Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relation between Body Iron Status and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Background: There is conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between iron stores and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The present study aimed to investigate the association between body iron indices and some cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: In a case–control study conducted in the south of Shiraz, Iran, we determined ferritin, iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), metabolic risk factors, C-reactive protein (CRP), and anthropometric measurements in 100 men aged 45 years and higher with newly diagnosed CVD and 100 adjusted controls without evidence for CVD. Results: The mean of low density lipoprotein (LDL-c), CRP, and ferritin concentrations were significantly higher in cases than controls, and high density lipoprotein (HDL-c) was significantly lower in cases than controls. Pearson correlation coefficient between CRP and the other risk factors in case group showed that only ferritin, serum iron, waist circumference, and LDL-c significantly correlated with CRP (r = 0.32 with P < 0.001, r = 0.29 with P < 0.05, r = 0.41 with P < 0.01, and r = 0.36 with P < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: This study indicated an association between a positive balance of body iron and CVD. Hence, caution should be exercised in administration of iron supplements to patients with CVD and in consumption of food rich in iron by them.
Interpersonal facilitation and job dedication as separate facets of contextual performance.

This study attempts to refine the construct of contextual performance by dividing it into 2 narrower constructs, interpersonal facilitation and job dedication. Supervisors rated 975 U.S. Air Force mechanics on at least 1 of 4 aspects of job performance (different supervisors rated each aspect of performance), and 515 of these mechanics also completed self-report individual difference measures. Correlations between performance ratings and individual difference variables support distinguishing task performance from interpersonal facilitation but not from job dedication. Thus this study suggests the need to redefine task performance to include motivational elements of job dedication. Then task performance would include task proficiency and motivation to perform one's own tasks effectively, and contextual performance would include interpersonal skills, the motivation to maintain good working relationships and help others perform their tasks.
‘I Was Trapped at Home’: Men's Experiences with Leisure While Giving Care to Partners During a Breast Cancer Experience

Men whose partners are diagnosed with breast cancer experience many changes to daily living, including taking on additional family and household roles and responsibilities, caring for their partner, and often relinquishing leisure activities. Although leisure participation has been found to help individuals cope and to mitigate the negative effect of traumatic life events, men's experience with leisure during their partners’ breast cancer experience has received little attention. The purpose of this study was to explore men's experiences with leisure and the meaning of those experiences during and following their partners’ breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 men. The findings illuminate that men's leisure became more home-based, was used to release and regulate emotions, and provided a means to maintain identity. The illness experience also increased men's appreciation of leisure with their partners.
Dynamic of Distribution of Human Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells After Transplantation into Adult Unconditioned Mice

Background. The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for cell therapy relies on their capacity to engraft and survive long term in the appropriate target tissue(s). Animal models have demonstrated that the syngeneic or xenogeneic transplantation of MSC results in donor engraftment into the bone marrow and other tissues of conditioned recipients. However, there are no reliable data showing the fate of human MSC infused into conditioned or unconditioned adult recipients. Methods. In the present study, the authors investigated, by using imaging, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and in situ hybridization, the biodistribution of human bone marrow-derived MSC after intravenous infusion into unconditioned adult nude mice. Results. As assessed by imaging (gamma camera), PCR, and in situ hybridization analysis, the authors' results demonstrate the presence of human MSC in bone marrow, spleen, and mesenchymal tissues of recipient mice. Conclusions. These results suggest that human MSC transplantation into unconditioned recipients represents an option for providing cellular therapy and avoids the complications associated with drugs or radiation conditioning.
Epigenetic Impacts of Ascorbate on Human Metastatic Melanoma Cells

