Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Carbohydrate regulation in relation to colony growth in ants

SUMMARY Ants and all social insects are faced with a nutritional challenge: the food entering the colony is brought by only a small number of its workers but is shared among all members of the colony. In this study, we investigated how ants maintain carbohydrates supply at both a collective and an individual level in response to changes in the concentration of available sucrose solution, colony demography and larval growth. We manipulated the concentration of sugar solutions available to ant colonies (dilute, medium and concentrated solutions) over extended periods and measured the capacity of colonies to maintain sugar supply through compensatory feeding. First, we demonstrated that ants regulated carbohydrate intake at a collective and individual level. Initially, ants consumed most and recruited fastest in response to more concentrated than to dilute sugar solutions, but over time this pattern reversed, such that the number of ants that fed and the volume ingested by each ant was a negative function of sugar concentration in the diet. Second, we found that ants became better at regulating their carbohydrate intake with the production of larvae in the nest. When the number of larvae was experimentally doubled, the ants regulated their consumption of carbohydrates more accurately than when the number of adult workers was doubled, suggesting that larvae play an important role in providing nutritional feedback to workers. Finally, we showed that ants defended a carbohydrate `intake target' by allowing them to select among sugar solutions of different concentration.
'The unexamined death' : patients' experiences of the premature termination of analysis due to the sudden death, or terminal illness, of the analyst

Background: From personal experience, plus a brief overview of literature, the researcher surmised that the potentially traumatic impact on patients of losing their analyst to terminal illness/sudden death had received scant attention from the psychoanalytic community. Listening directly to patients (as opposed to analysts) had been particularly overlooked. Literature Review: This initial hypothesis was confirmed/refined by this Review: it was felt that focusing on the account that patients gave of their experience would be the most appropriate means of eliciting information. Knowledge that would assist the psychoanalytic community to most effectively ensure the wellbeing of future patients. Methodology: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) seemed to most appropriately meet the aims of this research. 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted, allowing the flexibility in questioning that is an inherent characteristic of IPA. For consistency collecting, transcribing and analysing of data were undertaken by the researcher. Accepted ethical procedures were followed. Findings and Discussion: Five Superordinate Themes emerged based on 21 Major Themes – Changes in Analysis before Termination; Aftercare in Relation to Outcomes; The Inherent Nature of Analysis inc. Requirements of Analytic Training; Emotional/Psychic Effects; Experience Utilised. Within these 5 Superordinate Themes issues/dilemmas were identified that were detrimentally affecting, in some cases seriously, patients’ wellbeing. The majority of these issues had been identified, in some form, over the past 50 years but not adequately acknowledged/acted upon. Some new issues emerged, including problems that are occurring in the interface between formal executors and sick analysts. Suggestions were given that might be helpful for the profession to take forward. Conclusions: The researcher has separated out the variables that appear to affect the outcome for patients into those that are largely ‘fixed’ as opposed to those that are ‘more malleable’ and urges the psychoanalytic community to act speedily on the latter.
Different Effects of Angiotensin II and Angiotensin-(1-7) on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation and Migration

Background Angiotensin (Ang) II and Ang-(1-7) are two of the bioactive peptides of the rennin-angiotensin system. Ang II is involved in the development of cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension and atherosclerosis, while Ang-(1-7) shows cardiovascular protection in contrast to Ang II. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we investigated effects of Ang II and Ang-(1-7) on vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation and migration, which are critical in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. Treatment with Ang II resulted in an increase of SMC proliferation, whereas Ang-(1-7) alone had no effects. However, preincubation with Ang-(1-7) inhibited Ang II-induced SMC proliferation. Ang II promoted SMC migration, and this effect was abolished by pretreatment with Ang-(1-7). The stimulatory effects of Ang II on SMC proliferation and migration were blocked by the Ang II receptor antagonist lorsartan, while the inhibitory effects of Ang-(1-7) were abolished by the Ang-(1-7) receptor antagonist A-799. Ang II treatment caused activation of ERK1/2 mediated signaling, and this was inhibited by preincubation of SMCs with Ang-(1-7). Conclusion These results suggest that Ang-(1-7) inhibits Ang II-induced SMC proliferation and migration, at least in part, through negative modulation of Ang II induced ERK1/2 activity.
[alpha]-L-Fucosyltransferases from Radish Primary Roots

