Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VALORIZATION OF PROSO MILLET AND SPENT GRAIN FOR EXTRUDED SNACK DEVELOPMENT

OF THESIS VALORIZATION OF PROSO MILLET AND SPENT GRAIN FOR EXTRUDED SNACK DEVELOPMENT Fast-paced lifestyles result in consumers replacing traditional meals with on-the-go snack foods. In general, snacks are higher in saturated fats and simple sugars, and pose health concerns for consumers, which prompts the need for healthy nutritious alternatives to common snacks. Proso millet is a nutritious, and fast growing gluten free cereal. Spent grain (SG), the main by-product of brewing and distilling, contains high amount of protein and insoluble fibers. This study utilized proso millet and spent grain in the production of an extruded expanded snack, demonstrating their appropriateness as an ingredient in food production. The first objective of this study was to determine the effect of extrusion processing conditions (moisture, barrel temperature, screw speed) on the physical, chemical, and functional properties of proso millet based extruded snack. The second objective of this research was to determine the effect of distiller’s spent grain (DSG) addition level and particle size on physicochemical and functional properties of extruded snacks. The third objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of spent grain type and particle size on the physicochemical and functional properties of extruded snacks. Samples were produced using a co-rotating twin-screw 25:1 L/D laboratory scale extruder.
Review: Pharmacotherapy of obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with serious comorbid illnesses and diminished quality of life. At this time, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the treatment of choice. However, only half of those individuals who accept CPAP are still using it at the end of one year. Furthermore, efficacy for improving self-reported sleepiness appears to be greater for patients with severe sleep apnea and severe sleepiness than other patient groups. Some patients, notwithstanding optimized therapy and therapeutic adherence continue experiencing excessive daytime somnolence. Consequently, other treatment modalities have developed, including oral appliances, surgery and pharmacotherapy. It is widely believed, albeit not empirically demonstrated, that an effective medication to treat OSA would elicit better acceptance and adherence than having to use a machine for many hours on a nightly basis. Nonetheless, paucity of data (i.e. lack of large-scale randomized controlled trials), variability of perceived and actual benefits, and adverse side-effects of the drugs thus far tested have prevented the use of pharmacotherapy until now. In this paper we review the outcome data from published trials designed to evaluate efficacy and safety of various medications proposed for treating obstructive sleep apnea.
Agents in development for prostate cancer prevention

Accumulated epidemiological evidence indicates that prostate cancer mortality should be preventable. As androgenic hormones have long been recognised to be required for normal prostatic development, and because androgen deprivation is an established treatment for advanced prostate cancer, androgen signalling has been an attractive target for prostate cancer prevention. Inhibitors of 5α-reductase, an enzyme necessary for the conversion of testosterone to the more potent androgen dihydrotestosterone, have reached pivotal clinical trials for prostate cancer prevention. In addition, new insights into the molecular pathogenesis of prostate cancer hint that chronic or recurrent prostate inflammation may contribute to the development of the disease. A variety of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory drugs, which are likely to be capable of attenuating pro-carcinogenic genome damage from reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, are also under current development for prostate cancer prevention. This review will consider the rational development of these and other new agents and approaches for prostate cancer prevention in the context of recent research progress in ascertaining the aetiology of prostate cancer.
The Changing Shape of the UK Job Market and its Implications for the Bottom Half of Earners

