Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patients with severe psoriasis are at increased risk of cardiovascular mortality: cohort study using the General Practice Research Database.

AIMS Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory T-helper cell-1/17 mediated skin disease. Recent studies suggest that psoriasis, particularly if severe, may be an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke. We conducted a cohort study using the General Practice Research Database to determine if severe psoriasis patients have an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. METHODS AND RESULTS Severe psoriasis was defined as patients who received a psoriasis diagnosis and systemic therapy consistent with severe psoriasis (n = 3603). Up to four unexposed patients without psoriasis were selected from the same practices and start dates for each psoriasis patient (n = 14 330). For every death, the cause was determined by review of the electronic medical record. Severe psoriasis was an independent risk factor for CV mortality (HR 1.57; 95% CI 1.26, 1.96) when adjusting for age, sex, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia. Overall, severe psoriasis patients experienced one extra CV death per 283 patients per year, even when adjusting for major CV risk factors. The relative risk of CV mortality was modified by age. For example, the RR of CV death for a 40-year-old and 60-year-old with severe psoriasis was 2.69 (1.45, 4.99) and 1.92 (1.41, 2.62), respectively. The findings were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION Patients with severe psoriasis have an increased risk of CV mortality that is independent of traditional CV risk factors. Additional studies are needed to determine the mechanism of this association and the impact that control of psoriasis has on CV risk.
Prevalence of traditional bullying and cyberbullying among children and adolescents in Australia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Despite increased awareness of the adverse impact of bullying on mental health, the prevalence of bullying in Australia is uncertain. The aim of the current study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of bullying (traditional and cyber) among Australian children and adolescents. This study synthesised bullying prevalence studies on victimisation experiences (being bullied) and perpetration experiences (bullying others). Method: A systematic review of electronic databases (A+ Education, EMBASE, ERIC, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus up to 27 May 2017) was conducted. In addition, reference lists of included studies, theses recorded at the National Library of Australia, and government websites were surveyed to identify local area data as well as state and nationally representative data. Overall, 898 studies were screened and out of the 126 studies assessed for eligibility, 46 satisfied the pre-determined inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses based on quality-effects models generated pooled prevalence estimates for each of the two types of bullying involvement (victimisation and perpetration), as well as distinct models for traditional bullying and cyberbullying experiences by the type of involvement. Results: Overall, the 12-month prevalence of bullying victimisation was 15.17% (95% confidence interval = [9.17, 22.30]) and perpetration was 5.27% (95% confidence interval = [3.13, 7.92]). The lifetime prevalence for traditional bullying victimisation was 25.13% (95% confidence interval = [18.73, 32.11]) and perpetration was 11.61% (95% confidence interval = [7.41, 16.57]). Cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration were less common with lifetime prevalence of 7.02% (95% confidence interval = [2.41, 13.54]) and 3.45% (95% confidence interval = [1.13, 6.84]), respectively. Conclusion: Bullying is common among children and adolescents in Australia. There is a need to improve the measurement of bullying using a standardised instrument and for prevalence estimates to be collected on a regular basis to assess change over time. Wide implementation of anti-bullying programmes in Australian schools is a viable public health approach for the prevention of mental health problems.
Screening of rootstock hybrids with Vitis cinerea Arnold for phylloxera resistance

The resistance to phylloxera is one of the most important properties of grapevine rootstock. The breeding and selection of rootstock varieties represents a biological method of fight against phylloxera. In this study altogether 59 rootstock hybrids originating from nine different populations were evaluated. Pedigrees of all populations involved Vitis cinerea Arnold introduced through the hybrid Bruci/(Vitis berlandieri Planch. × Vitis rupestris Scheele) × Vitis cinerea Arnold/ and the variety Börner. Pot experiments were performed in a glasshouse while those with excised root pieces in root bioassay took place in a laboratory. This combination showed to be a very good selection tool for rootstock breeding. In seven rootstock hybrids, it was found that the resistance to phylloxera gallicoles and radicicoles was very high. The highest number of resistant hybrids was found in Binova × Börner. The variety Börner showed to be the best gene source of phylloxera resistance and even in case of a simple crossing produced sufficient number of resistant progeny.
Self-rated Attractiveness and Sociosexual Behavior Predict Gay Men’s Preferences for Masculine Cues in Male Voices in China