A novel [alpha]-L-fucosyltransferase capable of transferring L-fucose (L-Fuc) from GDP-L-Fuc to the O-2 of [alpha]-L-arabinofuranosyl residue (GDP-L-Fuc:[alpha]-L-arabinofuranoside 2-[alpha]-L-fucosyltransferase) has been found in the microsomal fraction of primary roots from 6-d-old radish (Raphanus sativus L.) seedlings. Enzyme activity was measured fluorometrically at 25[deg]C using a pyridylaminated trisaccharide, L-arabinofuranosylf[alpha](1->3)D-galactopyranosyl[beta](1->6)D-galac tose (AraGalGal-PA) as the acceptor. This enzyme found in the microsomal fraction is maximally active at pH 6.8 and requires 0.1% (w/v) Zwittergent 3–16 and 5 mM Mn2+. Chemical and enzymatic analyses of fucosylated AraGalGal-PA confirmed the attachment of L-Fuc to the L-arabinofuranosyl (L-Araf) residue at O-2 by [alpha]-glycosidic linkage. Radiolabeling was used to assay L-Fuc transfer to L-Araf-containing galacto-oligomers and tamarind xyloglucan. The enzyme specific for the L-Araf residue undergoes development- and organ-specific expression in root tissue, whereas the L-Fuc transfer to tamarind xyloglucan can be detected in microsomal fractions from various organs in developing radish plants. Enzyme assays of membranes fractionated from microsomal fractions revealed that two distinct [alpha]-L-fucosyltransferases with different acceptor specificity are associated with Golgi membranes from primary roots, whereas hypocotyl Golgi membranes completely lack the enzyme specific for the L-Araf residue.
How gastroenterologists inform patients of results after lower endoscopy

OBJECTIVE:Little is known about how gastroenterologists communicate endoscopic findings and biopsy results to their patients. We sought to determine the factors that may influence this behavior.METHODS:A survey questionnaire was developed and mailed to the 80 members of the Delaware Valley Society for GI Endoscopy. Information was obtained on the demographic characteristics and responses to six case vignettes prepared to examine communication patterns. We determined possible influences of conscious sedation and the benignity or severity of findings on communication practices.RESULTS:Sixty-one surveys (76%) were completed and analyzed. Endoscopists immediately inform patients of normal results. For abnormal results, 92% would immediately inform nonsedated patients versus 79% that would inform sedated patients (p < 0.008). Analysis of responses to the case vignettes indicated that 82% of endoscopists would immediately reassure the patient about a benign appearing (<1 cm) polyp, but only 70% would do so for a polyp >2 cm (p < 0.01). In contrast, when presented with a frank malignancy, 94% would inform the patient. Eighty-four percent of endoscopists would telephone results of a benign pathology report, but only 34% would telephone report a dysplastic lesion (p < 0.001). There was no correlation between the response rate and various demographic parameters such as physician age, type of, or length of time in practice.CONCLUSIONS:Gastroenterologists usually report normal findings immediately, but are less likely to do so after use of sedation or encountering abnormal findings. Most of those surveyed would use the telephone to communicate abnormal findings.
Information Management & Computer Security Phishing counter measures and their effectiveness – literature review

Purpose – Phishing is essentially a social engineering crime on the Web, whose rampant occurrences and technique advancements are posing big challenges for researchers in both academia and the industry. The purpose of this study is to examine the available phishing literatures and phishing countermeasures,todeterminehowresearchhasevolvedandadvancedintermsofquantity,contentand publicationoutlets.Inadditiontothat,thispaperaimstoidentifytheimportanttrendsinphishinganditscountermeasuresandprovidesaviewoftheresearchgapthatisstillprevailinginthisﬁeldofstudy. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a comprehensive literature review prepared after analysing 16 doctoral theses and 358 papers in this ﬁeld of research. The papers were analyzed based on their research focus, empirical basis on phishing and proposed countermeasures. Findings – The ﬁndings reveal that the current anti-phishing approaches that have seen signiﬁcant deployments over the internet can be classiﬁed into eight categories. Also, the different approaches proposed so far are all preventive in nature. A Phisher will mainly target the innocent consumers who happen to be the weakest link in the security chain and it was found through various usability studies that neither server-side security indicators nor client-side toolbars and warnings are successful in preventing vulnerable users from being deceived. Originality/value – Educating the internet users about phishing, as well as the implementation and proper application of anti-phishing measures, are critical steps in protecting the identities of online consumers against phishing attacks. Further research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of the available countermeasures against fresh phishing attacks. Also there is the need to ﬁnd out the factors which inﬂuence internet user’s ability to correctly identify phishing websites.
Empirically Testing the Public Value Based Conceptual Framework for Evaluating E-Government Performance in Vietnam

Very little research has been conducted on the performance of e-Government across countries. They are theoretically focusing on the public value-based conceptual framework, resulting in the lack of empirical evidence on its validity. As for Vietnam, evaluating the e-Government performance is still new, not to mention being absent in the literature. Therefore, an empirical test of the public value-based conceptual framework was needed for evaluation of e-Government performance in Vietnam. Firstly, the research went through the review of the literature on e-Government as well as public service delivery related issues. Secondly, it operationalized the items on the basis of revised public value-based e-Government performance conceptual framework. Thirdly, the field survey was carried out using self-administered questionnaires with appropriate sampling structure. Finally, data analysis was performed and interpreted. Recommendations were drawn for proposed and revised conceptual framework for future research in Vietnam.
Two Cases of Atezolizumab-Induced Hypophysitis

