Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the correlations between nicotine dependence, exhaled carbon monoxide levels and oral hygiene status: an observational study

Background and aim Cigarette smoking has negative effects on general health, including oral health. The aim of our study was to assess the correlations between nicotine dependence, exhaled carbon monoxide levels and oral hygiene status. Methods Smoker and non-smoker participants were enrolled in this observational study. The Fagerström test was used to classify nicotine dependences: low (score: 0–3), medium (score: 4–6) or high (score: 7–10). The oral hygiene status was classified according to the oral hygiene indices of plaque, calculus and gingival inflammation. Lastly, the exhaled carbon monoxide levels were measured with a MicroSmokelyzer (Bedfont Scientific Ltd., Kent, United Kingdom). Results Sixty five participants (50 smokers in the study group and 15 non-smokers in the control group) were enrolled between 11th and 29th of January 2016. No statistical differences were observed between the study group and the control group in terms of age (mean age±SD 23.5±1.9 and 24.0±1.5, respectively) or gender (50% and 26.6%, respectively). A statistically significant difference was observed between the 2 groups in terms of plaque, (p=0.036), calculus (p=0.001) and gingival indices (p<0.001). A positive correlation was found between the exhaled levels of carbon monoxide and the general Fagerström score (r=0.97, p<0.001) or the Fagerström score in smokers (r=0.93, p<0.001); a negative correlation was observed between the exhaled carbon monoxide levels and the number of tooth brushings daily (r=−0.41, p=0.001). The plaque index was statistically significantly associated with the exhaled carbon monoxide levels (p=0.008), general Fagerström score (p=0.016) and number of tooth brushings daily (p<0.001). The calculus and gingival indices were statistically significantly associated with the exhaled carbon monoxide levels (p<0.001), general Fagerström score (p<0.001) and score in smoker participants (p=0.029 and p=0.001, respectively) as well as the number of tooth brushings daily (p<0.001). Conclusion Our study found a significant association between the plaque, calculus and gingival indices and smoking. Moreover, nicotine dependence was significantly associated with the number of daily tooth brushings and the gingival index.
A Modest Proposal: An Overgrown Constitutional Path to Cultural/Religious Pluralism in Italy

This essay comprises two sections. The first one presents and explains the proposal to broaden the meaning and scope of “intese” (agreements) between the State and minority denominations. “Broadened intese” is the label employed here to define the attempt to align the “intese” with both the generally pluralistic aspirations of the Italian Constitution and the need for the hetero-integration of national legal systems stemming from globalization processes. The device of hetero-integration is, in turn, strictly related to freedom and, even more specifically, religious freedom. The proposal for “broadened intese” is motivated, moreover, by the need to develop an instrument for legal intercultural integration that is more powerful than private international law. This use of “intese” should function as a means to promote and implement a value-based pluralism rather than a merely inter-legal or inter-normative one, so as to further the legal inclusion of cultural and religious differences.In the second section, the topic of religious and cultural difference is analyzed with regard to the request from the UAAR, an Italian atheist/agnostic association, to conclude their own “intesa. ” In the framework of the survey on the intercultural use of “intese,” the examination of this request from the atheist organization and the subsequent refusal of the State serves to highlight the connections extant between legal secular culture and religious tradition in the Italian legal system as well as, comparatively, in other legal systems. The “atheist difference,” actually, proves to be a radical one. In this respect, it allows for a strengthening, by reflection, of the argument for broadening the scope of “intese” in order to guarantee both religious freedom and equality before law.
Increased mitochondrial fission promotes autophagy and hepatocellular carcinoma cell survival through the ROS-modulated coordinated regulation of the NFKB and TP53 pathways