Theory and some evidence suggest that masculine characteristics (e.g., lower pitched voice) will predict indices of men’s long-term health. In a related finding, researchers have demonstrated that the attractiveness of individuals predicts variation in their mate preferences. As self-perceived attractiveness may predict sociosexuality (i.e., the willingness of individuals to engage in restricted or unrestricted sexual relationships), we investigated how self-rated attractiveness and sociosexuality influence preferences regarding male voices among 338 gay men across different cities in China. Each participant was randomly presented with six pairs of male voices and gave preferences using a forced-choice method; each pair of male voices consisted of a masculine (lower pitched) and feminine (higher pitched) version of the same original voice. Our findings suggested that gay men who perceived themselves as more attractive showed stronger preference for lower pitched voices compared with self-perceived less attractive individuals. In addition, we found that gay men’s sociosexuality score was positively correlated with their preference for masculine cues in male voices, indicating that gay men who were less sociosexually restricted preferred lower pitched voices over higher pitched versions compared with men who were more restricted. Our study presents evidence contributing to a better understanding of condition-dependent strategies of partner choice in gay men.
Fractal Figures: Visualizing Development Effort for CVS Entities

Versioning systems such as CVS or Subversion exhibit a large potential to investigate the evolution of software systems. They are used to record the development steps of software systems as they make it possible to reconstruct the whole evolution of single files. However, they provide no good means to understand how much a certain file has been changed over time and by whom. In this paper we present an approach to visualize files using fractal figures, which: (1) convey the overall development effort; (2) illustrate the distribution of the effort among various developers; and (3) allow files to be categorized in terms of the distribution of the effort following gestah principles. Our approach allows us to discover files of high development efforts in terms of team size and effort intensity of individual developers. The visualizations allow an analyst or a project manager to get first insights into team structures and code ownership principles. We have analyzed Mozilla as a case study and we show some of the recovered team development patterns in this paper as a validation of our approach
Estimated Impact of Targeted Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: Strategies for Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) effectively reduces human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. We aimed to estimate the impact of different PrEP prioritization strategies among Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States, populations most disproportionately affected by HIV. We developed an agent-based simulation to model the HIV epidemic among MSM. Individuals were assigned an HIV incidence risk index (HIRI-MSM) based on their sexual behavior. Prioritization strategies included PrEP use for individuals with HIRI-MSM ≥10 among all MSM, all Black MSM, young (≤25 years) Black MSM, Latino MSM, and young Latino MSM. We estimated the number needed to treat (NNT) to prevent one HIV infection, reductions in prevalence and incidence, and subsequent infections in non-PrEP users avoided under these strategies over 5 years (2016–2020). Young Black MSM eligible for PrEP had the lowest NNT (NNT = 10) followed by all Black MSM (NNT = 33) and young Latino MSM (NNT = 35). All Latino MSM and all MSM had NNT values of 63 and 70, respectively. Secondary infection reduction with PrEP was the highest among young Latino MSM (53.2%) followed by young Black MSM (37.8%). Targeting all MSM had the greatest reduction in prevalence (14.7% versus 2.9%–3.9% in other strategies) and incidence (49.4% versus 9.4%–13.9% in other groups). Using data representative of the United States MSM population, we found that a strategy of universal PrEP use by MSM was most effective in reducing HIV prevalence and incidence of MSM. Targeted use of PrEP by Black and Latino MSM, however, especially those ≤25 years, had the greatest impact on HIV prevention.
Social Status and the Growth E ¤ ect of Money

