Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CIGARETTE SMOKING AMONG 17-18 YEAR OLD ADOLESCENTS - PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATION WITH SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC, FAMILIAL, SPORT, AND SCHOLASTIC. FACTORS.

BACKGROUND Though adolescence is recognised as a critical period for smoking prevention, there is a lack of research focused on this issue in Kosovo. The aim of this study has been to examine the gender-specific factors of influence (predictors) for smoking among adolescents in Pristina, Kosovo. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study sample comprised 1002 adolescents at the age of 17-18 (366 boys, 636 girls), all of whom were in the school's 12th grade. The predictors included sociodemographic variables, familial (i.e.,parental) monitoring, parents' educational background, and sport-related factors. The Chi2 and forward stepwise logistic regression analyses with a dichotomous criterion (smoking vs. non-smoking) were applied. RESULTS The incidence of smoking was high (31% and 40% smokers, including 7% and 12% daily smokers for girls and boys, respectively). The regression model revealed more frequent absence from school(odds ratio (OR): 1.544; 95% confidence interval (Ci): 1.063-2.243), more unexcused school absences (OR: 1.360; 95% CI: 1.029-1.796), and frequent parental questioning (OR: 1.530; 95% CI: 1.020-2.295) to be significant predictors'of smoking among boys. For girls, a higher risk of smoking was associated with lower scholastic achievement (OR: 1.467; 95% CI: 1.089-1.977), more frequent absence from school (OR: 1.565; 95% CI: 1.137-2.155), increased conflict with parents (OR: 1.979; 95% CI: 1.405-2.789),and a self-declared perception of less parental care (OR: 0.602; 95% CI: 0.377-0.962). Sports were not found to be strongly related to smoking. However, a high riskof daily smoking was found among boys who participated in team sports and subsequently quit. CONCLUSIONS This study reinforces the need for gender- and culture-specific approaches to studying the factors that influence smoking among adolescents.
Anti-atherogenic and anti-ischemic potentials of Croton membranaceus observed during sub-chronic toxicity studies

Background: Croton membranaceus (CM) is used for benign prostate hyperplasia treatment. Objective: Sub-chronic toxicity studies are non-existent and provided the basis for this study. Materials and Methods: 90 days oral administration of a low dose (LD) (30 mg/kg b. wt.), medium dose (MD) (150 mg/kg b. wt.), and high dose (HD) (300 mg/kg b. wt.) CM aqueous root extract to 3 groups (n=6 each) of male Sprague-Dawley rats, alongside a control group, was undertaken. Urinalysis, hepato-renal function tests, lipid profile, cardiac enzymes, and routine hematology tests were performed. Results: Triglyceride levels (C=1.05±0.19, LD=0.64±0.08, MD=0.55±0.04, HD=0.50±0.02 mmol/L) were significantly reduced (P<0.05). Very low density lipoprotein (C=0.48±0.09, LD=0.29±0.04, MD=0.25±0.02, HD=0.23±0.01 mmol/L) decreased significantly (P<0.05). Cardiac enzymes-creatinine kinase (C=568±172, LD=315±79, MD=441±209, HD=286±81 IU/L) decreased markedly (P<0.05) alongside lactate dehydrogenase (C=2675±875, LD=1667±1229, MD=1186±442, HD=855±239 IU/L) (P<0.05). Conclusion: C. membranaceus aqueous root extract is non-toxic but demonstrates anti-atherogenic and anti-ischemic potentials.
Return of reconstruction-based single image super-resolution: A simple and accurate approach

Learning-based methods have been the mainstream in single image super-resolution (SISR) over the past decade or so. This paper, however, returns to the reconstruction perspective to SISR, and studies the possibility of achieving competitive or even better SISR performance compared with state-of-the-art learning-based approaches in the literature. Specifically, through the (fast) iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm, a general, simple, yet accurate SISR framework is proposed by embedding off-the-shelf image denoising algorithms into the reconstruction process rather than struggling to develop advanced image priors. Numerous experiments on the benchmark dataset are performed accompanied by comparisons against a few recent learning-based methods, e.g., A+, SRCNN, etc. The results have demonstrated well the rationality and superiority of the proposed framework in terms of the super-resolution accuracy as image filtering schemes such as BM3D, WNNM, and other possible candidates, are used. Note that, learning-based filtering schemes can be also plugged into our framework, which hence leads to hybrid reconstruction/learning-based SISR approaches, demonstrating the flexibility as well as the potential of the proposed framework.
Thermal Protection of Induction Motors Enhanced by Interactive Electrical and Thermal Models

