Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors in type I diabetes mellitus

The burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) in general has been extensively increasing over the past few years. Selective sodium glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors were extensively studied in type 2 DM and found to have sustained urinary glucose loss, improvement of glycemic control, in addition to their proven metabolic effects on weight, blood pressure, and cardiovascular benefits. Type 1 DM (T1D) patients clearly depend on insulin therapy, which till today fails to achieve the optimal glycemic control and metabolic targets that are needed to prevent risk of complications. New therapies are obviously needed as an adjunct to insulin therapy in order to try to achieve optimal control in T1D. Many oral diabetic medications have been tried in T1D patients as an adjunct to insulin treatment and have shown conflicting results. Adjunctive use of SGLT2 inhibitors in addition to insulin therapies in T1D was found to have the potential to improve glycemic control along with decrease in the insulin doses, as has been shown in certain animal and short-term human studies. Furthermore, larger well-randomized studies are needed to better evaluate their efficacy and safety in patients with T1D. Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis incidences were found to be increased among users of SGLT2 inhibitors, although the incidence remains very low. Recent beneficial effects of ketone body production and this shift in fuel energetics have been suggested based on the findings of protective cardiovascular benefits associated with one of the SGLT2 inhibitors.
Inclusion and healthcare choices: the experiences of adults with learning disabilities

Accessible summary • People with learning disabilities do not get to make as many choices as other people. • This project looked at the choices people make about everyday things and about health services. • We spoke to people with learning disabilities, their carers and Physiotherapy staff. • We found that people with a learning disability were making choices about everyday things but felt that other people made choices about health services for them. • We found that carers and healthcare staff need support to understand how difficult it can be to make choices, and how they can help people with a learning disability to make choices. Summary People with learning disabilities have fewer choice opportunities than the general population. Existing research provides some insight, but the choice-making experiences of those who do not always utilise available healthcare remains under-explored. This research explored the choice-making experiences of two groups of individuals with a learning disability: (Group 1 – Irregular attenders) those who had opted out of healthcare appointments for avoidable reasons; and (Group 2 – Regular attenders) those who had attended all appointments or not attended for unavoidable reasons. Interviews were carried out with people with learning disabilities (N = 4) and/or their primary carer (N = 13). In addition to these interviews, Physiotherapy staff participated in a focus group (Group 3). The interviewed individuals with learning disabilities described experiences of and opportunities for making everyday choices but generally identified ‘others’ as being responsible for making their healthcare choices. Greater understanding of the healthcare expectations and experiences of individuals with learning disabilities, carers and healthcare staff is required to support people with learning disabilities as active healthcare decision-makers.
The Effect of a Hadley Circulation on the Propagation and Reflection of Planetary Waves in a Simple One-Layer Model

Abstract The effect of a simple representation of the Hadley circulation on the propagation and nonlinear reflection of planetary-scale Rossby waves in the winter hemisphere is investigated numerically in a single-layer shallow-water model. In the first instance, waves are forced by a zonal wavenumber three topography centered in the extratropics. In the linear limit the location of the low-latitude critical line at which the waves are absorbed is displaced poleward by the Hadley circulation. At finite forcing amplitude the critical layer regions where the waves break are found to be displaced poleward by a similar distance. The Hadley circulation is also found to inhibit the onset of nonlinear reflection by increasing the dissipation of wave activity in the critical layer. Second, for waves generated by an isolated mountain, the presence of the Hadley circulation further inhibits nonlinear reflection by generating a strong westerly flux of wave activity within the critical layer. This westerly flux is sh.
Tail Assisted Dynamic Self Righting

In this paper we explore the design space of tails intended for self-righting a robot’s body during free fall. Conservation of total angular momentum imposes a dimensionless index of rotational efficacy upon the robot’s kinematic and dynamical parameters whose selection insures that for a given tail rotation, the body rotation will be identical at any size scale. In contrast, the duration of such a body reorientation depends upon the acceleration of the tail relative to the body, and power density of the tail’s actuator must increase with size in order to achieve the same maneuver in the same relative time. Assuming a simple controller and power-limited actuator, we consider maneuverability constraints upon two different types of parameters — morphological and energetic — that can be used for design. We show how these constraints inform contrasting tail design on two robots separated by a four-fold length scale, the 177g Tailbot and the 8.1kg X-RHex Lite (XRL). We compare previously published empirical self-righting behavior of the Tailbot with new, tailed XRL experiments wherein we drop it nose first from a 2.7 body length height and also deliberately run it off an elevated cliff to land safely on its springy legs in both cases.
The Relationship Between Cognitive Functioning and the JNC-8 Guidelines for Hypertension in Older Adults

