Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Serum High Mobility Group Box 1 and Interleukin‐6 Levels in Acute Pancreatitis: A Meta‐Analysis

The purpose of this meta‐analysis was to comprehensively investigate the correlation between high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) in relation to acute pancreatitis. A highly regulated exploration of various electronic databases, supplemented by manual searching methods, was performed in an attempt to identify pertinent articles of a useful nature. Subsequently, high‐quality cohort studies that were deemed to comply with the arduous inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected for our meta‐analysis. The extensive data analyses reported in our meta‐analysis were conducted in connection with the Comprehensive Meta‐analysis 2.0 (CMA 2.0). A total of 395 studies (135 Chinese studies and 260 English studies) were initially retrieved. 27 of those studies were selected for our meta‐analysis, comprising of 896 cases of mild acute pancreatitis (MAP), 700 cases of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) as well as 312 healthy controls. Pooled data suggested that serum HMGB1 and IL‐6 levels of SAP and MAP patients were higher than in healthy controls. Moreover, serum HMGB1 and IL‐6 levels of SAP patients exhibited significantly higher levels than in that of MAP patients. Based on the rigorous investigation of our meta‐analysis, it was concluded that serum HMGB1 and IL‐6 levels might be used as effective indicators for pancreatic lesions as well as the degree of inflammatory response, owing ultimately to the observations and data analyses, suggesting that serum HMGB1 and IL‐6 levels share a close correlation with the severity of pancreatitis. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 616–624, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Pupils ' attitude towards mathematics : a comparative study of Norwegian and English secondory students . Beliefs and Beyond : Affecting the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

Comparing English and Norwegian pupils’ attitude towards mathematics, in this article I develop a deeper understanding of the factors that may shape and influence ‘pupil attitude towards mathematics’, and argue for it as a socio-cultural construct embedded in and shaped by students’ environment and context in which they learn mathematics. The theoretical framework leans on work by Zan and Di Martino (The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, Monograph 3, pp. 157–168, 2007) to elicit Norwegian and English pupils’ attitude of mathematics as they experience it in their respective environments. Whilst there were differences which could be seen to be accounted for by differently ‘figured’ environments, there are also many similarities. It was interesting to see that, albeit based on a small statistical sample, in both countries students had a positive attitude towards mathematics in year 7/8, which dropped in year 9, and increased again in years 10/11. This result could be explained and compared with other larger scale studies (e.g. Hodgen et al. in Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics. 29(3), 2009). The analysis of pupils’ qualitative comments (and classroom observations) suggested seven factors that appeared to influence pupil attitude most, and these had ‘superficial’ commonalities, but the perceptions that appeared to underpin these mentions were different, and could be linked to the environments of learning mathematics in their respective classrooms. In summary, it is claimed that it is not enough to identify the factors that may shape and influence pupil attitude, but more importantly, to study how these are ‘lived’ by pupils, what meanings are made in classrooms and in different contexts, and how the factors interrelate and can be understood.
Performance and Psychophysiological Measures of Fatigue Effects on Aviation Related Tasks of Varying Difficulty

Fatigue is a well known stressor in aviation operations and its interaction with mental workload needs to be understood. Performance, psychophysiological, and subjective measures were collected during performance of three tasks of increasing complexity. A psychomotor vigilance task, multi-attribute task battery and an uninhabited air vehicle task were performed five times during one night's sleep loss. EEG, ECG and pupil area were recorded during task performance. Performance decrements were found at the next to last and/or last testing session. The EEG showed concomitant changes. The degree of impairment was at least partially dependent on the task being performed and the performance variable assessed.
Corporate social responsibility in the food sector

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is of high relevance for food companies as this sector has a strong impact and a high dependence on the economy, the environment and on society. CSR's threats and opportunities are increasingly shifting from the single-firm level to food supply chains and food networks. This induces substantial challenges for the future due to firm heterogeneity and the associated diversity in CSR approaches. , Oxford University Press.
Intravitreal Injection of Normal Saline Induces Retinal Degeneration in the C57BL/6J Mouse.

