Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Web party effect: a cocktail party effect in the web environment

In goal-directed web navigation, labels compete for selection: this process often involves knowledge integration and requires selective attention to manage the dizziness of web layouts. Here we ask whether the competition for selection depends on all web navigation options or only on those options that are more likely to be useful for information seeking, and provide evidence in favor of the latter alternative. Participants in our experiment navigated a representative set of real websites of variable complexity, in order to reach an information goal located two clicks away from the starting home page. The time needed to reach the goal was accounted for by a novel measure of home page complexity based on a part of (not all) web options: the number of links embedded within web navigation elements weighted by the number and type of embedding elements. Our measure fully mediated the effect of several standard complexity metrics (the overall number of links, words, images, graphical regions, the JPEG file size of home page screenshots) on information seeking time and usability ratings. Furthermore, it predicted the cognitive demand of web navigation, as revealed by the duration judgment ratio (i.e., the ratio of subjective to objective duration of information search). Results demonstrate that focusing on relevant links while ignoring other web objects optimizes the deployment of attentional resources necessary to navigation. This is in line with a web party effect (i.e., a cocktail party effect in the web environment): users tune into web elements that are relevant for the achievement of their navigation goals and tune out all others.
Impact of physical activity and fitness on the level of kinesiophobia in women of perimenopausal age

To determine the impact of physical activity and fitness on the level of physical activity barriers (kinesiophobia) in women of perimenopausal age, the study included 105 women between the ages of 48 and 58. A Baecke questionnaire was used to evaluate physical activity and a modified Fullerton test was used to evaluate the fitness level. The level of kinesiophobia was assessed using the Kinesiophobia Causes Scale questionnaire. A low level of habitual physical activity has a negative impact on the values of Biological Domain (r = –0.581), Psychological Domain (r = –0.451), and on the Kinesiophobia Cause Scale total score (r = –0.577). Lower physical activity expressed by a lower score in the Fullerton test also has a negative impact on the level of kinesiophobia. Upper body flexibility (r = –0.434) has the strongest influence on the Biological Domain, whereas upper body strength (r = –0.598) has the greatest impact on the Psychological Domain. A low level of upper body strength also has the greatest impact on the Kinesiophobia Cause Scale total score (r = –0.507). Low levels of physical activity and fitness in women of perimenopausal age favour kinesiophobic attitudes and thereby increase the level of barriers against undertaking physical activity.
Is intrinsic asthma a hereditary disease?

Although studies of families, inbred populations and twins have established that asthma has a hereditary basis, little evidence has shown that intrinsic asthma has an increased familial occurrence. To document this issue, we compared the prevalence of asthma in families of intrinsic asthmatics, extrinsic asthmatics and non‐asthmatics. The intrinsic asthma group included those with negative skin tests to common aero‐allergens (n= 117). The extrinsic asthma group included those with one or more positive skin tests (n= 164). The non‐asthmatic group (n= 224) was recruited at a check‐up center. The siblings of each subject completed a standardized questionnaire on history of asthma. The results showed that asthma was more prevalent (P < 0.001) in siblings of intrinsic asthmatics (8.9%) than in siblings of the non‐asthmatic group (2.4%). The prevalence of asthma in siblings of intrinsic and extrinsic asthmatics was similar. In conclusion, both intrinsic and extrinsic asthma have an increased family occurrence.
E3710, a New Proton Pump Inhibitor, with a Long-Lasting Inhibitory Effect on Gastric Acid Secretion