Background: Guidelines for hypertension treatment by the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC-8) in 2014 recommended a target systolic blood pressure (BP) of <150/<90 mmHg in persons older than 60 years, in contrast to the 2003 JNC-7 recommendations of systolic BP <140 mmHg. This study evaluated the implications of raising the BP target on cognitive functioning and conversion from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: This was a longitudinal study of individuals older than 60 years enrolled in the NIH-NIA Alzheimer’s Disease Centers. All had normal cognition at baseline. 453 participants were taking BP medications and had readings of <140/<90 mmHg at four annual visits (reference group). Two other groups consisted of participants with either systolic BP of 140–149 mmHg (n = 112) or ≥150 mmHg (n = 280) on three or four annual visits. Results: Compared with the reference and the 140–149 mmHg groups, those with BP ≥150 mmHg exhibited poorer cognitive status by Year 4 on the Mini-Mental State Exam, and they had a higher risk of conversion to MCI. The 140–149 mmHg exhibited poorer performance than the reference group on domains assessing attention and executive functioning. In contrast, their performance was not significantly different from those with BP ≥150 mmHg. Conclusions: Persons with BP ≥150 mmHg show a faster global cognitive decline and transition to MCI than those with lower BP readings. However, the poor cognitive performance in the attention and executive functioning domains for the 140–149 mmHg group indicates the need for further research evaluating the newer recommended cutoff.
Immunohistochemical Detection of Components of the Insulin‐Like Growth Factor System during Skeletal Muscle Growth in the Pig

The insulin‐like growth factor (IGF) system plays an important role in postnatal somatic and skeletal muscle growth in pigs. There is little information on the occurrence and distribution of components of the IGF system in postnatal porcine skeletal muscle. IGF‐I, IGF receptor 1 (IGF1R) and the IGF‐binding proteins IGFBP‐1 and ‐3 in longissimus dorsi and triceps brachii were localized in muscle biopsies from 12 commercially crossbred pigs aged from 28 to 199 days as well as from the sire generation, by immunohistochemistry. Plasma IGF‐I concentrations were also determined using radioimmunoassays. Unlike other species, IGF‐I was localized in porcine skeletal muscle fibres. Staining intensity correlated with the highest plasma IGF‐I levels and phases of intensive muscle growth from the 11th to 22nd week. The pattern of IGF1R immunostaining, which was strong, correlated with that of IGF‐I. IGF1R was also localized in endomysial tissues. IGFBP‐1 was not detected within muscle fibres, but was found in the endomysium and vessel walls, while IGFBP‐3 was localized with IGF‐1 and its receptor. Higher magnification revealed that IGF1R, IGFBP‐3 and probably IGF‐I appeared in the tubular system. Inhibitory as well as stimulating controls of IGFBP‐1 and ‐3 on IGF functions are discussed, which may maintain a balance between autocrine growth promoting activities of IGF‐I and IGF1R.
Learning by volunteer computing, thinking and gaming: What and how are volunteers learning by participating in Virtual Citizen Science?

Citizen Science (CS) refers to a form of research collaboration that engages volunteers without formal scientific training in contributing to empirical scientific projects. Virtual Citizen Science (VCS) projects engage participants in online tasks. VCS has demonstrated its usefulness for research, however little is known about its learning potential for volunteers. This paper reports on research exploring the learning outcomes and processes in VCS. In order to identify different kinds of learning, 32 exploratory interviews of volunteers were conducted in three different VCS projects. We found six main learning outcomes related to different participants' activities in the project. Volunteers learn on four dimensions that are directly related to the scope of the VCS project: they learn at the task/game level, acquire pattern recognition skills, on-topic content knowledge, and improve their scientific literacy. Thanks to indirect opportunities of VCS projects, volunteers learn on two additional dimensions: off topic knowledge and skills, and personal development. Activities through which volunteers learn can be categorized in two levels: at a micro (task/game) level that is direct participation to the task, and at a macro level, i.e. use of project documentation, personal research on the Internet, and practicing specific roles in project communities. Both types are influenced by interactions with others in chat or forums. Most learning happens to be informal, unstructured and social. Volunteers do not only learn from others by interacting with scientists and their peers, but also by working for others: they gain knowledge, new status and skills by acting as active participants, moderators, editors, translators, community managers, etc. in a project community. This research highlights these informal and social aspects in adult learning and science education and also stresses the importance for learning through the indirect opportunities provided by the project: the main one being the opportunity to participate and progress in a project community, according to one's tastes and skills.
Traditional vs cyber-bullying : associations with cognitive mechanisms and interpersonal variables in European and Asian sample