PURPOSE To investigate the adverse effect of intravitreal injection of normal saline (NS) and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) in mouse eyes. METHODS NS or PBS was injected intravitreally into C57BL/6J mouse eyes. Retinal lesions were monitored by fundus imaging, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and histological investigations. Retinal immune gene expression was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The toxic effect of NS and PBS or retinal protein from NS- or PBS-injected eyes on retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) was tested in B6-RPE-07 mouse RPE cell cultures. RESULTS Intravitreal injection of NS dose-dependently induced localized retinal lesion in mice. Histological investigations revealed multiple vacuoles in photoreceptor outer segments and RPE cells. The lesions recovered over time and by 3 weeks post injection the majority of lesions vanished in eyes receiving 1 μl NS. Inflammatory genes, including TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, iNOS, and VEGF were upregulated in NS injected eyes. Intravitreal injection of PBS did not cause any pathology. The treatment of B6-RPE07 cells with 30% PBS or 30% NS did not affect RPE viability. However, incubation of 1-μg/ml retinal protein from NS-injected eyes, but not PBS-injected eyes induced RPE cell death. CONCLUSION NS is toxic to the C57BL/6J mouse retina and should not be used as a vehicle for intraocular injection. PBS is not toxic to the retina and is a preferred vehicle. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE NS is not a physiological solution for intraocular injection in the C57BL/6J mice and questions its suitability for intraocular injection in other species, including human.
Markers of Platelet Activation Are Increased in Adolescents With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE In adults with diabetes, in vivo platelet activation is a marker for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This pilot study investigated whether adolescents with diabetes had evidence of increased in vivo platelet activation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In vivo platelet activation was compared in four groups of age-matched adolescents: type 1 diabetes (T1D, n = 15), type 2 diabetes (T2D; n = 15), control subjects with normal BMI (n = 14), and overweight/obese control subjects (n = 13). Platelet surface activation markers and plasma levels of soluble activation markers were measured and compared among groups. RESULTS Increased expression of all activation markers was observed in T2D compared with either control group (P < 0.05); levels of soluble markers were also higher in T2D than in T1D (P < 0.05). There were no differences in marker expression between the nondiabetic control groups. CONCLUSIONS Platelet activation in adolescents with T2D may be a marker for the risk of CVD development in early adulthood.
Power to detect clinically relevant carry‐over in a series of cross‐over studies

The potential for carry‐over effects is an important consideration in the design of any cross‐over study, and can cause an investigator to abandon the design altogether. In cross‐over studies, carry‐over is the lingering effect of a treatment into the subsequent period. Carry‐over effects are differences in the extent of the carry‐over between the treatments under consideration. It is well known that the test for carry‐over effects in individual studies has low power. Empirical evidence of carry‐over effects, or the absence of carry‐over effects, could be useful for investigators considering the design. Here we develop methods for expressing the power to detect carry‐over as a function of the power to detect a clinically relevant treatment effect. Our results suggest that for two‐treatment, two‐period cross‐over studies the power to detect clinically relevant carry‐over effects is often less than 15 per cent, and the number of studies needed to differentiate this effect from the type I error rate of 10 per cent is prohibitive. For the three‐treatment three‐period cross‐over design, the power to detect carry‐over effects was larger than for the two‐period study, but still approached the type I error rate in a number of cases. Unequivocal conclusions about the absence of carry‐over effects based on collections of hypothesis tests appear unlikely. Similar findings are presented for bioequivalence studies. For bioequivalence studies, small carry‐over effects (e.g. 12.5 per cent of the treatment effect) can seriously inflate the type I error rate, particularly when the power to detect equivalence is high. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Draft Genome Sequence of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora Strain RR-HG1, a Grapevine Trunk Disease (Esca)-Related Member of the Ascomycota

ABSTRACT The Ascomycota species Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, in concert with other fungi, is a causal agent for grapevine trunk diseases. Here, we present the first draft of the P. chlamydospora genome sequence, which comprises 355 scaffolds, with a total length of 26.59 Mb and 7,279 predicted protein-coding genes.
Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Flow Theory to Cyworld User Behavior: Implication of the Web2.0 User Acceptance

This study explores attitudinal and behavioral patterns when using Cyworld by adopting an expanded Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A model for Cyworld acceptance is used to examine how various factors modified from the TAM influence acceptance and its antecedents. This model is examined through an empirical study involving Cyworld users using structural equation modeling techniques. The model shows reasonably good measurement properties and the constructs are validated. The results not only confirm the model but also reveal general factors applicable to Web2.0. A set of constructs in the model can be the Web2.0-specific factors, playing as enhancing factor to attitudes and intention.
A study in a community in Brazil in which cutaneous larva migrans is endemic.