ABSTRACT Mitochondrial morphology is dynamically remodeled by fusion and fission in cells, and dysregulation of this process is closely implicated in tumorigenesis. However, the mechanism by which mitochondrial dynamics influence cancer cell survival is considerably less clear, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we systematically investigated the alteration of mitochondrial dynamics and its functional role in the regulation of autophagy and HCC cell survival. Furthermore, the underlying molecular mechanisms and therapeutic application were explored in depth. Mitochondrial fission was frequently upregulated in HCC tissues mainly due to an elevated expression ratio of DNM1L to MFN1, which significantly contributed to poor prognosis of HCC patients. Increased mitochondrial fission by forced expression of DNM1L or knockdown of MFN1 promoted the survival of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo mainly by facilitating autophagy and inhibiting mitochondria-dependent apoptosis. We further demonstrated that the survival-promoting role of increased mitochondrial fission was mediated via elevated ROS production and subsequent activation of AKT, which facilitated MDM2-mediated TP53 degradation, and NFKBIA- and IKK-mediated transcriptional activity of NFKB in HCC cells. Also, a crosstalk between TP53 and NFKB pathways was involved in the regulation of mitochondrial fission-mediated cell survival. Moreover, treatment with mitochondrial division inhibitor-1 significantly suppressed tumor growth in an in vivo xenograft nude mice model. Our findings demonstrate that increased mitochondrial fission plays a critical role in regulation of HCC cell survival, which provides a strong evidence for this process as drug target in HCC treatment.
Neighborhood-based differences in physical activity: an environment scale evaluation.

OBJECTIVES This study evaluated a neighborhood environment survey and compared the physical activity and weight status of the residents in 2 neighborhoods. METHODS On 2 occasions, 107 adults from neighborhoods with differing "walkability" were selected to complete a survey on their neighborhood environment. Physical activity was assessed by self-report and by accelerometer; height and weight were assessed by self-report. RESULTS Neighborhood environment characteristics had moderate to high test-retest reliabilities. Residents of high-walkability neighborhoods reported higher residential density, land use mix, street connectivity, aesthetics, and safety. They had more than 70 more minutes of physical activity and had lower obesity prevalence (adjusted for individual demographics) than did residents of low-walkability neighborhoods. CONCLUSIONS The reliability and validity of self-reported neighborhood environment subscales were supported. Neighborhood environment was associated with physical activity and overweight prevalence.
Assessment of radioiodine therapy efficacy for treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer patients with pulmonary metastasis undetected by chest computed tomography

Radioiodine therapy (RAI) has proven effective for the treatment of patients exhibiting differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) with pulmonary metastases. However, the early detection of metastasis remains challenging, and various studies have reported variations in radioiodine treatment efficacy. The present study investigated whether RAI is an effective method for the treatment of DTC with pulmonary metastases undetected by computed tomography (CT). A retrospective study was performed, analyzing iodine-131 (131I) therapy in 21 DTC patients with lung metastases that were undetected by CT. All 21 patients were initially treated with radioiodine ablation of thyroid remnants. Routine chest CT was performed prior to 131I treatment without diagnostic radioiodine whole-body scanning (DxWBS), and post-therapeutic WBS was performed 3–5 days subsequent to oral administration of 131I. The overall effectiveness rate was 95.2% (20/21). The rates for complete response (CR), partial response and no response were 23.8 (5/21), 71.4 (15/21) and 4.8% (1/21), respectively. There were 12 patients with diffuse uptake, and the remaining 9 patients demonstrated focused and low uptake. The difference in CR rate between diffuse uptake and focused uptake patients was not statistically significant (P=0.123). A correlation was observed between thyroglobulin (Tg) levels and extrapulmonary metastases. All patients exhibited extrapulmonary metastases when Tg levels were >87.5 ng/ml (area under receiver operating characteristic curve, 1.0; P<0.001). Overall, DTC patients with lung metastases undetected by CT imaging responded well to 131I radiotherapy and demonstrated a positive prognosis. Serum Tg levels prior to 131I treatment may correlate with metastasis, and this may suggest a requirement for the performance of DxWBS prior to radiotherapy.
Pruning fronts and the formation of horseshoes