We have investigated the pharmacology of sodium (R)-2-[4-(2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxan-5-yl) methoxy-3,5-dimethylpyridin-2-yl]methylsulfinyl-1H-benzimidazol (E3710), a new proton pump inhibitor (PPI), and its effect on gastric acid secretion. E3710 irreversibly inhibited H+,K+-ATPase activity in pig gastric vesicles with an acidic internal environment with an IC50 of 0.28 μM. Administration of E3710 (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 mg/kg; n = 6) intraduodenally in a gastric fistula model in dogs inhibited histamine-stimulated gastric acid secretion at 0 to 2 and 24 to 26 h after administration with ED50 values of 0.18 and 0.22 mg/kg, respectively. The inhibition by E3710 was 2.3 times more potent than that of another representative PPI, esomeprazole (0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 mg/kg; n = 6) at 0 to 2 h after administration (ED50 = 0.40 mg/kg) and 2.8 times more potent at 24 to 26 h (ED50 = 0.71 mg/kg). In the gastric fistula dogs, the intragastric pH was ≥4 for 17% (n = 27) of a 24-h period with vehicle alone, but when E3710 was administered, at 0.2 (n = 4), 0.4 (n = 8), and 0.8 mg/kg (n = 5), the pH was ≥4 for 40, 79, and 88% of a day, respectively. The corresponding values for esomeprazole at 0.8 (n = 4) and 1.6 mg/kg (n = 8) were 55 and 59%, respectively. In a crossover study with vehicle, E3710 at 0.4 mg/kg and esomeprazole at 1.6 mg/kg (n = 6), E3710 increased the intragastric pH to >4 for 82% of a day compared with 61% of a day with esomeprazole. These results show that E3710 is a long-acting inhibitor of gastric acid secretion and a promising novel therapy for acid-related diseases, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Application of Hydration Thermodynamics to the Evaluation of Protein Structures and Protein-Ligand Binding

Discovering the mechanism that controls the three-dimensional structures of proteins, which are closely related to their biological functions, remains a challenge in modern biological science, even for small proteins. From a thermodynamic viewpoint, the native structure of a protein can be understood as the global minimum of the free energy landscape of the protein-water system. However, it is still difficult to describe the energetics of protein stability in an effective manner. Recently, our group developed a free energy function with an all-atomic description for a protein that focuses on hydration thermodynamics. The validity of the function was examined using structural decoy sets that provide numerous misfolded “non-native” structures. For all targeted sets, the function was able to identify the experimentally determined native structure as the best structure. The energy function can also be used to calculate the binding free energy of a protein with ligands. I review the physicochemical theories employed in the development of the free energy function and recent studies evaluating protein structure stability and protein-ligand binding affinities that use this function.
COEVOLUTION BETWEEN LAMELLODISCUS (MONOGENEA: DIPLECTANIDAE) AND SPARIDAE (TELEOSTEI): THE STUDY OF A COMPLEX HOST-PARASITE SYSTEM

Abstract Host-parasite coevolution was studied between Sparidae (Teleostei) fishes and their parasites of the genus Lamellodiscus (Monogenea, Diplectanidae) in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Molecular phylogenies were reconstructed for both groups. The phylogenetic tree of the Sparidae was obtained from previously published 16S mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences associated with new cytochrome-b mtDNA sequences via a “total evidence” procedure. The phylogeny of Lamellodiscus species was reconstructed from 18S rDNA sequences that we obtained. Host-parasite coevolution was studied through different methods: TreeFitter, TreeMap, and a new method, ParaFit. If the cost of a host switch is not assumed to be high for parasites, all methods agree on the absence of widespread cospeciation processes in this host-parasite system. Host-parasite associations were interpreted to be due more to ecological factors than to coevolutionary processes. Host specificity appeared not to be related to host-parasite cospeciation.
A questionnaire based survey on awareness of diabetic foot care in Indian population with diabetes: a cross-sectional multicentre study.