Though an extensive amount of research has been conducted on traditional playground bullying (Olweus, 1993), very little academic research has been conducted on cyber-bullying. This study aims to investigate the associations among traditional and cyberbullying groups, cognitive mechanism, specifically moral disengagement and interpersonal variables. Using quantitative comparative correlation non-experimental design a sample of 107 participants (European and Asian nationalities) completed the Smith’s Traditional and Cyber-bullying Scale (Smith et al, 2008), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), the Moral Disengagement Scale (Bandura, et al. 1996), Acceptance of Others Scale (Fey, 1955), and Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form (Raes, et al. 2011). Result found an overlapping of bullying/victim gorups, male and females were involved in bullying and victim groups. More males reported to be bully and cyber-bullies. There was no significant difference between bullying groups and MD and MD and interpersonal Variables. Cyber-Bully Groups scored higher on MD mean scores, female’s score higher on interpersonal variables than males.Implications of findings was discussed and directions for future research are suggested. Traditional Vs Cyber-Bullying 9
Hardware support for priority inheritance

Previous work has shown that a system-on-a-chip lock cache (SoCLC) reduces on-chip memory traffic, provides a fair and fast lock hand-off, simplifies software, increases the real-time predictability of the system and improves performance. In this research work, we extend the SoCLC mechanism with a priority inheritance support implemented in hardware. Priority inheritance provides a higher level of real-time guarantees for synchronizing application tasks. Experimental results indicate that our SoCLC hardware mechanism with priority inheritance achieves a 36% speedup in lock delay, 88% speedup in lock latency, and 15% speedup in the overall execution time when compared to its software counterpart. The cost in terms of additional hardware area for the SoCLC with priority inheritance is approximately 10000 NAND2 gates.
Statistics of weak lensing at small angular scales: analytical predictions for lower order moments

Weak lensing surveys are expected to provide direct measurements of the statistics of the projected dark matter distribution. Most analytical studies of weak lensing statistics have been limited to quasilinear scales as they relied on perturbative calculations. On the other hand, observational surveys are likely to probe angular scales less than 10 arcminutes, for which the relevant physical length scales are in the nonlinear regime of gravitational clustering. We use the hierarchical ansatz to compute the multi-point statistics of the weak lensing convergence for these small smoothing angles. We predict the multi-point cumulants and cumulant correlators up to fourth order and compare our results with high resolution ray tracing simulations. Averaging over a large number of simulation realizations for four different cosmological models, we find close agreement with the analytical calculations. In combination with our work on the probability distribution function, these results provide accurate analytical models for the full range of weak lensing statistics. The models allow for a detailed exploration of cosmological parameter space and of the dependence on angular scale and the redshift distribution of source galaxies. We compute the dependence of the higher moments of the convergence on the parameters Omega and Lambda and on the nature of gravitational clustering.
Relationship Between Neurologic Deficit Severity and Final Functional Outcome Shifts and Strengthens During First Hours After Onset

Background and Purpose— Early neurological deficit severity is the most important determinant of final functional outcome in acute ischemic stroke. However, deficit severity frequently changes during the first hours and days postonset. Methods— Analysis of control group patients enrolled in the 2 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke tissue-type plasminogen activator trials. Neurological deficit severity was measured serially using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at 1 to 3 hours postonset, 3 to 5 hours, 24 hours, 7 to 10 days, and 90 days. Final global disability outcome was assessed at 90 days using the modified Rankin Scale. Results— Among the 312 patients, median neurological deficit severity on the NIHSS improved throughout the 90-day observation period, from 15 (interquartile range, 9.5–20) at 1 to 3 hours, to 12 (interquartile range, 6–19) at 24 hours, to 7 (interquartile range, 2–19) at 90 days. Between 1-to-3-hours to 24 hours, more patients spontaneously improved than worsened: 39.1% versus 17.6% (P<0.001). NIHSS scores associated with individual final modified Rankin Scale global disability ranks shifted to lower values over time; eg, patients with a final modified Rankin Scale of 2 had the following median NIHSS scores: 12 at 1 to 3 hours, 10 at 3 to 5 hours, 9 at 24 hours, and 3 at 90 days. Correlation coefficients between NIHSS and the final modified Rankin Scale increased over time, from 0.51 at 1 to 3 hours, to 0.72 at 24 hours, to 0.87 at 90 days. Conclusions— During the first 24 hours after onset, spontaneous improvement occurs in 2 of 5 acute ischemic stroke patients. The NIHSS scores associated with individual global disability ranks decrease over time. Neurological deficit severity increasingly predicts final disability outcome, accounting for one quarter of the variance at 1 to 3 hours, one half at 24 hours, and three quarters at 90 days.
An Experimental Investigation of the Interactions Among Intentions, Reciprocity and Control