Let $f: \mathbb{R}^{2} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{2}$ be a homeomorphism of the plane. We define open sets $P \subset \mathbb{R}^{2}$, called pruning fronts after the work of Cvitanović et al. in 1988, for which it is possible to construct an isotopy $H: \mathbb{R}^{2} \times [0,1] \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{2}$ with open support contained in $\bigcup _{n \in {\mathbb{Z}} } f^{n} (P)$ such that $H(\cdot, 0 ) = f(\cdot)$ and $H(\cdot, 1) = f_{P} (\cdot)$, where $f_P$ is a homeomorphism under which every point of $P$ is wandering. Applying this construction when $f$ is Smale's horseshoe, it is possible to obtain an uncountable family of homeomorphisms, depending on infinitely many parameters, going from trivial to chaotic dynamic behavior. This family is a two-dimensional analog of a one-dimensional universal family.
LASP1 is a novel BCR-ABL substrate and a phosphorylation-dependent binding partner of CRKL in chronic myeloid leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by a genomic translocation generating a permanently active BCR-ABL oncogene with a complex pattern of atypically tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins that drive the malignant phenotype of CML. Recently, the LIM and SH3 domain protein 1 (LASP1) was identified as a component of a six gene signature that is strongly predictive for disease progression and relapse in CML patients. However, the underlying mechanisms why LASP1 expression correlates with dismal outcome remained unresolved. Here, we identified LASP1 as a novel and overexpressed direct substrate of BCR-ABL in CML. We demonstrate that LASP1 is specifically phosphorylated by BCR-ABL at tyrosine-171 in CML patients, which is abolished by tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Further studies revealed that LASP1 phosphorylation results in an association with CRKL – another specific BCR-ABL substrate and bona fide biomarker for BCR-ABL activity. pLASP1-Y171 binds to non-phosphorylated CRKL at its SH2 domain. Accordingly, the BCR-ABL-mediated pathophysiological hyper-phosphorylation of LASP1 in CML disrupts normal regulation of CRKL and LASP1, which likely has implications on downstream BCR-ABL signaling. Collectively, our results suggest that LASP1 phosphorylation might serve as an additional candidate biomarker for assessment of BCR-ABL activity and provide a first step toward a molecular understanding of LASP1 function in CML.
Co-channel Interference Mitigation for Wireless Body Area Networks Coexistence Using a Non-Cooperative Game

In this paper, we enable the coexistence of multiple wireless body area networks (BANs) using a finite repeated non-cooperative game, in which BANs are rational players but act selfishly. A game-theoretic based transmit power control scheme employing a novel utility function is proposed to maximize each network's packet delivery ratio (PDR) at low transmit power. The proposed utility function penalizes players with high transmission power, which reduces the interference caused to other coexisting BANs. Considering the purpose of inter-BAN interference mitigation, PDR is expressed as a compressed exponential function of inverse signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), so it is essentially a function of transmit powers of all coexisting BANs. It is proven that a unique Nash Equilibrium (NE) exists and hence there is a subgame-perfect equilibrium, considering best-response at each stage independent of history. Realistic and extensive on- and inter-body channel models are employed. Results confirm that the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in better interference management, greater reliability and reduced transmit power, comparing with other schemes commonly applied in BAN.
Interdisciplinary research on education and its disciplines: Processes of change and lines of conflict in unstable academic expert cultures: Germany as an example

This article discusses problems of reconstructing the recent development in the field of empirical research on education (empirische Bildungsforschung), especially problems resulting from its interdisciplinary character, its divergent institutional contexts and its multimethod approach. The article looks at the position of various disciplines – in particular, science of education (Erziehungswissenschaft) and educational psychology – involved in research on education as an interdisciplinary field of study. Compared to previous times, important shifts concerning the relation between these two disciplines can currently be observed. The argument is about the notion of competence, about the right to define success criteria and about resources. Finally, this discussion focusing on Germany is then placed in the wider context of different cognitive and institutional forms of doing and organizing education studies and research in different countries.
Subgroup Prevalence and Genotype Circulation Patterns of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Belgium during Ten Successive Epidemic Seasons