OBJECTIVE To find awareness regarding foot care in Indian population with diabetes in various parts of India. MATERIALS AND METHOD A cross-sectional study design was used to perform a multicenter, national level survey from August, 2011 to February, 2012 in various parts of India. Descriptive analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16. Awareness levels for diabetic foot care were calculated as absolute frequencies and were reported as overall percentages. Spearman test was used to find the correlation for foot problems and diabetic foot care with socioeconomic status. RESULTS A total of 323 peoples were screened (there were 222 men and 101 women in the study with a mean age of 58.2 ± 8.6 years). 8.7% of men reported ulcer during the 1 st year of onset of diabetes, where as 8.3% of women were prone for ulcers in 16-20 years of diabetes, 56.4% of the population in urban area and 46.6% of the population in the rural area had been educated regarding foot care in diabetes. However, only 30.5% of population in urban areas and 9.7% of population in the rural areas knew about the importance of shoe selection in diabetes. Spearman's correlation was significant for foot problems with family income and educational status, P = 0.03 and P = 0.02 respectively. CONCLUSION There is a need to bridge the disparity in awareness regarding diabetic foot management in Indian masses. More aggressive measures are required to implement current preventive foot care strategies in India.
Perinatal outcomes with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy in twin pregnancies

Abstract Objective: To describe perinatal outcomes of twin pregnancies complicated by intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of women delivered at a large tertiary obstetric center in Shanghai, China from January 2006 to May 2014. Delivery data were abstracted from medical records of all twin gestations delivered at the hospital. Results: A total of 129/1922(6.7%) twin and 1190/92 273 singleton (1.3%) pregnancies were complicated by ICP. An increased risk of stillbirth among twin pregnancies was observed (3.9% and 0.8% in the ICP and non-ICP groups, respectively; aOR 5.75, 95% CI 2.00–16.6). Stillbirths with ICP and twins occurred between 33 and 35 weeks gestation compared to 36–38 weeks gestation among singletons. ICP in twins was also associated with an increased risk of preterm birth (<37 weeks) with an aOR of 4.17 (95% CI 2.47–7.04) and an aOR of 1.89 (95% CI 1.26–2.85) for delivery <35 weeks. Twin pregnancies complicated by ICP also had increased meconium staining of amniotic fluid and lower birth weight. Conclusions: Twin pregnancies with ICP have significantly increased risks of adverse perinatal outcomes including stillbirth and preterm birth. Stillbirth occurs at an earlier gestational age in twin gestation compared to singletons, suggesting that earlier scheduled delivery should be considered in these women.
Interstock-induced mechanism of increased growth and salt resistance of orange (Citrus sinensis) trees.

Interstocks improve the growth and salt resistance of lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f. ) trees, but their effects on orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) trees are unknown. We grew 'Cleopatra' mandarin (CM) seedlings, budded trees of 'Salustiano' orange (SAO) on CM, 'Valencia Late' orange (VLO) on CM (VLO/CM), and interstock trees VLO/SAO/CM in pots of sand watered with nutrient solution containing 5 (control) or 50 mM NaCl for 12 weeks. Plants were harvested on six successive occasions and the time trends in relative growth rate (RGR) and its components were estimated by fitting a Richards function regression to the harvest data. At low and high salinities, the VLO/SAO/CM combination had higher mean RGR than VLO/CM. Under control conditions, the increase in RGR caused by the interstock was the result of an increase in leaf mass fraction (LMF; leaf dry mass/plant dry mass ratio). Increases in net assimilation rate on a leaf mass basis (NARm) and LMF contributed equally to the increase in RGR in saline conditions, their growth response coefficients being 0.52 and 0.48, respectively. The structural modifications, specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf area ratio (LAR; leaf area:plant dry mass ratio), had a slight influence on the reduction in RGR by salinity. However, NARm had a large influence on RGR, except in CM. The interstock-induced mechanism increased biomass allocation to the assimilatory organs and, under saline conditions, increased Cl- and Na+ allocations to roots. Thus, the flux of ions to the leaves was either delayed or reduced or both. The dilution of imported ions by foliar growth reduced ion concentrations in leaves, resulting in higher NARm, which together with higher LMF, increased RGR.
Demand-Oriented Design Strategies for Low Environmental Impact Housing in the Tropics

