human interchange, which is included as a component of the implicit curriculum in the current EPAS. It presents the use of the implicit curriculum concept in teacher and medical education as a context for its application to social work education. The authors argue that professional behaviors taught in the explicit curriculum of the classroom need to be consciously reinforced in the many venues and through the ongoing interpersonal relations throughout the educational environment. The article identifies the challenges that movement in this direction would create but which the implicit curriculum standard mandates us to address.
Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence

ABSTRACT The frequency with which children are exposed to domestic violence is unsettling. Children's exposure to domestic violence can have adverse effects on their functioning, including the promotion of emotional and behavioral difficulties as well as other difficulties. A number of factors, such as the age of the children when they are exposed and the psychological well being of their mothers, may have mediating and moderating effects on the outcomes for children. Although interventions have been based on the individual, family, and community, few interventions have combined these approaches. Given the widespread effects of domestic violence, interventions for the effects of domestic violence should be framed within an ecological framework. This paper reviews the current issues concerning children's exposure to domestic violence and discusses interventions within an ecological framework that may be applied to counteract the adverse effects suffered by children.
TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD DIFFERENT TYPES OF BULLYING AND VICTIMIZATION IN TURKEY

In the present study, attitudes of elementary school teachers toward different types of bullying (verbal, physical, and relational) were investigated. Six written vignettes describing all types of bullying were given to 405 elementary school teachers (F = 218; M = 187). Results indicated that teachers perceived relational bullying, specifically, social exclusion, less serious than verbal and physical bullying. Unlike previous findings, however, the teachers considered verbal bullying behaviors more serious than physical bullying behaviors and were also more empathetic toward the victim physically bullied and the victim verbally bullied than the victim relationally bullied. Coherent with the findings of empathy, they were also more likely to intervene in verbal and physical bullying behaviors than relational bullying behaviors. Gender of the participant was a significant factor for all variables. The most rated intervention strategy was having a serious talk with the bully, regardless of the type of victimization. Multiple regression analysis illustrated that seriousness and empathy scores both predicted the need for intervention scores significantly in all types of bullying. The findings of this study highlight the importance of increasing teachers’ awareness and knowledge about all types of bullying, their consequences, and intervention skills to lessen bullying behaviors.
Negotiating the Therapeutic Alliance: A Relational Treatment Guide

The Therapeutic Alliance Reconsidered. Fundamental Assumptions and Principles. Understanding Alliance Ruptures and Therapeutic Impasses. Therapeutic Metacommunication: Mindfulness in Action. Stage-Process Models of Alliance Rupture Resolution. Brief Relational Therapy. A Relational Approach to Training and Supervision.
Quality of Partnerships in Service Provision for Korean American Parents of Children with Disabilities: A Qualitative Inquiry

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the perspectives of 10 Korean American parents of children with disabilities about their partnerships with professionals with whom they work to meet the needs of their children and families. In-depth interviews were used for data collection and the constant comparative method was used to analyze the transcripts. Findings are discussed in terms of four themes that emerged from the analysis: Cultural and linguistic factors; a lack of prerequisites including connection, information, and advocacy; interpersonal factors such as strengths based perspective, professional expertise, commitment, caring, respect, and trustworthiness; and structural factors such as financial benefits, flexibility, turnover rate, and caseload. Finally, implications for practices to facilitate partnerships with Korean American parents and suggestions for future research are provided.
Unhappiness and Job Finding

It is puzzling that people feel quite unhappy when they become unemployed, while at the same time active labor market policies are needed to bring unemployed back to work more quickly. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigate whether there is indeed such a puzzle. First, we find that nearly half of the unemployed do not experience a drop in happiness, which might explain why at least some workers need to be activated. In addition to that, we find that even though unemployed who experience a drop in happiness search more actively for a job, it does not speed up their job finding. Apparently, there is no link between unhappiness and the speed of job finding. Hence, there is no contradiction between unemployed being unhappy and the need for activation policies.
Early tumour shrinkage as a survival predictor in patients with recurrent glioblastoma treated with bevacizumab in the AVAREG randomized phase II study.

BACKGROUND Disease assessment for recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) represents a challenge, especially with the use of antiangiogenic agents. Moreover, validated neuroradiological predictors of outcome are lacking. Recently, the concept of early tumor shrinkage (ETS) has been developed to better assess the ability of treatments in determining a rapid and remarkable tumor response.The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of ETS in predicting survival of GBM patients treated with BEVMETHODS: We examined the radiological data of patients with recurrent GBM treated with bevacizumab (BEV) or fotemustine (FTM) in the randomized phase II AVAREG trial (EudraCT: 2011-001363-46). Radiologic assessments at first disease assessment (day 46) were used to calculate the relative change in the sum of the products of perpendicular diameters of all measurable lesions determined by either T1 contrast and T2/FLAIR. RESULTS In patients treated with BEV, the best ETS cut-off was reduction of 15% with T1 contrast and of 40% with T2/FLAIR. Adopting this cut-off for T1 contrast radiological changes, ETS was a significant predictor of OS for patients treated with BEV (HR = 0.511, 95%CI:0.269-0.971, p = 0.040). The cut-off obtained for T2/FLAIR was not significantly correlated with OS (p = 0.102), but we found a trend for correlation with survival when considering the variable as continuous (p = 0.058). CONCLUSIONS ETS evaluating T1 contrast reduction is a helpful predictor of survival in patients with recurrent GBM treated with BEV, and if validated in a larger prospective trial could be a helpful surrogate endpoint.
Desire for hastened death in patients with advanced disease and the evidence base of clinical guidelines: a systematic review

Purpose: Patients’ desire for hastened death within the context of advanced disease and palliative care is a controversial topic, frequently discussed in the international literature. Much of the discussion has focused on opinion and debate about ethical matters related to hastened death. Not many research studies seem to have specifically targeted why palliative care patients may desire hastened death, and few have focused on clinical guidelines for responding to such requests. Methods: Using a systematic literature review process, we evaluated the research evidence related to the reasons patients express a desire for a hastened death, and the quality of clinical guidelines in this area. Results: Thirty-five research studies met the inclusion criteria related to reasons associated with a desire for hastened death. The factors associated with a desire to die were often complex and multifactorial; however, psychological, existential and social reasons seem to be more prominent than those directly related to physical symptoms, such as pain. Much of the evidence supporting the reasons for these statements is based on: (a) patients’ perceptions of how they may feel in the future, and (b) health professionals’ and families’ interpretations of why desire to die statements may have been made. Several publications provided expert opinion for responding to requests for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. In keeping with this limited research base, there is a lack of evidence-based guidelines for clinical care that addresses the desire to die among terminally ill patients. Most literature has focused on discipline specific responses, with minimal exploration of how clinicians might respond initially to a statement from a patient regarding a desire to die. Conclusions: In order to advance understanding of the complex issue of desire for hastened death in the context of palliative care, research should focus on studies with patients who have actually made a desire to die statement and the development of guidelines to help health professionals respond. Direction for research in this area is described.
Minimum Symbol-Error Rate Equalization Based Turbo Receiver for Underwater Acoustic Communications

The minimum-symbol-error-rate (MSER) channel equalizer suffers from slow convergence when the channel has long delay spread. To solve this problem, in the paper we present an iterative turbo receiver by combining the linear MSER equalizer and the MAP channel decoder. With iterative information exchanges between the equalizer and the channel decoder, the turbo receiver updates the equalizer in each iteration. Simulations based on underwater acoustic channels with more than 140 taps show that the proposed scheme converges within a few turbo iterations, and outperforms the conventional minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) based equalizer.