ABSTRACT Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is the leading viral cause of severe respiratory illness for infants and young children worldwide. Two major antigenic groups (A and B) of HRSV exist, and viruses from both subgroups can cocirculate during epidemics; however, their frequencies might differ between seasons. The subgroup prevalence and genotype distribution patterns of HRSV strains were investigated in a community in Belgium during 10 successive epidemic seasons (1996 to 2006). A regular 3-year cyclic pattern of subgroup dominance was observed, consisting of two predominant HRSV-A seasons, followed by a single HRSV-B-dominant year. HRSV infections with both subgroups were more prevalent among children younger than 6 months and had a peak incidence in December. The most frequently detected genotypes were GA5 and GB13, the latter including strains with the 60-nucleotide duplication in the G gene. Furthermore, GA5 remained the dominant HRSV genotype in two consecutive epidemic seasons twice during the study period. Additional variability was detected among the GB13 isolates, due to the usage of a novel termination codon in the G gene. Dual infections with both HRSV subgroups were detected for 9 patients, and subsequent infections with the heterologous HRSV subgroup were documented for 15 patients. Among five patients with homologous reinfections, only one was caused by HRSV-B. Our results support the hypothesis that the overall prevalence of HRSV-A over HRSV-B could be due to a more-transient subgroup A-specific immune protection.
Task Modification and Knowledge Utilization by Korean Prospective Mathematics Teachers

It has been asserted that mathematical tasks play a critical role in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Modification of tasks included in intended curriculum materials, such as textbooks, can be an effective activity for prospective teachers to understand the role of mathematical tasks in the teaching and learning of mathematics; designing of new tasks requires more knowledge and experience. This study aims to identify the patterns that Korean prospective mathematics teachers seem to follow when they modify the mathematical tasks in textbooks. Knowledge utilized by prospective teachers while they modify textbook tasks is identified and characterized in order to understand the possible factors that have an impact on Korean prospective mathematics teachers’ modification of tasks.
Advanced autonomic and behavioral phenotyping of emotional behavior of mice

Behavioral neuroscience investigates the relation between behavioral functions and its underlying biological processes. In other words, the composite of an organism's characteristics (the phenotype) is observed and described through behavioral characterizition (phenotyping). The phenotype is determined by the interaction of the genetic makeup of an organism (the genotype, nature) with environmental factors (the environment, nurture) during the development of an organism. In order to investigate these processes in living organisms, different animal models are utilized and rodent models are advantageous for several reasons. Mice are the best mammalian model with respect to fast reproduction and genetic interventions. The performance of animal models in behavioral tests is observed and quantified in a particular behavior test or tasks. But importantly, the interpretation of particular performances and measures needs to be done carefully and fulfill certain criteria and validities. Furthermore, the behavioral test as well as the animal model itself should fulfill these requirements. When the behavioral performance is interpreted incorrectly or certain requirements and validities are not met, not only the investigation of principles of basic neu-roscience might be negatively affected, but this might also affect and mislead the field of drug discovery, which has a worldwide economic cost of over $40 billion per year. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to characterize emotional states such as anxiety and fear memory of mice using classical but also novel and advanced behavioral tests with refined behavioral and autonomic measures. 153 Summary Chapter 1 generally introduces the topic of advanced phenotyping and summarizes the findings of existing literature. In the study underlying Chapter 2 we monitored heart rate responses of genetically modified mice with the haploinsufficiency of munc18-1 in different behavioral tasks and analyzed the time series of heartbeats by linear and a non-linear methods. By recording ECG by means of implanted radio-transmitters, we monitored the performance and heart rate of freely moving mice, predominantly in their home cage, thereby avoiding the influence of unspecific and uncontrollable stress. We reasoned, that the most likely explanation for the previously observed increase in anxiety in these mice is an altered coping style (emotional expression) rather than cognitive impairment (encoding, consolidation and retrieval of emotional information). This conclusion could not have been drawn based on the behavioral performance of mice alone in classical tests based on sometimes ambiguous measures such as freezing.
Relationships between gender self-esteem, sexual prejudice, and trans prejudice in cisgender heterosexual college students