It has been shown that in a standard one-sector AK model of endogenous growth with wealth-induced preferences for social status, the economys growth rates of real output and nominal money supply are positively related when the cash-in-advance constraint is applied solely to the households consumption purchases. However, a positive outputgrowth e¤ect of money/ination is not consistent with the existing empirical evidence. We show that when gross investment must be nanced by real money balances as well, this result is overturned, i.e. higher ination is detrimental to economic growth, because of a dominating portfolio substitution e¤ect. Keywords: Social Status, Endogenous Growth, Cash-in-Advance Constraint. JEL Classi cation: E52, O42. We would like to thank two anonymous referees, Shu-Hua Chen, Ching-Chong Lai, Kazuo Mino (the CoEditor) and Richard Suen for helpful comments and suggestions. Part of this research was conducted while Guo was a visiting professor of economics at the National Taiwan University, whose hospitality is greatly appreciated. The nancial support provided by the Program for Globalization Studies at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities at the National Taiwan University (grant number: 95R0064-AH03-03) is also gratefully acknowledged. yDepartment of Economics, National Taiwan University, 21 Hsu-Chow Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan, 886-22351-9641, ext. 457, Fax: 886-2-2351-1826, E-mail: hjc@ntu.edu. tw. zCorresponding Author: Department of Economics, 4128 Sproul Hall, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA, 1-951-827-1588, Fax: 1-951-827-5685, E-mail: guojt@ucr.edu.
Methanol extract of Muntingia calabura leaves attenuates CCl4-induced liver injury: possible synergistic action of flavonoids and volatile bioactive compounds on endogenous defence system

Abstract Context: Muntingia calabura L. (Muntingiaceae) exerts antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, thus, it might be a good hepatoprotective agent. Objective: This study investigates the effect of methanol extract of M. calabura leaves (MMCL) on hepatic antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in CCl4-induced hepatotoxic rat. Materials and methods: Sprague Dawley rats (n = 6) were treated (p.o.) with 10% DMSO (Groups 1 and 2), 50 mg/kg N-acetylcysteine (Group 3) or, 50, 250, or 500 mg/kg MMCL (Groups 4–6) for 7 consecutive days followed by pretreatment (i.p.) with vehicle (Group 1) or 50% CCl4 in olive oil (v/v) (Groups 2–6) on day 7th. Plasma liver enzymes and hepatic antioxidant enzymes and pro-inflammatory cytokines concentrations were measured while liver histopathology was examined. Results: MMCL, at 500 mg/kg, significantly (p < 0.05) ameliorated CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity by decreasing the plasma level of alanine transaminase (429.1 versus 168.7 U/L) and aspartate transaminase (513.8 versus 438.1 U/L) as well as the tissue level of nitric oxide (62.7 versus 24.1 nmol/g tissue). At 50, 250, or 500 mg/kg, MMCL significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the tumour necrosis factor α (87.8 versus 32.7 pg/mg tissue), interleukin-1β (1474.4 versus 618.3 pg/mg tissue), and interleukin-6 (136.7 versus 30.8 pg/mg tissue) while increased the liver catalase (92.1 versus 114.4 U/g tissue) and superoxide dismutase (3.4 versus 5.5 U/g tissue). Additionally, qualitative phytochemicals analysis showed that MMCL contained gallic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, and genistein. Discussion and conclusions: MMCL ability to attenuate CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity could be helpful in the development of hepatoprotective agents with fewer side effects.
Depressive Symptoms, Sleep Patterns and Physical Activity in Adolescents with Narcolepsy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between depressive symptoms, sleep patterns (duration and quality), excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and physical activity (PA) in adolescents with narcolepsy. METHODS This cross-sectional study included adolescents (ages 10-18 years) with narcolepsy attending a tertiary care facility (The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada). Adolescents with narcolepsy completed questionnaires evaluating depressive symptoms (Children's Depression Inventory-2nd edition (CDI-2)), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), EDS (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and PA (Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire). Wrist based actigraphy was worn by adolescents for one week to measure total sleep time (over 24 hours) and sleep efficiency percentage. RESULTS Thirty adolescents with narcolepsy (mean age=13.8±2.2 years, 76.7% male) participated. In this cohort of adolescents with narcolepsy, 23.3% had CDI-2 total scores in the elevated range. Greater CDI-2 total scores were associated with poor sleep quality (ρ=0.571; p=0.02), EDS (ρ=0.360; p=0.05) and lower self-reported PA levels (ρ=-0.512; p<0.01). CONCLUSION Adolescents with narcolepsy report experiencing depressive symptoms, which are associated with poor sleep quality, EDS and low PA levels. Strategies to improve nocturnal sleep quality and symptoms of EDS as well as promoting increased PA levels in adolescents with narcolepsy may provide an opportunity to improve depressive symptoms in this population. Multi-disciplinary care with mental health and sleep specialists for adolescents with narcolepsy is needed.
Accounting for model error due to unresolved scales within ensemble Kalman filtering

