Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 6-week Sprint Interval Training Program Changes Anaerobic Power, Quadriceps Moment, and Subcutaneous Tissue Thickness

Abstract We examined the effects of a 6-week 40-m one-way sprint interval training program (based on sprint time). 13 untrained healthy male collegiate students performed six 40-m sprints with a 60-s resting interval between sprints during the first week, and one sprint was added each week until the sixth week. If the 40-m sprint time exceeded 110% of the fastest baseline 40-m sprint time, the run was repeated. Repeated-sprint cycling test (every 3 weeks), quadriceps moment (every 2 weeks), and abdominal and thigh subcutaneous tissue thickness (every 2 weeks) were measured. Compared to baseline, mean power output improved at week 3 (16.27 vs. 17.73 Watt/kg, p=0.004). Regardless of side, quadriceps moment began to increase at week 4 (2.88 vs. 3.15 N·m/kg, p=0.03). Subcutaneous tissue thickness was reduced at week 2 (abdominal: 11.19 vs. 9.65 mm, p=0.01; thigh: 9.17 vs. 8.12 mm, p=0.009). Our results suggest that (1) sprint training with an intensity of 110% of the fastest baseline 40-m sprint time with the addition of one sprint per week produces similar effects to other training programs, and (2) untrained individuals need 4 weeks of training for strength development in the quadriceps and 2 weeks for reduction in fat tissue thickness.
Correlating Wine Quality Indicators to Chemical and Sensory Measurements

Twenty-seven commercial Californian Cabernet Sauvignon wines of different quality categories were analyzed with sensory and chemical methods. Correlations between five quality proxies—points awarded during a wine competition, wine expert scores, retail price, vintage, and wine region—were correlated to sensory attributes, volatile compounds, and elemental composition. Wine quality is a multi-faceted construct, incorporating many different layers. Depending on the quality proxy studied, significant correlations between quality and attributes, volatiles and elements were found, some of them previously reported in the literature.
Combination of Somatostatin Analog, Dexamethasone, and Standard Androgen Ablation Therapy in Stage D3 Prostate Cancer Patients with Bone Metastases

Purpose: Androgen ablation-refractory prostate cancer patients (stage D3) develop painful bone metastases and limited responsiveness to conventional therapies, hence the lack of universally accepted “gold standard” treatment for this poor prognosis clinical setting. We tested the safety and efficacy in stage D3 patients of the combination hormonal therapy, which combines administration of somatostatin analog and dexamethasone with standard androgen ablation monotherapy (luteinizing-hormone releasing-hormone analog or orchiectomy). Experimental Design: Thirty eight patients with stage D3 prostate cancer (mean age 71.8 ± 5.9 years) continued receiving androgen ablation therapy in combination with oral dexamethasone (4 mg daily for the 1st month of treatment, tapered down to 1 mg daily by the 4th month, with 1 mg daily maintenance dose thereafter) and somatostatin analog (20 mg octreotide i.m. injections every 28 days). Results: Twenty-three of 38 patients (60.5%) receiving this combination regimen had partial responses [PR, ≥50% prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decline], 9 (21.1%) had stable disease, and 7 (18.4%) had progressive disease. In 47.7% (18 of 38) of patients, their serum PSA levels decreased with treatment but did not return to their respective baselines until the end of follow-up (or death from non-prostate cancer-related causes). The median time-to-return to baseline PSA was 12 months (95% CI, 7–17 months), median progression-free survival was 7 months (95% CI, 4.5–9.5 months), median overall survival was 14 months (95% CI, 10.7–17.4 months), and median prostate cancer-specific overall survival (defined as time from onset of combination therapy until prostate cancer-related death) was 16.0 months (95% CI, 11.9–20.1 months). All patients reported significant and durable improvement of bone pain and performance status (for a median duration of 14 months; 95% CI, 9–19 months), without major treatment-related side effects. We observed a statistically significant (P < 0.01) reduction in serum insulin-like growth factor-1 levels at response to the combination therapy. T levels remained suppressed within castration levels at baseline and throughout therapy, including relapse. Conclusion: The combination therapy of dexamethasone plus somatostatin analog and standard androgen ablation manipulation produces objective clinical responses and symptomatic improvement in androgen ablation-refractory refractory prostate cancer patients.
Attitudes towards screening for lung cancer among smokers and their non-smoking counterparts