This study aims to propose design strategies for low environmental impact (low-EI) housing in the tropics while incorporating user needs to increase its acceptance in the market. The Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is adopted initially to draw the user needs for contemporary housing, after which the crucial design factors are identified. The analytic network process (ANP) and house of quality (HOQ) are further utilized to incorporate weightings of user needs into crucial design factors to establish appropriate design strategies. The results show “utility” (0.177), “durability” (0.169), and “comfort” (0.168) are the three greatest user needs for housing. After incorporating the weightings of user needs into design factors, building layout (0.334) and materials (0.302) turned out to be the most important considerations during the planning phase of the design procedure. Correspondingly, during the detailed design phase in the procedure, the most important factors are “low-EI material” (0.195), “orientation” (0.176), “building relationship” (0.158), and “energy-saving material” (0.107). The findings stress the significance of architectural programming and passive design for wider acceptance of low-EI housing in the tropics.
Weight-of-evidence evaluation of short-term ozone exposure and cardiovascular effects

Abstract There is a relatively large body of research on the potential cardiovascular (CV) effects associated with short-term ozone exposure (defined by EPA as less than 30 days in duration). We conducted a weight-of-evidence (WoE) analysis to assess whether it supports a causal relationship using a novel WoE framework adapted from the US EPA's National Ambient Air Quality Standards causality framework. Specifically, we synthesized and critically evaluated the relevant epidemiology, controlled human exposure, and experimental animal data and made a causal determination using the same categories proposed by the Institute of Medicine report Improving the Presumptive Disability Decision-making Process for Veterans (82). We found that the totality of the data indicates that the results for CV effects are largely null across human and experimental animal studies. The few statistically significant associations reported in epidemiology studies of CV morbidity and mortality are very small in magnitude and likely attributable to confounding, bias, or chance. In experimental animal studies, the reported statistically significant effects at high exposures are not observed at lower exposures and thus not likely relevant to current ambient ozone exposures in humans. The available data also do not support a biologically plausible mechanism for CV effects of ozone. Overall, the current WoE provides no convincing case for a causal relationship between short-term exposure to ambient ozone and adverse effects on the CV system in humans, but the limitations of the available studies preclude definitive conclusions regarding a lack of causation. Thus, we categorize the strength of evidence for a causal relationship between short-term exposure to ozone and CV effects as “below equipoise. ”
Matching Free Trees with Replicator Equations

Motivated by our recent work on rooted tree matching, in this paper we provide a solution to the problem of matching two free (i.e., unrooted) trees by constructing an association graph whose maximal cliques are in one-to-one correspondence with maximal common subtrees. We then solve the problem using simple replicator dynamics from evolutionary game theory. Experiments on hundreds of uniformly random trees are presented. The results are impressive: despite the inherent inability of these simple dynamics to escape from local optima, they always returned a globally optimal solution.
Dynamics of Wolbachia pipientis Gene Expression Across the Drosophila melanogaster Life Cycle

Symbiotic interactions between microbes and their multicellular hosts have manifold biological consequences. To better understand how bacteria maintain symbiotic associations with animal hosts, we analyzed genome-wide gene expression for the endosymbiotic α-proteobacteria Wolbachia pipientis across the entire life cycle of Drosophila melanogaster. We found that the majority of Wolbachia genes are expressed stably across the D. melanogaster life cycle, but that 7.8% of Wolbachia genes exhibit robust stage- or sex-specific expression differences when studied in the whole-organism context. Differentially-expressed Wolbachia genes are typically up-regulated after Drosophila embryogenesis and include many bacterial membrane, secretion system, and ankyrin repeat-containing proteins. Sex-biased genes are often organized as small operons of uncharacterized genes and are mainly up-regulated in adult Drosophila males in an age-dependent manner. We also systematically investigated expression levels of previously-reported candidate genes thought to be involved in host-microbe interaction, including those in the WO-A and WO-B prophages and in the Octomom region, which has been implicated in regulating bacterial titer and pathogenicity. Our work provides comprehensive insight into the developmental dynamics of gene expression for a widespread endosymbiont in its natural host context, and shows that public gene expression data harbor rich resources to probe the functional basis of the Wolbachia-Drosophila symbiosis and annotate the transcriptional outputs of the Wolbachia genome.
Solvent-resistant elastomeric microfluidic devices and applications

