Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to prevent HIV-1 infection in Thailand.

BACKGROUND The development of a safe and effective vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is critical to pandemic control. METHODS In a community-based, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled efficacy trial, we evaluated four priming injections of a recombinant canarypox vector vaccine (ALVAC-HIV [vCP1521]) plus two booster injections of a recombinant glycoprotein 120 subunit vaccine (AIDSVAX B/E). The vaccine and placebo injections were administered to 16,402 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 years in Rayong and Chon Buri provinces in Thailand. The volunteers, primarily at heterosexual risk for HIV infection, were monitored for the coprimary end points: HIV-1 infection and early HIV-1 viremia, at the end of the 6-month vaccination series and every 6 months thereafter for 3 years. RESULTS In the intention-to-treat analysis involving 16,402 subjects, there was a trend toward the prevention of HIV-1 infection among the vaccine recipients, with a vaccine efficacy of 26.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], -4.0 to 47.9; P=0.08). In the per-protocol analysis involving 12,542 subjects, the vaccine efficacy was 26.2% (95% CI, -13.3 to 51.9; P=0.16). In the modified intention-to-treat analysis involving 16,395 subjects (with the exclusion of 7 subjects who were found to have had HIV-1 infection at baseline), the vaccine efficacy was 31.2% (95% CI, 1.1 to 52.1; P=0.04). Vaccination did not affect the degree of viremia or the CD4+ T-cell count in subjects in whom HIV-1 infection was subsequently diagnosed. CONCLUSIONS This ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX B/E vaccine regimen may reduce the risk of HIV infection in a community-based population with largely heterosexual risk. Vaccination did not affect the viral load or CD4+ count in subjects with HIV infection. Although the results show only a modest benefit, they offer insight for future research. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00223080.)
Interleukin‐4 induces a CD44high/CD49bhigh PC3 subpopulation with tumor‐initiating characteristics

Pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory cytokines may influence proliferation, migration, invasion, and other cellular events of prostate cancer (PCa) cells. The hyaluronan receptor CD44, which is regulated by Interleukin (IL)‐4, is a prostate basal cell marker. CD44high/CD49bhigh expressing cells have been demonstrated to have tumor‐initiating characteristics. Here, we aimed to analyze the effects of long‐term IL‐4 treatment on CD44/CD49b expression, migration, proliferation, and clonogenic potential of basal‐like PCa cells. To this end PC3 cells were treated over 30 passages with 5 ng/mL IL‐4 (PC3‐IL4) resulting in an increased population of CD44high expressing cells. This was concurrent with a clonal outgrowth of cuboid‐shaped cells, with increased size and light absorbance properties. Flow cytometry revealed that the PC3‐IL4 CD44high expressing subpopulation corresponds to the CD49bhigh population. Isolation of the PC3‐IL4 CD44high/CD49bhigh subpopulation via fluorescence‐associated cell sorting showed increased migrative, proliferative, and clonogenic potential compared to the CD44low/CD49blow subpopulation. In conclusion, IL‐4 increases a PC3 subpopulation with tumor‐initiating characteristics. Thus, IL‐4, similar to other cytokines may be a regulator of tumor‐initiation and hence, may present a suitable therapy target in combination with current treatment options.
Collaborative Digital Literacy Practices among Adult Learners : Levels of Confidence and Perceptions of Importance

Technology has transformed learning at the postsecondary level and significantly increased the prevalence of digital learning environments. As adult educators approach instructional design, they must consider how to apply research-based practices that preserve the quality of instruction and provide adult learners with technology-based instruction that is relevant. One approach, the use of collaborative digital literacy practices, has been highlighted as a highly effective method. The current study explored perceived levels of confidence and importance with collaborative digital literacy practices among adult learners (n = 51) in digital learning environments by applying a quantitative pre-post test design. Data were analysed descriptively (i.e., frequency counts for experiences with five collaborative digital literacy practices) and inferentially (i.e., mean comparisons for perceived levels of confidence and importance were made with paired sample ttest statistical analyses). Findings revealed five statistically significant findings related to participants’ perceived levels of confidence with collaborative digital literacy practices, and four statistically significant findings were reported for participants’ perceived levels of importance. Implications associated with these finding were discussed, along with limitations and recommendations for future studies in this area.
Comparison of olfactometry, gas chromatography, and electronic nose technology for measurement of indoor air from swine facilities