Background: There has been resurgence of interest in lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography. The implications of directing a screening programme at smokers has been little explored. Methods: A nationwide telephone survey was conducted. Demographics, certain clinical characteristics and attitudes about screening for lung cancer were ascertained. Responses of current, former and never smokers were compared. Results: 2001 people from the US were interviewed. Smokers were significantly (p<0.05) more likely than never smokers to be male, non-white, less educated, and to report poor health status or having had cancer, and less likely to be able to identify a usual source of healthcare. Compared with never smokers, current smokers were less likely to believe that early detection would result in a good chance of survival (p<0.05). Smokers were less likely to be willing to consider computed tomography screening for lung cancer (71.2% (current smokers) v 87.6% (never smokers) odds ratio (OR) 0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32 to 0.71). More never smokers as opposed to current smokers believed that the risk of disease (88% v 56%) and the accuracy of the test (92% v 71%) were important determinants in deciding whether to be screened (p<0.05). Only half of the current smokers would opt for surgery for a screen-diagnosed cancer. Conclusion: The findings suggest that there may be substantial obstacles to the successful implementation of a mass-screening programme for lung cancer that will target cigarette smokers.
Prognostic Markers for Myeloid Neoplasms

Myeloid neoplasms include cancers associated with both rapid (acute myeloid leukemias) and gradual (myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative neoplasms) disease progression. Percentage of blast cells in marrow is used to separate acute (rapid) from chronic (gradual) and is the most consistently applied prognostic marker in veterinary medicine. However, since there is marked variation in tumor progression within groups, there is a need for more complex schemes to stratify animals into specific risk groups. In people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), pretreatment karyotyping and molecular genetic analysis have greater utility as prognostic markers than morphologic and immunologic phenotypes. Karyotyping is not available as a prognostic marker for AML in dogs and cats, but progress in molecular genetics has created optimism about the eventual ability of veterinarians to discern conditions potentially responsive to medical intervention. In people with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), detailed prognostic scoring systems have been devised that use various combinations of blast cell percentage, hematocrit, platelet counts, unilineal versus multilineal cytopenias and dysplasia, karyotype, gender, age, immunophenotype, transfusion dependence, and colony-forming assays. Predictors of outcome for animals with MDS have been limited to blast cell percentage, anemia versus multilineal cytopenias, and morphologic phenotype. Prognostic markers for myeloproliferative neoplasms (eg, polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia) include clinical and hematological factors and in people also include cytogenetics and molecular genetics. Validation of prognostic markers for myeloid neoplasms in animals has been thwarted by the lack of a large case series that requires cooperation across institutions and veterinary specialties. Future progress requires overcoming these barriers.
On the Equivalence Between Interference and Eavesdropping in Wireless Communications

We show that the problem of analyzing the outage probability (OP) in cellular systems affected by cochannel interference (CCI) and background noise (BN) is mathematically equivalent to the problem of analyzing the wireless information-theoretic security in terms of the secrecy OP in fading channels. Hence, these both apparently unrelated problems can be addressed by using a common approach. We illustrate the applicability of the connection unveiled herein to provide new results for the secrecy OP in different scenarios.
Towards depersonalized abacavir therapy: chemical modification eliminates HLA-B*57 : 01-restricted CD8+ T-cell activation

Objective:Exposure to abacavir is associated with T-cell-mediated hypersensitivity reactions in individuals carrying human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B*57 : 01. To activate T cells, abacavir interacts directly with endogenous HLA-B*57 : 01 and HLA-B*57 : 01 expressed on the surface of antigen presenting cells. We have investigated whether chemical modification of abacavir can produce a molecule with antiviral activity that does not bind to HLA-B*57 : 01 and activate T cells. Design:An interdisciplinary laboratory study using samples from human donors expressing HLA-B*57 : 01. Researchers were blinded to the analogue structures and modelling data. Methods:Sixteen 6-amino substituted abacavir analogues were synthesized. Computational docking studies were completed to predict capacity for analogue binding within HLA-B*57 : 01. Abacavir-responsive CD8+ clones were generated to study the association between HLA-B*57 : 01 analogue binding and T-cell activation. Antiviral activity and the direct inhibitory effect of analogues on proliferation were assessed. Results:Major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted CD8+ clones proliferated and secreted IFN&ggr; following abacavir binding to surface and endogenous HLA-B*57 : 01. Several analogues retained antiviral activity and showed no overt inhibitory effect on proliferation, but displayed highly divergent antigen-driven T-cell responses. For example, abacavir and N-propyl abacavir were equally potent at activating clones, whereas the closely related analogues N-isopropyl and N-methyl isopropyl abacavir were devoid of T-cell activity. Docking abacavir analogues to HLA-B*57 : 01 revealed a quantitative relationship between drug–protein binding and the T-cell response. Conclusion:These studies demonstrate that the unwanted T-cell activity of abacavir can be eliminated whilst maintaining the favourable antiviral profile. The in-silico model provides a tool to aid the design of safer antiviral agents that may not require a personalized medicines approach to therapy.
Deep Generative Dual Memory Network for Continual Learning