Models are of interest to application engineers because they identify important electrical, thermal, and mechanical interactions in an induction motor. They provide a format for the parameters which must be obtained. The loading and terminal conditions can then be specified and the model state equations used to obtain the thermal limit curves and, what is more important, the time solution for current, torque, speed, and the temperatures of the rotor and stator. Adequate protection of induction motors is routinely achieved via locked-rotor, phase unbalance, and overload protection. However, conditions of changing load torque, frequent starts, temporary phase unbalance and high inertia loading must often be tolerated. Designing protective schemes for these conditions using conventional relays is difficult and sometimes impossible. Motor protection is primarily a temperature estimation problem. Recognizing that good electrical and thermal models exist leads to their adoption for motor protection so that the heating and cooling process is well represented for virtually all loading and terminal conditions. This paper first reviews electrical, thermal, and mechanical models. Their parameters are discussed and a novel technique is introduced for accommodating the frequency dependent skin effect of the rotor resistance using a simple speed estimation algorithm. The correlation with protection practice is established by using the models to obtain the thermal limit curves for a motor including the relatively recent rotor accelerating time limit. The models are then used to analyze conditions of locked rotor, high inertia starting and overload torque.
The Evolution of the FT/TFL1 Genes in Amaranthaceae and Their Expression Patterns in the Course of Vegetative Growth and Flowering in Chenopodium rubrum

The FT/TFL1 gene family controls important aspects of plant development: MFT-like genes affect germination, TFL1-like genes act as floral inhibitors, and FT-like genes are floral activators. Gene duplications produced paralogs with modified functions required by the specific lifestyles of various angiosperm species. We constructed the transcriptome of the weedy annual plant Chenopodium rubrum and used it for the comprehensive search for the FT/TFL1 genes. We analyzed their phylogenetic relationships across Amaranthaceae and all angiosperms. We discovered a very ancient phylogenetic clade of FT genes represented by the CrFTL3 gene of C. rubrum. Another paralog CrFTL2 showed an unusual structural rearrangement which might have contributed to the functional shift. We examined the transcription patterns of the FT/TFL1 genes during the vegetative growth and floral transition in C. rubrum to get clues about their possible functions. All the genes except for the constitutively expressed CrFTL2 gene, and the CrFTL3 gene, which was transcribed only in seeds, exhibited organ-specific expression influenced by the specific light regime. The CrFTL1 gene was confirmed as a single floral activator from the FT/TFL1 family in C. rubrum. Its floral promoting activity may be counteracted by CrTFL1. C. rubrum emerges as an easily manipulated model for the study of floral induction in weedy fast-cycling plants lacking a juvenile phase.
Attention in Dichotic Listening: Affective Cues and the Influence of Instructions

In shadowing one of two simultaneous messages presented dichotically, subjects are unable to report any of the content of the rejected message. Even if the rejected message consists of a short list of simple words repeated many times, a recognition test fails to reveal any trace of the list. If numbers are interpolated in prose passages presented for dichotic shadowing, no more are recalled from the rejected messages if the instructions are specifically to remember numbers than if the instructions are general: a specific set for numbers will not break through the attentional barrier set up in this task. The only stimulus so far found that will break through this barrier is the subject's own name. It is probably only material “important” to the subject that will break through the barrier.
Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibition as a therapeutic strategy in the management of urologic malignancies

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a protein kinase that regulates protein translation, cell growth, and apoptosis. Recently, there has been an enormous increase in our understanding on molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutics of rapamycin in cancer. Alterations in the pathway regulating mTOR occur in many solid malignancies including prostate, bladder, and kidney cancer; in vitro and in vivo models of prostate and bladder cancer have established the importance of the mTOR pathway in control of cancer progression and metastasis. Temsirolimus (Torisel) and everolimus (RAD-001), two ester analogues of rapamycin, as well as rapamycin itself have clear antitumor activity in in vitro and in vivo models and are under clinical trial investigations for prostate and bladder cancer. Phase II and III trials have already established the clinical efficacy of temsirolimus in renal cancer, and current renal trials are evaluating the combined effects of vascular endothelial growth factor and mTOR inhibition. Ongoing studies in prostate and bladder cancer will soon define the activity and safety profiles of everolimus and temsirolimus. Recent molecular advances have uncovered a startling complexity in the macromolecular function of mTOR complexes, with the identification of new mTOR partners (raptor, rictor, FKBP38, PRAS40, and mSIN1), putative cancer therapeutic/prognostic targets for future clinical trials. [Mol Cancer Ther 2008;7(6):1347–54]
Epidermal growth factor receptor expression in breast cancer association with biologic phenotype and clinical outcomes

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression is associated with aggressive phenotypes in preclinical breast cancer models, but in clinical studies, EGFR has been inconsistently linked to poor outcome. We hypothesized that EGFR expression in human breast tumors, when centrally and uniformly assessed, is associated with an aggressive phenotype and resistance to systemic therapy.
blistery encodes Drosophila tensin protein and interacts with integrin and the JNK signaling pathway during wing development