ABSTRACT Our understanding of sexual prejudice, or prejudice against gay men, lesbian women, bisexual people, and other sexual minorities, has improved substantially over the last few decades. Less is known about the factors that predict trans prejudice, or prejudice against trans people. Using the framework of social identity theory, we examined the relationship between gender self-esteem, sexual prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women, and trans prejudice in a sample of 391 self-identified cisgender heterosexual students from a Midwestern university in the United States. Compared to women, men reported more sexual prejudice, trans prejudice, more prejudice toward gay men than lesbian women, and more violence toward, teasing of, and discomfort around trans women than trans men. Whereas both men and women reported more teasing of trans women than of trans men, men reported more discomfort around trans women and women reported more discomfort around trans men. Gender self-esteem significantly predicted sexual prejudice and trans prejudice in men but not women. Consistent with other research, our results indicate that men's sexual prejudice and trans prejudice may be motivated by similar factors, whereas the predictors of women's prejudice may be more specific to the type of prejudice.
Scaling laws in gravitational clustering for counts-in-cells and mass functions

ABSTRA C T We present an analysis of some of the properties of the density field realized in numerical simulations for power-law initial power spectra in the case of a critical density universe. We study the non-linear regime, which is the most difficult to handle analytically, and we compare our numerical results with the predictions of a specific hierarchical clustering scaling model that have been made recently, focusing specifically on its much wider range of applicability, which is one of its main advantages over the standard Press‐Schechter approximation. We first check that the two-point correlation functions, measured from both counts-in-cells and neighbour counts, agree with the known analytically exact scaling requirement (i.e., depend only on s 2 ), and we also find the stable-clustering hypothesis to hold. Next, we show that the statistics of the counts-in-cells obey the scaling law predicted by the above scaling model. Then we turn to mass functions of overdense and underdense regions, which we obtain numerically from ‘spherical overdensity’ and ‘friends-of-friends’ algorithms. We first consider the mass function of ‘just-collapsed’ objects defined by a density threshold Da 177, and we note, as was found by previous studies, that the usual Press‐Schechter prescription agrees reasonably well with the simulations (although there are some discrepancies). On the other hand, the numerical results are also consistent with the predictions of the scaling model. Next, we consider more general mass functions (needed to describe for instance galaxies or Lyman-a absorbers) defined by different density thresholds, which can even be negative. The scaling model is especially suited to account for such cases, which are out of reach of the Press‐Schechter approach, and it still shows reasonably good agreement with the numerical results. Finally, we show that mass functions defined by a condition on the radius of the objects also satisfy the theoretical scaling predictions. Thus we find that the scaling model provides a reasonable description of the density field in the highly non-linear regime, for the cosmologies we have considered, for both the counts-in-cells statistics and the mass functions. The advantages of this approach are that it clarifies the links between several statistical tools and it allows one to study many different classes of objects, for any density threshold, provided one is in the fully non-linear regime.
Statistical pattern recognition with neural networks: benchmarking studies

Three basic types of neural-like networks (backpropagation network, Boltzmann machine, and learning vector quantization), were applied to two representative artificial statistical pattern recognition tasks, each with varying dimensionality. The performance of each network's approach to solving the tasks was evaluated and compared, both to the performance of the other two networks and to the theoretical limit. The learning vector quantization was further benchmarked against the parametric Bayes classifier and the k-nearest-neighbor classifier using natural speech data. A novel learning vector quantization classifier called LVQ2 is introduced. <<ETX>>