In recent years, increasing evidence has emerged demonstrating that high-dose ascorbate bears cytotoxic effects on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, making ascorbate a pro-oxidative drug that catalyzes hydrogen peroxide production in tissues instead of acting as a radical scavenger. This anticancer effect of ascorbate is hypoxia-inducible factor-1α- and O2-dependent. However, whether the intracellular mechanisms governing this effect are modulated by epigenetic phenomena remains unknown. We treated human melanoma cells with physiological (200 μM) or pharmacological (8 mM) ascorbate for 1 h to record the impact on DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)-activity, histone deacetylases (HDACs), and microRNA (miRNA) expression after 12 h. The results were analyzed with the MIRUMIR online tool that estimates the power of miRNA to serve as potential biomarkers to predict survival of cancer patients. FACS cell-cycle analyses showed that 8 mM ascorbate shifted BLM melanoma cells toward the sub-G1 fraction starting at 12 h after an initial primary G2/M arrest, indicative for secondary apoptosis induction. In pharmacological doses, ascorbate inhibited the DNMT activity in nuclear extracts of MeWo and BLM melanoma cells, but did not inhibit human HDAC enzymes of classes I, II, and IV. The expression of 151 miRNAs was altered 12 h after ascorbate treatment of BLM cells in physiological or pharmacological doses. Pharmacological doses up-regulated 32 miRNAs (≥4-fold) mainly involved in tumor suppression and drug resistance in our preliminary miRNA screening array. The most prominently up-regulated miRNAs correlated with a significantly increased overall survival of breast cancer or nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients of the MIRUMIR database with high expression of the respective miRNA. Our results suggest a possible epigenetic signature of pharmacological doses of ascorbate in human melanoma cells and support further pre-clinical and possibly even clinical evaluation of ascorbate for melanoma therapy.
A Multivariate Analysis of Some Attitudinal and Ideological Correlates of Student Activism.

The present study was designed to assess some of the attitudinal and ideological factors associated with varying degrees of "activism," or participation in political and social protest activities. A group of 110 undergraduate students at the State University of New York at Buffalo was divided into three activism sub-groups-non, moderate, extensive-based on participation in February 1970, campus demonstrations. Multivariate comparisons of the groups indicated that high degrees of active participation were associated with low authoritarianism, low Machiavellian tendencies, low dogmatism, and high anomie, by comparison to the other groups. These results support the findings of others previously obtained. The psychological bases employed in the study of student activists are reviewed.
A Versatile Zero Background T-Vector System for Gene Cloning and Functional Genomics1[C][W][OA]

With the recent availability of complete genomic sequences of many organisms, high-throughput and cost-efficient systems for gene cloning and functional analysis are in great demand. Although site-specific recombination-based cloning systems, such as Gateway cloning technology, are extremely useful for efficient transfer of DNA fragments into multiple destination vectors, the two-step cloning process is time consuming and expensive. Here, we report a zero background TA cloning system that provides simple and high-efficiency direct cloning of PCR-amplified DNA fragments with almost no self-ligation. The improved T-vector system takes advantage of the restriction enzyme XcmI to generate a T-overhang after digestion and the negative selection marker gene ccdB to eliminate the self-ligation background after transformation. We demonstrate the feasibility and flexibility of the technology by developing a set of transient and stable transformation vectors for constitutive gene expression, gene silencing, protein tagging, protein subcellular localization detection, and promoter fragment activity analysis in plants. Because the system can be easily adapted for developing specialized expression vectors for other organisms, zero background TA provides a general, cost-efficient, and high-throughput platform that complements the Gateway cloning system for gene cloning and functional genomics.
The impact of education level and type on moral reasoning

The importance of education in developing morally sensitive individuals who use principled moral reasoning when facing dilemmas has been widely acknowledged. In the context of the criticism levelled at the Irish higher education system for failing to fulfil the role of intellectual leader and moral critic within the public domain, this paper examines the impact of education level (both undergraduate and post-graduate) and type (arts or technical/profession-based) on moral reasoning using 311 Irish participants from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. An enhanced understanding of the impact of education on moral reasoning will facilitate the development of educational initiatives aimed at augmenting moral reasoning in higher-level students.
When Is It Foolish to Reward for A While Benefiting from B?

A performance measure may or may not reflect the relative importance of different tasks for the production of benefit: it can be aligned or unaligned. Here, I examine when using an aligned measure generates a larger surplus in a principal‐agent relationship than using an unaligned but otherwise identical measure. I find that (i) the agent’s effort costs matter for the optimal way of measuring performance, and (ii) the optimal measure is not aligned but tilted toward tasks that the agent finds easy. Failing to recognize these insights may lead to false predictions about the use of incentives.
A source matching approach to finding minimax codes

A source matching approach is presented to the problem of finding minimax cedes for classes of memoryless sources. The approach leads to a channel capacity problem so that Blahut's algorithm can be used to find approximations to the minimax code. Closed form solutions are presented for the class of monotonic sources and for a class of Bernoulli-like sources. For extensions of finite alphabet memoryless sources, a modified Lynch-Davisson code has performance close to that of the minimax code. The exact solution to the source matching problem and the resulting codes are presented for the extensions of binary codes up to blocklength 31.
Voice Identification Over the Telephone1