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as treatment of multiple advanced cancer types. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, namely anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), antiprogrammed cell death-1 (PD-1), and antiprogrammed cell death-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies, have been used for treatment of various cancers. Classified as immune-related adverse events, several endocrinopathies, including hypophysitis, are associated with these agents. Although anti-CTLA-4–induced hypophysitis has been frequently observed, hypophysitis upon use of anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies is rare. Case 1 is a 65-year-old man presented with a stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with atezolizumab (an anti-PD-L1 antibody) following several inefficacious chemotherapies. After 56 weeks of the treatment, he complained of general malaise and appetite loss, and was diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency. Endocrinological examination revealed isolated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) deficiency; pituitary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed anterior pituitary atrophy. Hydrocortisone replacement therapy rapidly improved his symptoms and enabled him to continue atezolizumab therapy. Case 2 is a 70-year-old man with a stage IV NSCLC treated with atezolizumab. After 52 weeks of treatment, he was diagnosed with isolated ACTH deficiency. Pituitary MRI revealed no obvious abnormalities in the anterior pituitary. Hydrocortisone replacement therapy was also efficacious. We report two cases of atezolizumab-induced hypophysitis. Both showed isolated ACTH deficiency, suggesting similar clinical characteristics of hypophysitis associated with the use of anti-PD-1 antibodies. These results suggest a caution for the late-onset central adrenal insufficiency associated with hypophysitis in patients treated with anti-PD-L1 antibodies.
Direct comparison of two different mesalamine formulations for the maintenance of remission in patients with ulcerative colitis: A double-blind, randomized study

Background: Mesalamine has been used as the first‐line medication for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). We directly compared the efficacy and safety of two different mesalamine formulations in the maintenance of remission in patients with UC. Methods: In a multicenter, double‐blind, randomized study, 131 patients with quiescent UC were assigned to two groups: 65 to receive a pH‐dependent release formulation of mesalamine at 2.4 g/day (pH‐2.4 g) and 66 to receive a time‐dependent release formulation of mesalamine at 2.25 g/day (Time‐2.25 g). Both formulations were administered three times daily for 48 weeks. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients without bloody stools. Results: In the full analysis set (n = 130), the proportion of patients without bloody stools was 76.9% in the pH‐2.4 g and 69.2% in the Time‐2.25 g, demonstrating the noninferiority of pH‐2.4 g to Time‐2.25 g. No statistically significant difference in time to bloody stools was found between the two formulations (P = 0.27, log‐rank test), but the time to bloody stools tended to be longer in pH‐2.4 g compared to Time‐2.25 g, and a similar trend was observed with regard to the time to relapse. No differences were observed between the safety profiles of the two formulations. Conclusions: The pH‐ and time‐dependent release of mesalamine formulations were similarly safe and effective. Interestingly, the remission phase tended to be longer in the group that received the pH‐dependent formulation compared to the group that received the time‐dependent formulation (UMIN Clinical Trials Registry, no. C000000289). (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2010)
Early reliability evaluation of a biomédical system

Early reliability evaluation for safety-critical applications is crucial, since it may allow to spot critical parts of the design and to introduce suitable countermeasures. In some domains it is common to adopt a design flow exploiting a high-level description of the system behavior and architecture; out of this description, suitable tools then automatically generate the software (and eventually the hardware) needed to perform the required tasks. This paper describes an enhanced version of such a design flow in which reliability is also considered and evaluated. The model of a pacemaker is developed and used for early estimation of its robustness with respect to a subset of the possible faults. The paper highlights why it is important to take into account the environment the target system is designed to interact with (in this case the heart), thus making possible to identify the most critical faults, based on the severity of their effects.
Family structure and marijuana use among adolescents

Family structure as a predictive variable of juvenile delinquency has been studied for the last hundred years. This relationship originated due to societal belief that divorce was detrimental to adolescents. Due to the changing societal roles in the United States, family structure has been changing. More children are growing up in non-intact families, such as single-parent households, households with stepparents, cohabitating families, and households without a parent present. To study the effect family structure has on juvenile delinquency, researchers have utilized social control theory, differential association, self-control theory and general strain theory to conceptualize variables to explain why family structure influences delinquent behavior. A review of previous literature on this topic indicates that living in intact households, which are households with two biological parents who are married, have, on average, the lowest rates of delinquency. This thesis investigates the relationship between family structure and lifetime marijuana use among eighth and tenth grade adolescents in the United States through the use of secondary data analysis of Monitoring the Future Study, 2012. The results provide support for the relationship between family structure and lifetime marijuana use.
Of n-dimensional Dice, Combinatorial Optimization, and Reproducible Research: An Introduction