In recent years, the idea that the UK labour market has become more polarised into high-wage "lovely" occupations and low-wage "lousy" occupations, while the middle jobs have been hollowed out, has gained currency. The creation of an 'hour-glass economy' has been attributed to the growth of technology which has replaced workers in routine jobs. Routine jobs tended to be middle wage, such as process operatives in manufacturing and some administrative jobs. Where there is a decline in routine jobs, the expectation is that the labour market polarises towards high wage, high skilled non-routine work at the top and low wage, non-routine service sector jobs at the bottom end. The assumption is that the hollowing out of routine jobs in the middle has been important driver of growing wage inequality. Yet, little has been said about how non-routine jobs have changed in terms of earnings or other measures of job quality. Our analysis finds far less evidence of polarisation in wage distributions than this above description suggests. We find that many jobs continue to be found around the middle of the wage distribution. What we do find has changed is not so much earnings but job titles, as many of these apparently good jobs continue to earn middle wages despite higher status job titles. We find evidence that there has been a growth in lower paid jobs within a category of jobs generally considered to be well-paid. For example, in the retail and wholesale sector, where managerial jobs increased between 2000 and 2008, the proportion of these jobs earning below £400 per week – adjusting for inflation – increased from 37 per cent to 58 per cent in this time period. In financial intermediation, a sector which has performed relatively well over this time period, there has clearly been a growth in high wage managerial jobs in this sector – those earning over £1,500 per week increased from just a couple of percent in 1993 and 2000, to 10 per cent in 2008. However, between 2000 and 2008, there was also a growth in the proportion of managers in this sector earning less than £400 (from 24 per cent to 30 per cent). The difference between our conclusions and those derived from existing evidence is largely down to our choice of methodology. Our main analysis incorporates what has already been demonstrated in earlier work, and goes beyond that to consider a …
Grasp invariance

This paper introduces a principle to guide the design of finger form: invariance of contact geometry over some continuum of varying shape and/or pose of the grasped object in the plane. Specific applications of this principle include scale-invariant and pose-invariant grasps. Under specific conditions, the principle gives rise to spiral shaped fingers, including logarithmic spirals and straight lines as special cases. The paper presents a general technique to solve for finger form, given a continuum of shape or pose variation and a property to be held invariant. We apply the technique to derive scale-invariant and pose-invariant grasps for disks, and we also explore the principle’s application to many common devices from jar wrenches to rock-climbing cams.
Molecular systematics of the order anaspidea based on mitochondrial DNA sequence (12S, 16S, and COI).

Fragments from three mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S, and COI) were sequenced to reconstruct a molecular phylogeny of the opisthobranch order Anaspidea. The molecular phylogeny supports the placement of the genus Akera, a taxon previously regarded by some authors as a cephalaspidean, within the Anaspidea. Incongruence between the molecular data and the classifications based on morphology suggests that some of the taxonomic characters (i.e., shell, parapodia fusion) traditionally used for the classification of sea hares must be reevaluated, since they may be homoplastic. The ancestral nature of Notarchus based on the molecular evidence suggests that homoplasy may be an explanation for the morphological resemblance of this species to the more derived sea hares with highly fused parapodia and concentrated nerve ganglia. Finally, examples are given of how comparative studies of the evolution of learning mechanisms in the anaspidean clade will benefit from the phylogenetic hypothesis presented in this paper.
Body iron stores in middle-aged North Indian patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity

Introduction: Evidence from various epidemiological and clinical studies suggests that iron overload is proinflammatory and proatherosclerotic. Excess body iron has been positively associated with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Aim of the Study: To study the relationship of body iron stores with type 2 diabetes and obesity in middle aged North Indian population. Materials and Methods: The participant population consisted of four groups of randomly selected participants (between 40 and 65 years of age and postmenopausal women); Group A: Normal individuals (controls), Group B: Obese nondiabetic individuals, Group C: Lean diabetic patients, Group D: Obese diabetic patients. Blood was examined for hematological, biochemical estimations, C-reactive protein, and serum ferritin (SF). Observation and Results: A total of 197 participants were enrolled. The mean SF levels (ng/ml) among males were: Group A (n = 18) 148.56 ± 119.90; Group B (n = 25) 129.11 ± 94.77; Group C (n = 27) 127.96 ± 109.65 and Group D (n = 22) 148.36 ± 104.94. The mean SF levels (ng/ml) among females were: Group A (n = 23) 67.44 ± 37.59; Group B (n = 25) 59.62 ± 43.56; Group C (n = 24) 77.97 ± 91.46 and Group D (n = 33) 66.46 ± 86.05. No statistical difference was found among the groups in both the sexes. Conclusions: Our observation is in sharp contrast to the earlier studies published from the West stressing that iron stores are increased in obesity and diabetes. We conclude that SF may not be a strong risk factor in the pathogenesis of obesity and diabetes in middle aged North Indians.
Processing and secretion of nerve growth factor: expression in mammalian cells with a vaccinia virus vector