Indoor air from swine finishing facilities was analyzed by olfactometry, gas chromatography, and an electronic nose. Odorous air samples were collected from two feeding rooms at an Iowa State University facility. Six finishing pigs were housed in each room. Ten–liter room air samples, collected in Tedlar bags, were analyzed using the AC’SCENT International Olfactometer (St. Croix Sensory, Stillwater, Minn.). Dynamic dilution triangular forced–choice olfactometry was the method employed. One–liter air samples, also collected in Tedlar bags, were analyzed using an AromaScan A32S electronic nose (Osmetech, Crewe, U.K.) containing an array of 32 conducting–polymer sensors. Solid phase microextraction fibers (Supelco, Bellefonte, Pa.) were used to adsorb compounds in the air to be analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Sixteen compounds, primarily non–sulfur protein metabolites, were developed into a quantification standard for GC/MS based on the frequency of occurrence of these compounds in the collected samples. Using these compounds, an equation was generated to predict odor dilution threshold. Poor prediction capability (R2 < 0.3) indicates that additional analytes require consideration. Electronic nose evaluation of room air samples was not strongly correlated to olfactometry measures (r < 0.2). However, the equation developed from the GC/MS analyses was capable of predicting the electronic nose response to air samples (R2 > 0.8). The results suggest that human panelist responses may be based on detection of compounds that were not included in GC/MS quantification procedures and are not well detected by this electronic nose. Variation in response within and among human panelists likely accounts for some of the discrepancy between human assessment and chemical and instrumental methods of odor evaluation.
Dietary macro- and micronutrient requirements of endurance athletes

Most endurance athletes train for many hours per week to compete in events which generally last no longer than 2- 3 h. However, there are exceptions and these include the full-course triathlon in which competitors swim 2.5 km (l.Smiles), cycle 180km (112miles) and finally run 42.2 km (26.2 miles). Elite athletes win this competition in a little over 8 h. In cycling, there are competitions which last for 2-3 weeks, such as the Tour de France, the Giro de Italia or Vuelta Ciclista a Espana. Gruelling as these competitions are, the preparation required to complete them is as impressive as the events themselves. Daily training is a way of life for endurance athletes and so they should be aware of the best ways to restock their fuel stores. Although research interest in the metabolic responses to exercise has grown exponentially throughout the last century, there were no research-based nutritional recom- mendations to guide athletes in their preparation for training and competition. In an attempt to redress the balance, an International Consensus Conference was convened in 1991 to review the scientific literature on the links between food, nutrition and sports performance (Devlin & Williams, 199 1). The Consensus Conference concluded that the most significant influence on endurance capacity was the size of an athlete’s pre-exercise carbohy- drate stores, i.e. muscle and liver glycogen concentrations. The Consensus Conference recommended that athletes should eat a diet in which carbohydrate-containing foods provide between 60 and 70% of their daily energy intake, fat should provide no more than 30% and protein should provide the remainder of their energy requirements. The very high carbohydrate intakes were not intended to be part of the athletes’ habitual diet but part of the short-term preparation for, and recovery from, heavy exercise. The Consensus Conference also concluded that if athletes eat a wide variety of foods in sufficient quantity to cover their daily energy expenditure, then there are no benefits to be gained from supplementing their diets with additional vitamins and minerals (Devlin & Williams, 1991). The exceptions are those athletes who reduce their energy intake to lose body mass as part of a strategy to improve their performance.
Formation of amyloid fibrils in vitro from partially unfolded intermediates of human gammaC-crystallin.

PURPOSE Mature-onset cataract results from the formation of light-scattering aggregates of lens crystallins. Although oxidative or mutational damage may be a prerequisite, little is known of the initiation or nucleation of these aggregated states. In mice carrying mutations in gamma-crystallin genes, a truncated form of gamma-crystallin formed intranuclear filamentous inclusions within lens fiber cells. Previous studies have shown that bovine crystallins and human gammaD-crystallin form amyloid fibrils under denaturing conditions in vitro. The amyloid fibril formation of human gammaC-crystallin (HgammaC-Crys) induced by low pH, together with characterization of a partially unfolded intermediate in the process were investigated. METHODS HgammaC-Crys was expressed and purified from Escherichia coli. Partially unfolded intermediates were detected by tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy and UV resonance Raman spectroscopy. The aggregation into amyloid fibrils was monitored by solution turbidity and fluorescence assay. The morphology of aggregates was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Secondary structure of the peptides in their fibrillar state was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). RESULTS The structure of HgammaC-Crys was perturbed at low pH. Partially unfolded intermediates were detected when solution pH was lowered to pH 3. At pH 3, HgammaC-Crys aggregated into amyloid fibrils. The kinetics and extent of the reaction was dependent on protein concentration, pH, and temperature. TEM images of aggregates revealed aggregation stages from short to long fibrils and from long fibrils to light-scattering fibril networks. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the cross-beta character of the secondary structure of these fibrils. CONCLUSIONS HgammaC-Crys formed amyloid fibrils on incubation at low pH via a partially unfolded intermediate. This process could contribute to the early stages of the formation of light-scattering species in the eye lens.
Rasch analysis of the Chedoke–McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scale