When throwing a solid object like a hexahedron, an octahedron or a tetrakis-hexahedron on a flat surface, we expect it to roll onto any of the faces with probabilities of exactly 1/6, 1/8, or 1/24, respectively. Informally, we view such objects as instances from the n-dimensional dice family; formally, they are instances from a hyperhedron family H( ;b;n). Each of the faces is assigned a label f ; ( )g; represents a unique n-dimensional coordinate string ; ( ) represents the value of the function for . The number of coordinates is defined as jH( ;b;n)j = b n (n! ); each coordinate string is an oriented permutation with parameter b denoting the number of symbols that encode the unique orientation of each permutation. Special cases include the combinational family C( ;b;n) with jC( ;b;n)j = b n (each coordinate string is a unique n-tuple) and the (single orientation) permutation family P( ;b;n) with jP( ;b;n)j = n! (each coordinate string is a unique permutation). The paper introduces the hyperhedron not only as a model for instances that arise in the context of combinatorial optimization but also as a metaphor to illustrate a number of combinatorial search algorithms whose meta-structures do not change when instance coordinates change from an n-tuple to a simple or an oriented permutation of length n. The dice metaphor is applied to statistical performance experiments with instances whose dimension increases monotonically while the number of "best faces" remains constant. All results are archived as an integral part of reproducible research environment, controlled by components encapsulated in tcl, R, and L ATEX.
A KY Boost Converter

In this letter, a KY boost converter is presented, which is the KY converter combined with the traditional synchronously rectified (SR) boost converter. Such a converter has continuous input and output inductor currents, different from the traditional SR boost converter, and has a larger voltage conversion ratio than the traditional SR boost converter does, and hence, this converter is very suitable for low-ripple applications. A detailed description of the proposed converter is presented herein along with a mathematical deduction and some experimental results.
Low Respiratory Function Increases the Risk of Depressive Symptoms in Later Life in Men

Objective: To assess the risk of depressive symptoms with respect to respiratory function in middle-aged men. Chronic lung diseases are associated with a high prevalence of depression, but the association of poor respiratory function with depressive symptoms has not been established in prospective population-based cohort studies. Methods: In a prospective, population-based cohort study with up to 30 years of follow-up, we included 1205 men aged 50 to 69 years from Finland (n = 663) and Italy (n = 542). Forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory flow in 0.75 sec (FEV0.75) in 1970 were analyzed in relationship to depressive symptoms (by Zung self-rating depression scale [SDS]) in 1985, 1990, 1995, and 2000, using multilevel regression models. Subsequent analyses were done separately in the strata with (n = 501) and without (n = 704) chronic diseases in 1970 (i.e., chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes mellitus). Results: Poor respiratory function was associated independently with steeper increases in depressive symptoms over time, both for FVC (p < .001) and FEV0.75 (p = .004). In participants without chronic diseases, a standard deviation (SD) increase in FVC was associated with a 1.1-point decrease (standard error [SE] = 0.4) in Zung SDS (p = .01) and a 1.5-point decrease (SE = 0.4) (p < .001) in participants with chronic diseases (p = .27 for interaction). Low FEV0.75 was associated with more depressive symptoms in participants with chronic diseases (1.7 SE 0.4 decrease per SD; p < .001), but not in participants without chronic diseases (0.6 SE 0.4 decrease per SD; p = .16; p = .008 for interaction). Conclusions: Small lung volumes were associated with an increased risk of subsequent depressive symptoms at old age, especially in persons with chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes mellitus at baseline. BMI = body mass index; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CIs = confidence intervals; FVC = forced vital capacity; FEV1 = forced expiratory volume in 1 sec; FEV0.75 = forced expiratory volume in 0.75 sec; FINE = longitudinal Finland, Italy, Netherlands Elderly Study; SES = socioeconomic status; SD = standard deviation.
Energy management and attitude control strategies using flywheels

This paper is devoted to the use of multiple flywheels that integrate the energy storage and attitude control functions in space vehicles. This concept, which we refer to as an integrated energy management and attitude control (IEMAC) system, reduces the space vehicle bus mass, volume, cost, and maintenance requirements while maintaining or improving the space vehicle performance. To this end, we present two nonlinear IEMAC strategies (model-based and adaptive) that simultaneously track a desired attitude trajectory and desired energy/power profile. Both strategies ensure asymptotic tracking while the adaptive controller compensates for uncertain spacecraft inertia.