Despite advances in deep learning, artificial neural networks do not learn the same way as humans do. Today, neural networks can learn multiple tasks when trained on them jointly, but cannot maintain performance on learnt tasks when tasks are presented one at a time -- this phenomenon called catastrophic forgetting is a fundamental challenge to overcome before neural networks can learn continually from incoming data. In this work, we derive inspiration from human memory to develop an architecture capable of learning continuously from sequentially incoming tasks, while averting catastrophic forgetting. Specifically, our model consists of a dual memory architecture to emulate the complementary learning systems (hippocampus and the neocortex) in the human brain, and maintains a consolidated long-term memory via generative replay of past experiences. We (i) substantiate our claim that replay should be generative, (ii) show the benefits of generative replay and dual memory via experiments, and (iii) demonstrate improved performance retention even for small models with low capacity. Our architecture displays many important characteristics of the human memory and provides insights on the connection between sleep and learning in humans.
A Powerful Molecular Engineering Tool Provided Efficient Chlamydomonas Mutants as Bio-Sensing Elements for Herbicides Detection

This study was prompted by increasing concerns about ecological damage and human health threats derived by persistent contamination of water and soil with herbicides, and emerging of bio-sensing technology as powerful, fast and efficient tool for the identification of such hazards. This work is aimed at overcoming principal limitations negatively affecting the whole-cell-based biosensors performance due to inadequate stability and sensitivity of the bio-recognition element. The novel bio-sensing elements for the detection of herbicides were generated exploiting the power of molecular engineering in order to improve the performance of photosynthetic complexes. The new phenotypes were produced by an in vitro directed evolution strategy targeted at the photosystem II (PSII) D1 protein of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, using exposures to radical-generating ionizing radiation as selection pressure. These tools proved successful to identify D1 mutations conferring enhanced stability, tolerance to free-radical-associated stress and competence for herbicide perception. Long-term stability tests of PSII performance revealed the mutants capability to deal with oxidative stress-related conditions. Furthermore, dose-response experiments indicated the strains having increased sensitivity or resistance to triazine and urea type herbicides with I50 values ranging from 6×10−8 M to 2×10−6 M. Besides stressing the relevance of several amino acids for PSII photochemistry and herbicide sensing, the possibility to improve the specificity of whole-cell-based biosensors, via coupling herbicide-sensitive with herbicide-resistant strains, was verified.
Development of the Tower of London-Revised

The objective of this work was to reconstruct the Tower of London (TOL) test in order to increase its reliability. A three-phase process was undertaken to accomplish this goal. In Phase 1, the TOL item pool was increased, the task was administered to a sample of college students (N = 50), and item-total correlations were calculated in order to identify the items that had the highest correlation with the total score. In Phase 2, the revised 30-item TOL (TOL-R) was administered to a second sample (N = 50) and the internal consistency reliability (Chronbach alpha) was estimated at . 794. Finally, Phase 3 examined the test-retest reliability of the TOH-R on a new sample (N = 34) and the stability was found to be acceptable at r = . 70.
Lamivudine Therapy Exacerbates Bilirubinemia in Patients Underlying Severely Advanced Hepatitis

Lamivudine belongs to the set of antiviral agents effective against hepatitis B virus infection. Given case reports on liver injuries after certain antiviral agent treatments, this study examined the effects of lamivudine on alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TB) using a medical system database. A total of 1,321 patients taking lamivudine alone or with others were evaluated using laboratory hits in an electronic medical system at Seoul National University Hospital from 2005 through 2011. The patients were grouped according to prior ALT results: G#1, ALT lt; 40 IU/L; G#2, 40 IU/L ≤ ALT lt; 120 IU/L; G#3, 120 IU/L ≤ ALT lt; 240 IU/L; and G#4, ALT ≥ 240 IU/L. In G#1 and G#2 patients, lamivudine or adefovir treatment decreased ALT and TB compared to prior values. In G#3 and G#4 patients with three times the upper limit of normal (ULN) ≤ ALT lt; 15 times the ULN, both ALT and TB were decreased after treatment with lamivudine alone, or adefovir following lamivudine therapy, indicating that lamivudine therapy ameliorated liver functions. However, in G#4 patients who experienced severely advanced hepatitis (ALT ≥ 15 times the ULN, or ≥ 600 IU/L), lamivudine augmented TBmax (6.3 → 13.3 mg/dL) despite a slight improvement in ALT (839 → 783 IU/L), indicative of exacerbation of bilirubinemia. Patients who used adefovir after lamivudine also showed a high incidence of hyperbilirubinemia when they experienced severely advanced hepatitis. Treatment with adefovir alone did not show the effect. In conclusion, lamivudine may increase the risk of hyperbilirubinemia in patients with severely advanced hepatitis, implying that caution should be exercised when using lamivudine therapy in certain patient populations.
Progress toward Understanding Protein S-acylation: Prospective in Plants