Following a telephone survey investigating attitudes toward police and frequency of personal victimization. 177 citizens between the ages of 18 and 88 years participated without forewarning in a field study on telephone voice identification. Identification accuracy (hits) improved with longer conversation durations (an average duration of 7.8 min compared to conversation durations of 3.2 min and 4.3 min. on average), but the false alarm rate also reliably increased with longer durations in a target-present lineup. False alarms were consistently high (overall M= .48) in the target-absent lineup. No significant differences were found in hit scores or false alarm scores over a two to three day retention interval. No significant correlation was found between confidence scores and accuracy of performance on the target-present lineup (r= .10). but a significant correlation (r= 36) was found on the target-absent lineup.
The International Journal of Biostatistics Why Match ? Investigating Matched Case-Control Study Designs with Causal Effect Estimation

Matched case-control study designs are commonly implemented in the field of public health. While matching is intended to eliminate confounding, the main potential benefit of matching in case-control studies is a gain in efficiency. Methods for analyzing matched case-control studies have focused on utilizing conditional logistic regression models that provide conditional and not causal estimates of the odds ratio. This article investigates the use of case-control weighted targeted maximum likelihood estimation to obtain marginal causal effects in matched case-control study designs. We compare the use of case-control weighted targeted maximum likelihood estimation in matched and unmatched designs in an effort to explore which design yields the most information about the marginal causal effect. The procedures require knowledge of certain prevalence probabilities and were previously described by van der Laan (2008). In many practical situations where a causal effect is the parameter of interest, researchers may be better served using an unmatched design.
Extracellular Signal–Regulated Kinase in the Ventromedial Hypothalamus Mediates Leptin-Induced Glucose Uptake in Red-Type Skeletal Muscle

Leptin is a key regulator of glucose metabolism in mammals, but the mechanisms of its action have remained elusive. We now show that signaling by extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) and its upstream kinase MEK in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) mediates the leptin-induced increase in glucose utilization as well as its insulin sensitivity in the whole body and in red-type skeletal muscle of mice through activation of the melanocortin receptor (MCR) in the VMH. In contrast, activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), but not the MEK-ERK pathway, in the VMH by leptin enhances the insulin-induced suppression of endogenous glucose production in an MCR-independent manner, with this effect of leptin occurring only in the presence of an increased plasma concentration of insulin. Given that leptin requires 6 h to increase muscle glucose uptake, the transient activation of the MEK-ERK pathway in the VMH by leptin may play a role in the induction of synaptic plasticity in the VMH, resulting in the enhancement of MCR signaling in the nucleus and leading to an increase in insulin sensitivity in red-type muscle.
Methionine Restriction and Modification of Epithelial Tight Junction Barrier Function and Permeability

It is well known that caloric restriction leads to an increased longevity by forestalling age-related diseases. Dietary restriction of methionine also renders similar benefits. In this review, we report studies on the effect of methionine restriction on epithelial barrier function in a renal epithelial LLC-PK1 cell, a rodent gastrointestinal model and a clinical trial using Crohn's patients. In LLC-PK1 cell culture, a reduction of culture medium methionine by 80% resulted in altered tight junctional claudin composition with improved epithelial barrier function as exemplified by increased trans- epithelial electrical resistance and decreased paracellular leak to 14 C-D-mannitol. In addition to small but significant reductions in plasma and intracellular colonocyte methionine levels, dietary methionine restriction tightens intestinal epithelium and reduces mannitol permeability in rat colonic, but not ileal tissue. Crohn's patients on methionine-restricted diet reported improved symptoms as demonstrated by a reduced CDAI index, but this diet was not able to significantly reduce the plasma methionine level in patients recruited. An increased urinary lactulose/mannitol ratio was also the result of the regimen in Crohn's patients, suggesting an increased, rather than decreased ileal leakage. Overall, our results showed that reduction in dietary intake of methionine is promising in improving at least some epithelial barriers and this may be through altering tight junctional protein compositions. Methionine restriction might result in contrasting effects depending on the tissue type and possible disease conditions, thus wider range of studies are required.
Personality and Job Performance in Financial Services Managers

This article presents research in which the Five Factor Model of personality was tested as a predictor of job performance. 125 financial services managers who had enrolled in a potential evaluation programme were given the NEO-FFI, a questionnaire designed for measuring the Big Five. Job performance was assessed using nine rating scales and they were grouped into two components: job problem-solving ability and job motivation. Also, one single scale for measuring global job performance was used. The results show that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness correlated with the two components and with the global measure of job performance. Extraversion, Openness and Agreeableness are correlated with one facet or with the global rating of job performance. Taken together, the results suggest that the Five Factor Model is a valid predictor of job performance. The implications of the results for practice and future research are discussed.
Contextual encoding by ensembles of medial prefrontal cortex neurons