Abstract Aim To assess whether the Chedoke–McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps (CATCH) 36-item total scale and subscales fit the unidimensional Rasch model. Method The CATCH was administered to 1881 children, aged 7–16 years in a cross-sectional survey. Data were used from a random sample of 416 for the initial Rasch analysis. The analysis was performed on the 36-item scale and then separately for each subscale. The analysis explored fit to the Rasch model in terms of overall scale fit, individual item fit, item response categories, and unidimensionality. Item bias for gender and school level was also assessed. Revised scales were then tested on an independent second random sample of 415 children. Results Analyses indicated that the 36-item overall scale was not unidimensional and did not fit the Rasch model. Two scales of affective attitudes and behavioural intention were retained after four items were removed from each due to misfit to the Rasch model. Additionally, the scaling was improved when the two most negative response categories were aggregated. There was no item bias by gender or school level on the revised scales. Items assessing cognitive attitudes did not fit the Rasch model and had low internal consistency as a scale. Conclusion Affective attitudes and behavioural intention CATCH sub-scales should be treated separately. Caution should be exercised when using the cognitive subscale. Implications for Rehabilitation The 36-item Chedoke–McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps (CATCH) scale as a whole did not fit the Rasch model; thus indicating a multi-dimensional scale. Researchers should use two revised eight-item subscales of affective attitudes and behavioural intentions when exploring interventions aiming to improve children’s attitudes towards disabled people or factors associated with those attitudes. Researchers should use the cognitive subscale with caution, as it did not create a unidimensional and internally consistent scale. Therefore, conclusions drawn from this scale may not accurately reflect children’s attitudes.
Layered black-box, behavioral interconnection perspective and applications to the problem of communication with fidelity criteria, Part I: i.i.d. sources

In this paper, the problem of communication over an essentially unknown channel, which is known to be able to communicate a source to a destination to within a certain distortion level, is considered from a behavioral, interconnection view-point. Rates of reliable communication are derived and source-channel separation for communication with fidelity criteria is proved. The results are then generalized to the multi-user setting under certain assumptions. Other applications of this problem problem which follow from this perspective are discussed.
Learning and memory performance following acute intranasal insulin administration in abstinent smokers

The highest incidence of relapse to smoking occurs within the first 2 weeks of a cessation attempt. In addition to enhanced nicotine craving, this phase of smoking cessation is also marked by learning and memory dysfunction. Many smokers are not able to overcome these symptoms, and they relapse to smoking shortly after trying to quit. In two clinical studies, we evaluated intranasal insulin for efficacy in improving learning and memory function during nicotine withdrawal. Our first study was a crossover evaluation (N = 19) following 20 hr of smoking abstinence. Study 2 was a parallel design study (N = 50) following 16 hr of abstinence. Intranasal insulin (60 IU) dose was administered in both studies and cognitive function was measured using California Verbal Learning Test‐II. Intranasal insulin did not improve learning over the 5 verbal learning trials. In addition, intranasal insulin did not improve either short‐ or long‐delay recall in either study. In summary, the one‐time administration of intranasal insulin does not improve verbal learning and memory in smokers. Whether longer administration schedules may be of benefit should be evaluated in future studies.
How Do You Say ‘Hello’? Personality Impressions from Brief Novel Voices

On hearing a novel voice, listeners readily form personality impressions of that speaker. Accurate or not, these impressions are known to affect subsequent interactions; yet the underlying psychological and acoustical bases remain poorly understood. Furthermore, hitherto studies have focussed on extended speech as opposed to analysing the instantaneous impressions we obtain from first experience. In this paper, through a mass online rating experiment, 320 participants rated 64 sub-second vocal utterances of the word ‘hello’ on one of 10 personality traits. We show that: (1) personality judgements of brief utterances from unfamiliar speakers are consistent across listeners; (2) a two-dimensional ‘social voice space’ with axes mapping Valence (Trust, Likeability) and Dominance, each driven by differing combinations of vocal acoustics, adequately summarises ratings in both male and female voices; and (3) a positive combination of Valence and Dominance results in increased perceived male vocal Attractiveness, whereas perceived female vocal Attractiveness is largely controlled by increasing Valence. Results are discussed in relation to the rapid evaluation of personality and, in turn, the intent of others, as being driven by survival mechanisms via approach or avoidance behaviours. These findings provide empirical bases for predicting personality impressions from acoustical analyses of short utterances and for generating desired personality impressions in artificial voices.
Turbulent plane wakes subjected to successive strains