BACKGROUND Cutaneous larva migrans (CLM) is a common but neglected parasitic skin disease in impoverished communities of the developing world. METHODS To describe the clinical features and the morbidity associated with CLM, active-case finding was performed during rainy and dry seasons in a rural community in the state of Alagoas, Northeast Brazil. RESULTS A total of 62 individuals received a diagnosis for CLM, and among them there were a total of 75 larval tracks. The number of tracks per person ranged from 1 to 3. Children <9 years old were affected significantly more often than other age groups (P<.001). Children had their lesions mainly on the buttocks, genitals, and hands, whereas in older patients, the majority of lesions were located on the feet. Twenty-four percent of the 75 lesions were superinfected. Bacterial superinfection was more common among children. All but 1 patient complained about itching, and 84% of the 62 patients complained about sleep disturbances. Itching was classified as being severe by 61% of patients. Approximately 40% of the 62 patients had attempted to treat their creeping eruption previously. Larvae moved forward 2.7 mm per day. There was a significant correlation between the length of the track and the duration of infestation ( rho =.53; P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS CLM is a common parasitic skin disease in this rural community, with different topographic patterns of lesions in children and adults. CLM is associated with considerable morbidity. The length of the track can be used to estimate the duration of infestation.
The Multiverse Loss for Robust Transfer Learning

Deep learning techniques are renowned for supporting effective transfer learning. However, as we demonstrate, the transferred representations support only a few modes of separation and much of its dimensionality is unutilized. In this work, we suggest to learn, in the source domain, multiple orthogonal classifiers. We prove that this leads to a reduced rank representation, which, however, supports more discriminative directions. Interestingly, the softmax probabilities produced by the multiple classifiers are likely to be identical. Experimental results, on CIFAR-100 and LFW, further demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
Single Bundle Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Surgical Technique and Results

Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries are not that common but chronic PCL deficiency can lead to chronic disability and functional limitations. In these situations, the PCL reconstruction can be done. It is also commonly carried out during the treatment of a multiligament injured knee. Several different surgical techniques are described in the literature. This article outlines our surgical approach using the single bundle technique. We also carried out a review of the clinical and biomechanical studies concerning the single bundle PCL reconstruction.
The scent of senescence: sexual signalling and female preference in house mice

Sexual signals are expected to be costly to produce and maintain, thus ensuring that only males in good condition can sustain their expression at high levels. When males reach senescence they lose physiological function and condition, which could constrain their ability to invest in costly sexual signals, decreasing their attractiveness to mates. Furthermore, females may have evolved mating preferences that cause avoidance of senesced males to enhance fertilization success and viability of offspring. Among mammals, the size of antlers and other weapons can decrease with senescence, but changes in olfactory sexual signals have been largely unexplored. We examined changes in olfactory signals with senescence in house mice (Mus musculus domesticus), where males excrete volatile and involatile molecules in scent marks that elicit behavioural and priming responses in females. Compared to middle‐aged males, the urine of senesced males contained a lower concentration of involatile signalling proteins (major urinary proteins or MUPs), and associated volatiles that bind to these proteins. The reduced intensity of male scent will affect the longevity of scent signals deposited in the environment and, accordingly, females were less attracted to urine from senesced males deposited 12 h previously. Females also discriminated against senesced males encountered behind a mesh barrier. These results reveal that investment in olfactory signalling is reduced during senescence and suggest that senesced males and their scent may be less attractive to females.
Evidence for a Debt Financing Channel in Corporate Investment

In the simplest frictionless theory, an increase in interest rates causes a symmetric decline in investment for all firms because they discount new projects at a higher cost of capital. I develop and test a specific debt-market financing channel that predicts cross-sectional differences in the response of investment to interest rates. Firms with high levels of short-term debt suffer a decline in net worth, relative to firms financed with long-term debt, when nominal interest rates increase. When collateral constraints are binding, these firms reduce investment relative to the frictionless benchmark. In U.S. firm-level data between 1953 and 2001, the investment of firms with a high current portion of debt is more sensitive to interest rates when compared with firms that have little debt or only long-term debt. Consistent with my predictions, firms with high levels of short-term debt also display higher investment sensitivity to inflation.
CrNx Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering and High-Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering : A Comparative Study