Microfluidics is increasingly being used in many areas of biotechnology and chemistry to achieve reduced reagent volumes, improved performance, integration, and parallelism, among other advantages. Though early devices were based on rigid materials such as glass and silicon, elastomeric materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are rapidly emerging as a ubiquitous platform for applications in biotechnology. This is due, in part, to simpler fabrication procedures and to the ability to integrate mechanical microvalves at vastly greater densities. For many applications in the areas of chemical synthesis and analysis, however, PDMS cannot replace glass and silicon due to its incompatibility with many solvents and reagents. Such areas could benefit tremendously from the development of an elastomeric microfluidic device technology that combines the advantages of PDMS with the property of solvent resistance. Simplified fabrication could increase the accessibility of microfluidics, and the possibility of dense valve integration could lead to significant advances in device sophistication. Applications could be more rapidly developed by design re-use due to the independence of mechanical valves on fluid properties (unlike electrokinetic pumping), and the property of permeability could enable novel fluidic functions for accessing a broader range of reactions than is possible in glass and silicon. The first half of this thesis describes our strategies and efforts to develop this new enabling technology. Several approaches are presented in Chapter 3, and two particularly successful ones, based on new elastomers (FNB and PFPE), are described in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 6 describes a novel method of fabricating devices from 3D molds that could expand the range of useful elastomers. The second half of this thesis discusses microfluidic combinatorial synthesis and high throughput screening—applications that take particular advantage of the ability to integrate thousands of individual valves and reaction chambers. Chapter 7 introduces several scalable device architectures and presents results of preliminary steps toward the synthesis of combinatorial DNA and peptide arrays. A novel method of performing universal gene expression analysis with combinatorial DNA arrays is described in Chapter 8 and an algorithm for predicting relationships among genes from gene expression array data is presented in Chapter 9.
Wizard of Oz studies: why and how

Current approaches to the development of natural language dialogue systems are discussed, and it is claimed that they do not sufficiently consider the unique qualities of man-machine interaction as distinct from general human discourse. It is concluded that empirical studies of this unique communication situation are required for the development of user-friendly interactive systems. One way of achieving this is through the use of so-called Wizard of Oz studies. The focus of the work described in the paper is on the practical execution of the studies and the methodological conclusions drawn on the basis of the authors' experience. While the focus is on natural language interfaces, the methods used and the conclusions drawn from the results obtained are of relevance also to other kinds of intelligent interfaces.
Multidetector Row CT Angiography in Spontaneous Lobar Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Prospective Comparison with Conventional Angiography

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of our study was to assess the accuracy of multidetector row CT angiography (MDCTA) in the detection of the underlying vascular abnormalities causing spontaneous lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) compared with conventional digital subtraction angiography (DSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-eight patients who underwent MDCTA with use of a 16-detector row scanner and DSA were prospectively included in this study. Each study was assessed by 2 independent blinded neuroradiologists; decisions were made in consensus. Findings on CT angiograms, including the original axial data, multiplanar reformations, and volume-rendered images with and without automated bone segmentation, were used to identify the underlying causes of ICH. RESULTS: Twenty-two of the 78 patients (28.2%) exhibited angiographic abnormalities, including aneurysms of the proximal arteries (n = 9), arteriovenous malformations (n = 7), Moyamoya disease (n = 4), and aneurysms of the distal arteries (n = 2). MDCTA detected the underlying vascular abnormalities in 21 patients except 1 case of small arteriovenous malformation. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of MDCTA for detection of underlying vascular abnormalities were 95.5%, 100%, 100%, 98.2%, and 98.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: MDCTA is a highly accurate imaging technique in the diagnosis of underlying vascular abnormalities in patients with spontaneous lobar ICH.