We propose a method to account for model error due to unresolved scales in the context of the ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF). The approach extends to this class of algorithms the deterministic model error formulation recently explored for variational schemes and extended Kalman filter. The model error statistic required in the analysis update is estimated using historical reanalysis increments and a suitable model error evolution law. Two different versions of the method are described; a time‐constant model error treatment where the same model error statistical description is time‐invariant, and a time‐varying treatment where the assumed model error statistics is randomly sampled at each analysis step. We compare both methods with the standard method of dealing with model error through inflation and localization, and illustrate our results with numerical simulations on a low‐order nonlinear system exhibiting chaotic dynamics. The results show that the filter skill is significantly improved through the proposed model error treatments, and that both methods require far less parameter tuning than the standard approach. Furthermore, the proposed approach is simple to implement within a pre‐existing ensemble‐based scheme. The general implications for the use of the proposed approach in the framework of square‐root filters such as the ETKF are also discussed.
Genome-Wide Gene Expression in relation to Age in Large Laboratory Cohorts of Drosophila melanogaster

Aging is a complex process characterized by a steady decline in an organism's ability to perform life-sustaining tasks. In the present study, two cages of approximately 12,000 mated Drosophila melanogaster females were used as a source of RNA from individuals sampled frequently as a function of age. A linear model for microarray data method was used for the microarray analysis to adjust for the box effect; it identified 1,581 candidate aging genes. Cluster analyses using a self-organizing map algorithm on the 1,581 significant genes identified gene expression patterns across different ages. Genes involved in immune system function and regulation, chorion assembly and function, and metabolism were all significantly differentially expressed as a function of age. The temporal pattern of data indicated that gene expression related to aging is affected relatively early in life span. In addition, the temporal variance in gene expression in immune function genes was compared to a random set of genes. There was an increase in the variance of gene expression within each cohort, which was not observed in the set of random genes. This observation is compatible with the hypothesis that D. melanogaster immune function genes lose control of gene expression as flies age.
Curb Your Innovation: Corporate Conservatism in the Presence of Imperfect Intellectual Property Rights

In this Paper we analyse the effects of information leakage on the incentives to innovate in firms. We analyse a situation in which an employee in a firm is inspired with a new idea for a product. In a framework in which Intellectual Property Rights on ideas are absent, we analyse the employee’s decision of whether to disclose the idea within the firm or to form a spin-out. We next look at the shareholders of the original firm and analyse their incentives to promote creativity and innovations among employees. Our analysis highlights the effects of the distribution of shares within the firm and the firm’s size on the incentives and behaviour of firms towards innovation. In particular we highlight the following findings. (i) Often employees may not implement an idea either within or outside the firm. (ii) The ownership structure affects the incentives to promote innovation in firms. (iii) Firm shareholders may have incentives to curtail innovation even if these innovations are expected to be revealed within the firm. (iv) Firms may buy-off potential innovative agents, by providing them with compensation plans that dominate leaving the firm, or revealing new ideas within the firm. (v) Information leakage concerns affect both the hiring and the information provision decisions of the firm.
Force balances between interphase centrosomes as revealed by laser ablation