To study posttranslational mechanisms for the control of nerve growth factor (NGF), we used a recombinant vaccinia virus vector to independently express the two major NGF transcripts in a variety of mammalian cell lines. The two major transcripts contain NGF (12.5 kilodaltons [kDa]) at the C-terminus and differ by alternative splicing of an N-terminal exon, so that the large precursor (34 kDa) had 67 amino acids upstream of an internal signal peptide and the smaller precursor (27 kDa) had this signal peptide at its N-terminus. In L929 cells, expression of either NGF transcript with the vaccinia virus vector gave rise to an apparently identical intracellular 35-kDa glycosylated precursor formed by cleavage of the primary gene product after the signal peptide. These cells also secreted biologically active NGF. To determine whether NGF processing is restricted by cell type, we infected a variety of mammalian cell lines with both recombinant viruses; all accumulated the same 35-kDa precursor and secreted NGF. Thus, many types of cells have the machinery to process and secrete NGF. However, NGF accumulated intracellularly (presumably in secretory granules) in cells with a regulated pathway of secretion (e.g., AtT-20 and HIT cells). In these cells, a membrane-permeable cyclic AMP analog, 8-bromo-cyclic AMP, stimulated NGF secretion. This suggests a mechanism for the regulation of NGF levels in which specific secretagogues, e.g., neurotransmitters, control NGF secretion.
An asymptotically-optimal sampling-based algorithm for Bi-directional motion planning

Bi-directional search is a widely used strategy to increase the success and convergence rates of sampling-based motion planning algorithms. Yet, few results are available that merge both bi-directional search and asymptotic optimality into existing optimal planners, such as PRM*, RRT*, and FMT*. The objective of this paper is to fill this gap. Specifically, this paper presents a bi-directional, sampling-based, asymptotically-optimal algorithm named Bi-directional FMT* (BFMT*) that extends the Fast Marching Tree (FMT*) algorithm to bi-directional search while preserving its key properties, chiefly lazy search and asymptotic optimality through convergence in probability. BFMT* performs a two-source, lazy dynamic programming recursion over a set of randomly-drawn samples, correspondingly generating two search trees: one in cost-to-come space from the initial configuration and another in cost-to-go space from the goal configuration. Numerical experiments illustrate the advantages of BFMT* over its unidirectional counterpart, as well as a number of other state-of-the-art planners.
Thinking hard together: the long and short of collaborative idea generation in scientific inquiry

Idea generation is a cognitive process that plays a central role in inquiry learning tasks. This paper presents results from a controlled experiment in which we investigate the affect on productivity and learning from doing idea generation tasks individually versus in pairs, with versus without automatic support from a virtual brainstorming agent called VIBRANT. Our finding is that individuals brainstorming with VIBRANT produced more ideas than individuals who brainstormed with a human peer. However, an additional finding is that while brainstorming in pairs lead to short term process losses in terms of idea generation, with a corresponding reduction in learning in terms of pre to post test gains, it produced a productivity gain for a subsequent distinct individual inquiry task. Furthermore, automatically generated feedback from VIBRANT improved learning during idea generation but did not mitigate the process losses that were associated with reduced learning in the pairs conditions.
The Protective and Immunomodulatory Effects of Fucoidan Against 7,12-Dimethyl benz[a]anthracene-Induced Experimental Mammary Carcinogenesis Through the PD1/PDL1 Signaling Pathway in Rats