Tensin is an actin-binding protein that is localized in focal adhesions. At focal adhesion sites, tensin participates in the protein complex that establishes transmembrane linkage between the extracellular matrix and cytoskeletal actin filaments. Even though there have been many studies on tensin as an adaptor protein, the role of tensin during development has not yet been clearly elucidated. Thus, this study was designed to dissect the developmental role of tensin by isolating Drosophila tensin mutants and characterizing its role in wing development. The Drosophila tensin loss-of-function mutations resulted in the formation of blisters in the wings, which was due to a defective wing unfolding process. Interestingly, by1-the mutant allele of the gene blistery (by)-also showed a blistered wing phenotype, but failed to complement the wing blister phenotype of the Drosophila tensin mutants, and contains Y62N/T163R point mutations in Drosophila tensin coding sequences. These results demonstrate that by encodes Drosophila tensin protein and that the Drosophila tensin mutants are alleles of by. Using a genetic approach, we have demonstrated that tensin interacts with integrin and also with the components of the JNK signaling pathway during wing development; overexpression of by in wing imaginal discs significantly increased JNK activity and induced apoptotic cell death. Collectively, our data suggest that tensin relays signals from the extracellular matrix to the cytoskeleton through interaction with integrin, and through the modulation of the JNK signal transduction pathway during Drosophila wing development.
Let’s Make a Deal

Idiosyncratic deals (or i-deals) are mutually beneficial, personalized agreements of a nonstandard nature that are negotiated between individual employees and their employers. This article outlines the development of a 16-item measure of i-deals negotiated by job incumbents. Across four studies, the authors developed a reliable scale with a multidimensional factor structure that replicated across three separate samples. Study 1 was aimed at verifying that they had appropriately specified the domains across which i-deals are negotiated. In Study 2, the authors developed a measure of i-deals and confirmed its reliability and factor structure. Studies 3 and 4 provided further evidence for the psychometric properties of the i-deals measure and examined antecedents and outcomes of i-deals. Overall, the results indicate that employees negotiate i-deals across four content domains (i.e., schedule flexibility, location flexibility, task and work responsibilities, and financial incentives) and that i-deals have important implications for work attitudes.
Detecting online commercial intention (OCI)

Understanding goals and preferences behind a user's online activities can greatly help information providers, such as search engine and E-Commerce web sites, to personalize contents and thus improve user satisfaction. Understanding a user's intention could also provide other business advantages to information providers. For example, information providers can decide whether to display commercial content based on user's intent to purchase. Previous work on Web search defines three major types of user search goals for search queries: navigational, informational and transactional or resource [1][7]. In this paper, we focus our attention on capturing commercial intention from search queries and Web pages, i.e., when a user submits the query or browse a Web page, whether he/she is about to commit or in the middle of a commercial activity, such as purchase, auction, selling, paid service, etc. We call the commercial intentions behind a user's online activities as OCI (Online Commercial Intention). We also propose the notion of "Commercial Activity Phase" (CAP), which identifies in which phase a user is in his/her commercial activities: Research or Commit. We present the framework of building machine learning models to learn OCI based on any Web page content. Based on that framework, we build models to detect OCI from search queries and Web pages. We train machine learning models from two types of data sources for a given search query: content of algorithmic search result page(s) and contents of top sites returned by a search engine. Our experiments show that the model based on the first data source achieved better performance. We also discover that frequent queries are more likely to have commercial intention. Finally we propose our future work in learning richer commercial intention behind users' online activities.
Repeated dose toxicity of deltamethrin in rats

OBJECTIVE : To investigate the short-term toxicity of deltamethrin in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS : Deltamethrin was dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide and the oral LD50 was calculated to be 150 mg/kg. Then groups of rats were given repeated daily oral dose (1/10 LD50) of deltamethrin for 30 days. The animals were killed on 31st day. Activities of various enzymes, cytochrome P450 and b5 contents in liver, hepatic antioxidant status, tissue residue concentration, haemogram and pathological changes were studied. RESULTS : Deltamethrin increased the serum aminotransaminase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase activities and blood glucose level significantly. Deltamethrin decreased PCV and Hb level and the liver cytochrome P450 content significantly. Considerable amount of residues were present in different tissues. It increased malondialdehyde level, while decreased the activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione and glycogen levels in liver significantly. Mild to moderate histological alterations were observed in lungs, liver, stomach, kidney, testes and cerebellum. CONCLUSION : Repeated dose toxicity studies of deltamethrin at 1/10 LD50 altered the biochemical parameters; decrease cytochrome P450 content, antioxidant status, which correlated with histopathological changes with considerable amount in tissue residues.
Relations Among Perceived Spouse Acceptance, Remembered Parental Acceptance in Childhood, and Psychological Adjustment Among Married Adults in Kuwait