Numerous studies have highlighted the self-centering activities of individual microtubule (MT) arrays in animal cells, but relatively few works address the behavior of multiple arrays that coexist in a common cytoplasm. In multinucleated Dictyostelium discoideum cells, each centrosome organizes a radial MT network, and these networks remain separate from one another. This feature offers an opportunity to reveal the mechanism(s) responsible for the positioning of multiple centrosomes. Using a laser microbeam to eliminate one of the two centrosomes in binucleate cells, we show that the unaltered array is rapidly repositioned at the cell center. This result demonstrates that each MT array is constantly subject to centering forces and infers a mechanism to balance the positions of multiple arrays. Our results address the limited actions of three kinesins and a cross-linking MAP that are known to have effects in maintaining MT organization and suggest a simple means used to keep the arrays separated.
Naringin Ameliorates Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes through Forkhead Box M1-Mediated Beta Cell Proliferation

Background: Adult pancreatic beta cells, though quiescent, can proliferate in response to physiological need. This inherent character is used in exploring the possibilities of expanding the beta cell mass in the treatment of diabetes. Forkhead box M1 (FoxM1) transcription factor is an important regulator in the proliferation and survival of adult beta cell mass. Naringin, a flavanone glycoside, is reported to have antidiabetic activity and exhibited an increase in insulin levels in diabetic animals. Objectives: The present study tried to evaluate the role of naringin in the regulation of FoxM1 in the pancreas of diabetic rats and to reascertain its antilipidemic and antioxidant properties. Methods: Diabetes was induced in male rats using streptozotocin and treated with naringin (100 mg/kg) orally for 4 and 8 weeks. Serum biochemical parameters, insulin, gene and protein expression of FoxM1, and antioxidant markers in rat pancreas were analyzed. Results: Naringin administration reduced the blood sugar, urea, creatinine, and cholesterol values and improved the pancreatic antioxidant status in diabetic rats. Naringin-treated diabetic rats showed a significant increase in mRNA and protein expression of FoxM1 compared to the diabetic control rats, indicating regeneration of cells. It also increased the insulin immunopositive cells, indicating functional beta cells. Conclusion: Naringin was found to upregulate the FoxM1 transcription factor in diabetic animals, which influenced the proliferation and functional status of beta cells.
Action-Sentence Compatibility: The Role of Action Effects and Timing

Research on embodied approaches to language comprehension suggests that we understand linguistic descriptions of actions by mentally simulating these actions. Evidence is provided by the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) which shows that sensibility judgments for sentences are faster when the direction of the described action matches the response direction. In two experiments, we investigated whether the ACE relies on actions or on intended action effects. Participants gave sensibility judgments of auditorily presented sentences by producing an action effect on a screen at a location near the body or far from the body. These action effects were achieved by pressing a response button that was located in either the same spatial direction as the action effect, or in the opposite direction. We used a go/no-go task in which the direction of the to-be-produced action effect was either cued at the onset of each sentence (Experiment 1) or at different points in time before and after sentence onset (Experiment 2). Overall, results showed a relationship between the direction of the described action and the direction of the action effect. Furthermore, Experiment 2 indicated that depending on the timing between cue presentation and sentence onset, participants responded either faster when the direction of the described action matched the direction of the action effect (positive ACE), or slower (negative ACE). These results provide evidence that the comprehension of action sentences involves the activation of representations of action effects. Concurrently activated representations in sentence comprehension and action planning can lead to both priming and interference, which is discussed in the context of the theory of event coding.