Contextual representations serve to guide many aspects of behavior and influence the way stimuli or actions are encoded and interpreted. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), including the anterior cingulate subregion, has been implicated in contextual encoding, yet the nature of contextual representations formed by the mPFC is unclear. Using multiple single-unit tetrode recordings in rats, we found that different activity patterns emerged in mPFC ensembles when animals moved between different environmental contexts. These differences in activity patterns were significantly larger than those observed for hippocampal ensembles. Whereas ≈11% of mPFC cells consistently preferred one environment over the other across multiple exposures to the same environments, optimal decoding (prediction) of the environmental setting occurred when the activity of up to ≈50% of all mPFC neurons was taken into account. On the other hand, population activity patterns were not identical upon repeated exposures to the very same environment. This was partly because the state of mPFC ensembles seemed to systematically shift with time, such that we could sometimes predict the change in ensemble state upon later reentry into one environment according to linear extrapolation from the time-dependent shifts observed during the first exposure. We also observed that many strongly action-selective mPFC neurons exhibited a significant degree of context-dependent modulation. These results highlight potential differences in contextual encoding schemes by the mPFC and hippocampus and suggest that the mPFC forms rich contextual representations that take into account not only sensory cues but also actions and time.
Effect of horseback riding versus a dynamic and static horse riding simulator on sitting ability of children with cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial

[Purpose] A randomized controlled trial was conducted to investigate the immediate effects of horseback riding (HR) and a dynamic (DHS) and static (SHS) horse riding simulator (OSIM uGallop, Taiwan) on sitting ability of children with cerebral palsy. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty children with cerebral palsy were recruited and randomly assigned into three groups. Children received 30 minutes of exercise according to their assigned group. The Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo) and Gross Motor Function Measure-66 (GMFM-66) sitting dimension were used to assess children in all groups both before and after the interventions. [Results] Sitting abilities were significantly improved after all interventions. Horseback riding showed the most improvement, followed by the dynamic and static horse riding simulator groups. Horseback riding also showed a significant improvement in the GMFM sitting dimension. [Conclusion] Horseback riding was the best intervention for promoting sitting ability of children with spastic cerebral palsy. However, a dynamic horse riding simulator can be a good surrogate for horseback riding when horseback riding is not available.
Severely Fading MIMO Channels: Models and Mutual Information

In most wireless communications research, the channel models considered experience less severe fading than the classic Rayleigh fading case. In this work, however, we investigate MIMO channels where the fading is more severe. In these environments, we show that the coefficient of variation of the channel amplitudes is a good predictor of the link mutual information, for a variety of models. We propose a novel channel model for severely fading channels based on the complex multivariate t distribution. For this model, we are able to compute exact results for the ergodic mutual information and approximations to the outage probabilities for the mutual information. Applications of this work include wireless sensors, RF tagging, land-mobile, indoor-mobile, ground-penetrating radar, and ionospheric radio links. Finally, we point out that the methodology can also be extended to evaluate the mutual information of a cellular MIMO link and the performance of various MIMO receivers in a cellular scenario. In these cellular applications, the channel itself is not severely fading but the multivariate t distribution can be applied to model the effects of inter-cell interference.
The fuzzy disc

We introduce a finite dimensional matrix model approximation to the algebra of functions on a disc based on noncommutative geometry. The algebra is a subalgebra of the one characterizing the noncommutative plane with a * product and depends on two parameters N and θ. It is composed of functions which decay exponentially outside a disc. In the limit in which the size of the matrices goes to infinity and the noncommutativity parameter goes to zero the disc becomes sharper. We introduce a laplacian defined on the whole algebra and calculate its eigenvalues. We also calculate the two-points correlation function for a free massless theory (Green's function). In both cases the agreement with the exact result on the disc is very good already for relatively small matrices. This opens up the possibility for the study of field theories on the disc with nonperturbative methods. The model contains edge states, a fact studied in a similar matrix model independently introduced by Balachandran, Gupta and Kurkcuoglu.
The Relationship Between Attitudes: Homophobia and Sexism Among Social Work Students

This article reports on a study of the relationship between students' attitudes toward women and toward gay men and lesbians and changes in those attitudes during social work courses at two universities. The study found a significant relationship between students' levels of homophobia and sexism. The relationship was stronger for female students than for male students and varied by race and aca demic major. The article also discusses the implications of the findings for changing social work curricula.