S-acylation, also known as S-palmitoylation or palmitoylation, is a reversible post-translational lipid modification in which long chain fatty acid, usually the 16-carbon palmitate, covalently attaches to a cysteine residue(s) throughout the protein via a thioester bond. It is involved in an array of important biological processes during growth and development, reproduction and stress responses in plant. S-acylation is a ubiquitous mechanism in eukaryotes catalyzed by a family of enzymes called Protein S-Acyl Transferases (PATs). Since the discovery of the first PAT in yeast in 2002 research in S-acylation has accelerated in the mammalian system and followed by in plant. However, it is still a difficult field to study due to the large number of PATs and even larger number of putative S-acylated substrate proteins they modify in each genome. This is coupled with drawbacks in the techniques used to study S-acylation, leading to the slower progress in this field compared to protein phosphorylation, for example. In this review we will summarize the discoveries made so far based on knowledge learnt from the characterization of protein S-acyltransferases and the S-acylated proteins, the interaction mechanisms between PAT and its specific substrate protein(s) in yeast and mammals. Research in protein S-acylation and PATs in plants will also be covered although this area is currently less well studied in yeast and mammalian systems.
Sociocultural and Structural Factors Contributing to Delays in Treatment for Children with Severe Malaria: A Qualitative Study in Southwestern Uganda

Malaria is a leading cause of pediatric mortality, and Uganda has among the highest incidences in the world. Increased morbidity and mortality are associated with delays to care. This qualitative study sought to characterize barriers to prompt allopathic care for children hospitalized with severe malaria in the endemic region of southwestern Uganda. Minimally structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with guardians of children admitted to a regional hospital with severe malaria. Using an inductive and content analytic approach, transcripts were analyzed to identify and define categories that explain delayed care. These categories represented two broad themes: sociocultural and structural factors. Sociocultural factors were 1) interviewee's distinctions of “traditional” versus “hospital” illnesses, which were mutually exclusive and 2) generational conflict, where deference to one's elders, who recommended traditional medicine, was expected. Structural factors were 1) inadequate distribution of health-care resources, 2) impoverishment limiting escalation of care, and 3) financial impact of illness on household economies. These factors perpetuate a cycle of illness, debt, and poverty consistent with a model of structural violence. Our findings inform a number of potential interventions that could alleviate the burden of this preventable, but often fatal, illness. Such interventions could be beneficial in similarly endemic, low-resource settings.
Stringent Response Regulation of Biofilm Formation in Vibrio cholerae

ABSTRACT Biofilm formation is a key factor in Vibrio cholerae environmental survival and host colonization. Production of biofilm enables V. cholerae to survive and persist in aquatic environments and aids in the passage through the gastric acid barrier to allow access to the small intestine. The genes involved in biofilm formation are regulated by the transcriptional activators vpsR and vpsT, which are in turn transcriptionally regulated by a number of environmental signals. In this study, the role of the stringent response in biofilm formation was examined. V. cholerae mutants deficient in stringent response had a reduced ability to form biofilms, although they were not completely deficient in biofilm formation. There are three (p)ppGpp synthases in V. cholerae: RelA, SpoT, and RelV. All three synthases were necessary for vpsR transcription, with RelV showing the strongest effect. RelA was the only synthase that was necessary for vpsT expression. Stringent response regulation of vpsR and vpsT was shown to partially occur through rpoS. Biofilm formation in V. cholerae is controlled by a complex regulatory apparatus, with negative regulators of biofilm gene expression, such as quorum sensing, and positive regulators of biofilm genes, including stringent response, interacting to ensure that biofilm formation is coordinated with the environment.
Risk Statement Recognition in News Articles

Textual data are an important information source for risk management for business organizations. To effectively recognize, extract, and analyze risk-related statements in textual data, these processes need to be automated. We developed a design framework for firm-specific risk statements guided by previous economic, managerial, and natural language processing research. Four information types (risk impact, risk type, future timing, and uncertainty) were identified as the key requirements for risk recognition systems. A prototype system, AZRisk, was constructed to verify the framework. Evaluation using news sentences from the Wall Street Journal confirmed the design framework. The performance of AZRisk showed promising results for automated risk recognition.
Statistics for Traces of Cyclic Trigonal Curves over Finite Fields

We study the variation of the trace of the Frobenius endomorphism associated to a cyclic trigonal curve of genus g over F q as the curve varies in an irreducible component of the moduli space. We show that for q fixed and g increasing, the limiting distribution of the trace of Frobenius equals the sum of q + 1 independent random variables taking the value 0 with probability 2/(q + 2) and 1, e2p i/3, e4p i/3 each with probability q/(3(q + 2)). This extends the work of Kurlberg and Rudnick who considered the same limit for hyperelliptic curves. We also show that when both g and q go to infinity, the normalized trace has a standard complex Gaussian distribution and how to generalize these results to p-fold covers of the projective line.