Parental acceptance—rejection theory postulates that adults' current level of psychological adjustment is affected by a combination of their perception of the love-related behaviors of their current intimate partners and by their mental representations of parents' love-related behaviors toward them in childhood. Accordingly, this research explored the way in which remembered childhood experiences of maternal and paternal acceptance might mediate the relation between perceived intimate-partner acceptance and the psychological adjustment of 389 married individuals in Kuwait. Results of simple correlations showed that the more accepting both men and women saw their spouses to be, the better was their psychological adjustment; similarly, the more accepting men and women remembered both their mothers and fathers to have been when the respondents were children, the better was their psychological adjustment. Finally, results of simple multiple-regression analyses showed that recollections of both maternal and paternal acceptance in respondents' childhoods partially mediated the relation between perceived spouse acceptance and respondents' psychological adjustment.
The Salmonella typhimurium mar locus: molecular and genetic analyses and assessment of its role in virulence

The marRAB operon is a regulatory locus that controls multiple drug resistance in Escherichia coli. marA encodes a positive regulator of the antibiotic resistance response, acting by altering the expression of unlinked genes. marR encodes a repressor of marRAB transcription and controls the production of MarA in response to environmental signals. A molecular and genetic study of the homologous operon in Salmonella typhimurium was undertaken, and the role of marA in virulence in a murine model was assessed. Expression of E. coli marA (marAEC) present on a multicopy plasmid in S. typhimurium resulted in a multiple antibiotic resistance (Mar) phenotype, suggesting that a similar regulon exists in this organism. A genomic plasmid library containing S. typhimurium chromosomal sequences was introduced into an E. coli strain that was deleted for the mar locus and contained a single-copy marR'-'lacZ translational fusion. Plasmid clones that contained both S. typhimurium marR (marRSt) and marA (marASt) genes were identified as those that were capable of repressing expression of the fusion and which resulted in a Mar phenotype. The predicted amino acid sequences of MarRSt, MarASt, and MarBSt were 91, 86, and 42% identical, respectively, to the same genes from E. coli, while the operator/promoter region of the operon was 86% identical to the same 98-nucleotide-upstream region in E. coli. The marRAB transcriptional start sites for both organisms were determined by primer extension, and a marRABSt transcript of approximately 1.1 kb was identified by Northern blot analysis. Its accumulation was shown to be inducible by sodium salicylate. Open reading frames flanking the marRAB operon were also conserved. An S. typhimurium marA disruption strain was constructed by an allelic exchange method and compared to the wild-type strain for virulence in a murine BALB/c infection model. No effect on virulence was noted. The endogenous S. typhimurium plasmid that is associated with virulence played no role in marA-mediated multiple antibiotic resistance. Taken together, the data show that the S. typhimurium mar locus is structurally and functionally similar to marRABEc and that a lesion in marASt has no effect on S. typhimurium virulence for BALB/c mice.
Mathematical models of heat and mass transfer in electrical contacts

Mathematical models describing phenomena of heat and mass transfer in electrical contacts are based on systems of partial differential equations for temperature and electromagnetic fields. The influence of Joule, Kohler and Thomson heat sources on the temperature field in closed contacts is discussed. The mathematical model of the ring-shaped welding in closed contacts is presented. Dynamics of contact opening is considered as consecutive stages including the initial stage of heating up to the melting point, the stage of a liquid bridge, metallic and gaseous arc stages. The dimensionless criteria of Thomson and Kohler are introduced which may be responsible for the displacement of the hottest isotherms of a bridge from its middle and corresponding bridge material transfer. The conditions for self-restrained bridge transfer are discussed. Phenomenon of contact floating due to metallic vapour pressure produced by a vacuum micro-arc is investigated experimentally and then described by a mathematical model. A mathematical model is presented describing transient phenomena accompanied a vacuum short arc at the initial stage of contact opening. It enables to describe the evolution of transient short anode dominated arc, which appears just after the rupture of molten bridge, into diffusive cathode dominated arc. The mechanisms of arc erosion are described by several models due to evaporation, droplets ejection, Marangoni effect, ejection of solid particles at thermo-elastic stresses. The hybrid mathematical model is elaborated to describe dynamics of the arc and forces acting in contact gap. It includes experimental oscillograms of current, voltage and contact displacement and nonlinear equations for arc, anode and cathode temperature fields and contact motion. It is shown theoretically and confirmed experimentally that in the range of high current the force of metallic vapour pressure at arcing in vacuum is comparable with magnetic repulsion force and should be taken into consideration.The mathematical model describing transition from arc to glow at contact opening in circuits with a high inductance and small current is elaborated and identified experimentally. The mechanism of thermionic emission from the cathode surface based on Richardson-Dushman equation is corrected by addition of another emission mechanism due to electrochemical phenomena in melted pool on the cathode. The influence of current frequency on the rate of the arc erosion at contact opening is investigated using the model of transition of the metallic arc phase into gaseous phase.