CrNx (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.91) films synthesized using highpower pulsed magnetron sputtering, also known as high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), have been compared with those made by conventional direct-current (dc) magnetron sputtering (DCMS) operated at the same average power. The HiPIMS deposition rate relative to the DCMS rate was found to decrease linearly with increasing emission strength from the Cr ions relative to Cr neutrals, in agreement with the predictions of the target-pathway model. The low deposition rate in HiPIMS is thus a direct consequence of the high ionization level (∼56%) of the target material and effective capturing of Cr ions by the cathode potential. Although the HiPIMS deposition rate did not exceed 40% of the DCMS rate, the drop in the relative deposition rate upon increasing the N2-to-Ar flow ratio, fN2/Ar , was found to be similar for both sputtering techniques. Films prepared by HiPIMS contained similar amounts of atomic nitrogen as the dc-sputtered samples grown at the same fN2/Ar , indicating that the nitride formation at the substrate takes place mostly during the time period of the high-power pulses, and the N2 uptake between the pulses is negligible. The microstructure evolution in the two types of CrNx films, however, differed clearly from each other. A combination of a high substrate bias and a high flux of doubly charged Cr ions present during the HiPIMS discharge led to a disruption of the grain growth and renucleation, which resulted in column-free films with nanosized grains not observed in the conventional DCMS-based process. The comparison of nanoindentation hardness as a function of fN2/Ar revealed superior properties of HiPIMS-sputtered films in the entire range of gas compositions.
Runners in their forties dominate ultra-marathons from 50 to 3,100 miles

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated performance trends and the age of peak running speed in ultra-marathons from 50 to 3,100 miles. METHODS: The running speed and age of the fastest competitors in 50-, 100-, 200-, 1,000- and 3,100-mile events held worldwide from 1971 to 2012 were analyzed using single- and multi-level regression analyses. RESULTS: The number of events and competitors increased exponentially in 50- and 100-mile events. For the annual fastest runners, women improved in 50-mile events, but not men. In 100-mile events, both women and men improved their performance. In 1,000-mile events, men became slower. For the annual top ten runners, women improved in 50- and 100-mile events, whereas the performance of men remained unchanged in 50- and 3,100-mile events but improved in 100-mile events. The age of the annual fastest runners was approximately 35 years for both women and men in 50-mile events and approximately 35 years for women in 100-mile events. For men, the age of the annual fastest runners in 100-mile events was higher at 38 years. For the annual fastest runners of 1,000-mile events, the women were approximately 43 years of age, whereas for men, the age increased to 48 years of age. For the annual fastest runners of 3,100-mile events, the age in women decreased to 35 years and was approximately 39 years in men. CONCLUSION: The running speed of the fastest competitors increased for both women and men in 100-mile events but only for women in 50-mile events. The age of peak running speed increased in men with increasing race distance to approximately 45 years in 1,000-mile events, whereas it decreased to approximately 39 years in 3,100-mile events. In women, the upper age of peak running speed increased to approximately 51 years in 3,100-mile events.
Pace of landscape evolution in the Sierra Nevada, California, revealed by cosmogenic dating of cave sediments

We report 26 Al/ 10 Be based ages of Sierra Nevada caves that constrain detailed late Pliocene and Quaternary river incision his- tories for five river canyons. Rapid incision of ! 0.2 mm/yr from 2.7 to ca. 1.5 Ma slowed markedly to ! 0.03 mm/yr thereafter, likely reflecting the combined effects of a transient erosional re- sponse to Pliocene rock uplift and periodic mantling of riverbeds with glacially derived sediment in the late Quaternary. While ! 400 m of incision has occurred in the past 2.7 m.y. , outpacing interfluve erosion and thereby increasing the local relief, canyons as deep as 1.6 km existed prior to that time. These new erosion rates strength- en the case for tectonically driven late Cenozoic uplift.
Barcoding animal life: cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 divergences among closely related species

With millions of species and their life-stage transformations, the animal kingdom provides a challenging target for taxonomy. Recent work has suggested that a DNA-based identification system, founded on the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), can aid the resolution of this diversity. While past work has validated the ability of COI sequences to diagnose species in certain taxonomic groups, the present study extends these analyses across the animal kingdom. The results indicate that sequence divergences at COI regularly enable the discrimination of closely allied species in all animal phyla except the Cnidaria. This success in species diagnosis reflects both the high rates of sequence change at COI in most animal groups and constraints on intraspecific mitochondrial DNA divergence arising, at least in part, through selective sweeps mediated via interactions with the nuclear genome.
Primal Method for ERM with Flexible Mini-batching Schemes and Non-convex Losses

In this work we develop a new algorithm for regularized empirical risk minimization. Our method extends recent techniques of Shalev-Shwartz [02/2015], which enable a dual-free analysis of SDCA, to arbitrary mini-batching schemes. Moreover, our method is able to better utilize the information in the data dening the ERM problem. For convex loss functions, our complexity results match those of QUARTZ, which is a primal-dual method also allowing for arbitrary mini-batching schemes. The advantage of a dual-free analysis comes from the fact that it guarantees convergence even for non-convex loss functions, as long as the average loss is convex. We illustrate through experiments the utility of being able to design arbitrary mini-batching schemes.