ABSTRACT Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide that is extracted from brown algae seaweed. This study was designed to evaluate the protective and immunomodulatory effects of dietary fucoidan on 7,12-dimethyl benz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced experimental mammary carcinogenesis in rats. Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to four equal groups: the control group (control group), the cancer model group (model group), and the F1 and F2 groups, which were fed fucoidan at concentrations of 200 and 400 mg/kg·body weight, respectively. We found that fucoidan treatment decreased the tumor incidence and mean tumor weight and prolonged the tumor latency. Flow cytometric analyses revealed that the number of blood natural killer cells was higher after fucoidan treatment and that the proportions of CD4 and CD8 T cells were also increased. The serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-12p40, and interferon (IFN)-γ were higher in the rats treated with fucoidan compared to those of model rats. Moreover, the percentage of CD3+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in the blood and the levels of IL-10 and transforming growth factor β in the serum were lower in the rats treated with fucoidan. Furthermore, fucoidan treatment decreased the expression of Foxp3 and programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PDL1) in tumor tissues. The levels of p-phosphatidyl inositol kinase 3 and p-AKT in tumor tissues were also lower than those of model rats. These results suggest that a fucoidan-supplemented diet can inhibit DMBA-induced tumors in rats. This study provides experimental evidence toward elucidating the immune enhancement induced by fucoidan through the programmed cell death 1/PDL1 signaling pathway. The immunomodulatory effect is one of the possible mechanisms of the protective effect of fucoidan against mammary carcinogenesis.
Behavior and mortality of free-ranging raccoons, snowshoe hares, and striped skunks after exposure to 300 R gamma radiation.

Free-ranging raccoons (Procyon lotor), snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) exposed to 300 R cesium-137 radiation were monitored by an automatic radio-tracking system. Five irradiated juvenile raccoons died within 30 days postirradiation, but no controls died. One irradiated and one control snowshoe hare were killed by predators within 30 days after irradiation. No skunks died. No consistent patterns of effects of the irradiation were detected in terms of size or location of home range or in the circadian rhythms.
Stochastic Submodular Maximization: The Case of Coverage Functions

Stochastic optimization of continuous objectives is at the heart of modern machine learning. However, many important problems are of discrete nature and often involve submodular objectives. We seek to unleash the power of stochastic continuous optimization, namely stochastic gradient descent and its variants, to such discrete problems. We first introduce the problem of stochastic submodular optimization, where one needs to optimize a submodular objective which is given as an expectation. Our model captures situations where the discrete objective arises as an empirical risk (e.g., in the case of exemplar-based clustering), or is given as an explicit stochastic model (e.g., in the case of influence maximization in social networks). By exploiting that common extensions act linearly on the class of submodular functions, we employ projected stochastic gradient ascent and its variants in the continuous domain, and perform rounding to obtain discrete solutions. We focus on the rich and widely used family of weighted coverage functions. We show that our approach yields solutions that are guaranteed to match the optimal approximation guarantees, while reducing the computational cost by several orders of magnitude, as we demonstrate empirically.
A performance-prediction theory for partially submerged ventilated propellers

A partially submerged propeller theory was developed by employing a singularity distribution method. Unsteady pressure doublets and pressure sources represented the blade camber and blade-and-cavity thickness respectively. The induced velocities were derived by reducing the formula to a lifting-line configuration. The free-surface effect was considered by use of the image method. The induced velocities contained the singular integrals of 5th order, which are usually numerical unstable. An effort was made to derive numerically stable formulae from these singular equations by applying a method similar to the induction-factor method of Morgan & Wrench (1965) and Lerbs (1952) used for steady-state fully wetted propeller problems. These new formulae are not only applicable to the present partially submerged ventilated propeller problem, but also to general unsteady subcavitating and cavitating propeller problems such as propeller starting-up and non-periodic loading problems. By combining the two-dimensional water entry-and-exit theory of Wang (1979), the thrust and torque coefficients were calculated for representative partially submerged propellers and favourably compared with the experimental data.
The effects of roasting temperature applied to whole soybeans on site of digestion by steers: II. Protein and amino acid digestion.