ABSTRACT: Prior academic research finds that formal controls can cause employees to engage in dysfunctional behaviors (e.g., decreased effort, fraud, or theft). This study investigates one specific aspect of formal control that contributes to employees' negative reactions—employees' beliefs about management's intentions signaled by the control. I use two interactive experiments to examine the effects on employee effort and firm profit of: (1) employees' beliefs regarding management's intentions when implementing control (i.e., perceived intentionality), and (2) employees' preferences for reciprocity. Consistent with prior literature, I find that formal control can cause employees to exert low effort, resulting in reduced firm profit. However, I find that the adverse consequences only occur when management clearly imposes the control and, therefore, employees interpret it as a signal of distrust. Further, employees respond negatively to controls that are unambiguously imposed by managers, even when manager.
Adaptive Controller for Single-Link Flexible Manipulators Based on Algebraic Identification and Generalized Proportional Integral Control

In this paper, we propose a fast online closed-loop identification method combined with an output-feedback controller of the generalized proportional integral (GPI) type for the control of an uncertain flexible robotic arm with unknown mass at the tip, including a Coulomb friction term in the motor dynamics. A fast nonasymptotic algebraic identification method developed in continuous time is used to identify the unknown system parameter and update the designed certainty equivalence GPI controller. In order to verify this method, several informative simulations and experiments are shown.
Elimination of scan impedance anomalies in ultra-wide band phased arrays of differentially fed tapered slot antenna elements

Scan impedance anomalies are associated to phased arrays. There are different phenomena in order to explain these scan blindnesses produced when the array scans at one frequency and one angle. The most popular technique for eliminating these scan blindnesses is based on the use of electric walls in the grid of the two dimensional array. In this paper we present a dual polarized ultra-wide band array based on dasiabunny earspsila antennas from 0.3 GHz to 1 GHz which presents scan blindness. We analyze the cause of the anomaly and present a technique non based on electric walls in order to avoid the scan blindness with a small increase in the noise figure of the array.
Oxygen cost and physiological responses of recreational badminton match play.

BACKGROUND Badminton, as an Olympic sport, is popular worldwide. However, the benefits of recreational badminton match play are not well known. The purpose of the study was to determine the oxygen cost of recreational badminton match play. Heart rate (HR), blood lactate (BL), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), step count and energy expenditure were also assessed. METHODS Fourteen male recreational badminton players aged 35.9±6.62 years participated in test sessions to assess oxygen uptake (VO2) and the related physiological responses of match play. During the match play sessions, participants played singles badminton matches for 30 min while wearing a portable metabolic system. VO2 and HR were continuously recorded while blood lactate and RPE were determined following warm-up, at 15 minutes and 30 minutes of match play. Step count was recorded at 15 minutes and 30 minutes of play. RESULTS VO2 over 30 minutes was 34.4±5.8 mL/kg/min which was 76.1% of maximal oxygen uptake. Across three 10-minute periods of play, VO2 was not significantly different while HR was higher in the third 10-minute period than the first and second 10-minute periods (P=0.001). Mean HR over 30 minutes was 167.9±9.4 bpm. BL was significantly higher at 15 and 30 minutes than following warm-up while RPE of 17.57±1.91 after 30 minutes was significantly higher (P=0.009) than RPE of 15.79±1.63 at 15 minutes. Step count did not vary between the two 15-minute periods of play with a total of 2404±360 steps while energy expenditure over 30 minutes of play was 391.7±66 kcal. CONCLUSIONS Recreational badminton match play can be categorized as vigorous intensity suggesting that it can be a viable means of achieving recommended physical activity and improving aerobic fitness.