Six direct numerical simulations of turbulent time-evolving strained plane wakes have been examined to investigate the response of a wake to successive irrotational plane strains of opposite sign. The orientation of the applied strain field has been selected so that the flow is the time-developing analogue of a spatially developing wake evolving in the presence of either a favourable or an adverse streamwise pressure gradient. The magnitude of the applied strain rate $a$ is constant in time $t$ until the total strain e$^{at}$ reaches about 4. At this point, a new simulation is begun with the sign of the applied strain being reversed (the original simulation is continued as well). When the total strain is reduced back to its original value of 1, yet another simulation is begun with the strain again being reversed back to its original sign. This is done for both initially ‘favourable’ and initially ‘adverse’ strains, providing simulations for each of these strain types from three different initial conditions. The evolution of the wake mean velocity deficit and width is found to be similar for all the ‘adversely’ strained cases, with both measures rapidly achieving exponential growth at the rate associated with the cross-stream expansive strain e$^{at}$. In the ‘favourably’ strained cases, the wake widths approach a constant and the velocity deficits ultimately decay rapidly as e$^{-2at}$. Although all three of these cases do exhibit the same asymptotic exponential behaviour, the time required to achieve this is longer for the cases that have been previously adversely strained (by $at \,{\approx}\, 1$). The evolution described above is not consistent with the predictions of classical self-similar analysis; a more general ‘equilibrium similarity solution’ is required to describe the results. Examination of these simulations confirms that the wake width and mean velocity deficit evolutions observed in Rogers (2002) are not a result of the particular initial condition used in that work. At least for the cases considered here, the wake Reynolds number and the ratio of the turbulent kinetic energy to the square of the wake mean velocity deficit are determined nearly entirely by the total strain. For these measures, the order in which the strains are applied does not matter and the changes brought about by the strain are nearly reversible. The wake mean velocity deficit and width, on the other hand, differ by about a factor of 3 when the total strain returns to 1, depending on whether the wake was first ‘favourably’ or ‘adversely’ strained. The strain history is important for predicting the evolution of these quantities.
Long‐term safety of monthly zoledronic acid therapy beyond 1 year in patients with advanced cancer involving bone (LoTESS): A multicentre prospective phase 4 study

Malignant bone disease can cause significant morbidity. Monthly zoledronic acid (ZOL) reduces skeletal complications; however, limited data are available regarding long‐term safety. We aimed to assess efficacy and safety of ZOL beyond 1 year of treatment. We prospectively evaluated 73 patients; breast cancer (n = 29), castrate‐resistant prostate cancer (n = 13), multiple myeloma (n = 31) from 2006 to 2008 in 19 cancer centres. All patients were diagnosed with bone disease and had completed 1–2 years of monthly ZOL (4 mg) and received a further 1–2 years of therapy following contemporary guidelines for managing risks of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and renal toxicity. Overall rates of skeletal‐related events (SREs), renal impairment and ONJ were assessed. Over the additional 1 year of treatment, only 5.5% (n = 4) of patients developed a new SRE. The overall Kaplan–Meier estimate for SRE incidence after 48 weeks on study was 6.75% (95 CI: 2.5–17.3). Although 51% of patients reported serious adverse events, only two cases were suspected as ZOL related. No patients had confirmed ONJ. The observed incidence of new renal impairment was 11% (none due to ZOL). Our study confirms the benefit over risk of continuing monthly ZOL for at least 2 years in patients with advanced cancer involving bone.
Chronic toxicity of arsenic during Rhinella arenarum embryonic and larval development: Potential biomarkers of oxidative stress and antioxidant response

The Argentinean autochthonous toad Rhinella arenarum was selected to study the chronic toxicity of arsenic (As) and the biochemical responses elicited by exposure to As in water during embryonic and larval development. Significant decreases in the total reactive antioxidant potential and in catalase activity were observed in individuals exposed chronically to sublethal concentrations of As, which is indicative of an oxidative stress situation. However, an antioxidant response was elicited during chronic exposure to As, as evidenced by the increase in endogenous reduced glutathione content and glutathione‐related enzymatic activities such as glutathione S‐transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase. This protective response might prevent a deeper decline in the antioxidant system and further oxidative damage. Alternatively, it might be linked to As conjugation with reduced glutathione for its excretion. Considering the sustained increase in GST activity and the decrease in the total antioxidant reactive potential observed, the authors propose them as good candidates to be used as biomarkers during As exposure. Interestingly, glutathione reductase activity was inhibited at a very low concentration of As considered safe for aquatic life. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:1614–1621. © 2016 SETAC