A 4 x 5 Youden square design was used to determine the effect of roasting temperature of whole soybeans on escape of CP from the rumen and disappearance of N from the small intestine in steers. Four steers (average BW 373 kg +/- 30.7) cannulated at the rumen, duodenum, and ileum were fed each of five diets (1.8% of BW) over five periods. The basal diet contained corn silage (50% of diet DM), alfalfa hay (24%), corn-urea premix (6%), corn starch grits (16.6%), and soybean oil (3.4%). Soybeans (16% of diet DM), either raw or heated to an exit temperature of 141, 149, or 157 degrees C in a commercial roaster, replaced the soybean oil and most of the corn starch grits in the soybean-containing diets. Ruminal ammonia N was lower (P < .05) for the basal diet than for the soybean-containing diets. Roasting temperature of whole soybeans had no significant impact on ruminal ammonia N. Total N reaching the duodenum was greater (P < .05) for steers fed the soybean diets than for steers fed the basal diet. Non-bacterial N (dietary N) at the duodenum was increased (P < .05) by feeding soybeans. Soybean N reaching the duodenum decreased with increased roasting temperature. Increased roasting temperature of whole soybeans seemed to make the soybeans more brittle, subsequently increasing degradation of CP in the rumen. However, disappearance of soybean N in the small intestine, as a proportion of the soybean N entering the small intestine, increased with increased roasting temperature. Apparent total tract N digestibility was increased (P < .05) by feeding soybeans. Flow to the duodenum and small intestinal digestibility of total, essential, and nonessential amino acids increased (P < .05) when soybeans were fed and when roasted vs raw soybeans were fed. Under normal roasting conditions, it seemed that little potential for heat damage to the soybean protein existed. Instead, undesirable effects of heating on handling characteristics of the soybeans were reached before the point at which loss of nutritive value occurred. Feeding steers diets containing roasted whole soybeans increased the N and amino acids available to steers over steers fed diets containing raw soybeans due to increased ruminal soybean nitrogen escape and increased small intestinal digestibility.
The Impact of Parameter Identification Methods on Drug Therapy Control in an Intensive Care Unit

This paper investigates the impact of fast parameter identification methods, which do not require any forward simulations, on model-based glucose control, using retrospective data in the Christchurch Hospital Intensive Care Unit. The integral-based identification method has been previously clinically validated and extensively applied in a number of biomedical applications; and is a crucial element in the presented model-based therapeutics approach. Common non-linear regression and gradient descent approaches are too computationally intense and not suitable for the glucose control applications presented. The main focus in this paper is on better characterizing and understanding the importance of the integral in the formulation and the effect it has on model-based drug therapy control. As a comparison, a potentially more natural derivative formulation which has the same computation speed advantages is investigated, and is shown to go unstable with respect to modelling error which is always present clinically. The integral method remains robust.
Mechanisms underlying probucol-induced hERG-channel deficiency

The hERG gene encodes the pore-forming α-subunit of the rapidly activating delayed rectifier potassium channel (IKr), which is important for cardiac repolarization. Reduction of IhERG due to genetic mutations or drug interferences causes long QT syndrome, leading to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias (torsades de pointes) or sudden death. Probucol is a cholesterol-lowering drug that could reduce hERG current by decreasing plasma membrane hERG protein expression and eventually cause long QT syndrome. Here, we investigated the mechanisms of probucol effects on IhERG and hERG-channel expression. Our data demonstrated that probucol reduces SGK1 expression, known as SGK isoform, in a concentration-dependent manner, resulting in downregulation of phosphorylated E3 ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-2 expression, but not the total level of Nedd4-2. As a result, the hERG protein reduces, due to the enhanced ubiquitination level. On the contrary, carbachol could enhance the phosphorylation level of Nedd4-2 as an alternative to SGK1, and thus rescue the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of hERG channels caused by probucol. These discoveries provide a novel mechanism of probucol-induced hERG-channel deficiency, and imply that carbachol or its analog may serve as potential therapeutic compounds for the handling of probucol cardiotoxicity.