Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bone Mineral Density, Balance Performance, Balance Self-Efficacy, and Falls in Breast Cancer Survivors With and Without Qigong Training: An Observational Study

Purpose: A deterioration in bone strength and balance performance after breast cancer treatment can result in injurious falls. Therefore, interventions need to be developed to improve the bone strength and balance ability of breast cancer survivors. This cross-sectional exploratory study aimed to compare the bone mineral density (BMD), balance performance, balance self-efficacy, and number of falls between breast cancer survivors who practiced qigong, breast cancer survivors who did not practice qigong, and healthy individuals. Methods: The study included 40 breast cancer survivors with more than 3 months of qigong experience, 17 breast cancer survivors with no qigong experience, and 36 healthy controls. All the participants underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans to measure their lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck, and total radius BMDs. The participants also underwent a timed one-leg stand test to measure their single-leg standing balance. The participants’ balance self-efficacy was assessed using the activities-specific balance confidence scale, and the number of falls experienced by each participant was assessed in a face-to-face interview. Results: The lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck, and total radius BMDs were similar between the 3 groups (P > .05). The breast cancer-qigong group outperformed the breast cancer-control group by 27.3% when they performed the one-leg stand test on a foam surface (P = .025), and they also had a higher balance self-efficacy score (P = .006). Nevertheless, the numbers of falls were comparable between the 3 groups (P > .05). Conclusion: Qigong may be a suitable exercise for improving the balance performance and balance self-efficacy of breast cancer survivors.
miR-101 reverses hypomethylation of the PRDM16 promoter to disrupt mitochondrial function in astrocytoma cells

Our previous report identified PR domain containing 16 (PRDM16), a member of the PR-domain gene family, as a new methylation associated gene in astrocytoma cells. This previous study also reported that miR-101 is a tumor suppressor in glioma. The present study confirms that PRDM16 is a hypomethylated gene that can be overexpressed in astrocytoma patients and demonstrates that the hypomethylation status of the PRDM16 promoter can predict poor prognoses for astrocytoma patients. The results reported herein show that PRDM16 was inhibited by miR-101 directly and also through epigenetic regulation. PRDM16 was confirmed as a new target of miR-101 and shown to be directly inhibited by miR-101. miR-101 also decreased the expression of PRDM16 by altering the methylation status of the PRDM16 promoter. miR-101 was associated with a decrease in the methylation-related histones H3K4me2 and H3K27me3 and an increase in H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 on the PRDM16 promoter. In addition, EZH2, EED and DNMT3A were identified as direct targets of miR-101, and miR-101 suppressed PRDM16 expression by targeting DNMT3A which decreases histone H3K27me3 and H3K4me2 at the PRDM16 core promoter. The results reported here demonstrate that miR-101 disrupted cellular mitochondrial function and induced cellular apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway; for example, MMP and ATP levels decreased, while there was an increase in ADP/ATP ratios and ROS levels, levels of cleaved Caspase-9 and cleaved-PARP, the Bax/Bcl-2 ratios, and Smac release from the mitochondria to the cytoplasm. Knockdown of PRDM16 reversed the anti-apoptotic effect of miR-101 inhibition. In summary, miR-101 reversed the hypomethylation of the PRDM16 promoter which suppressed the expression of PRDM16, disrupted cellular mitochondrial function, and induced cellular apoptosis.
Instant Texture Synthesis by Numbers

Appearance Space Texture Synthesis (ASTS) provides fast texture synthesis by example. Unfortunately, speed is only achieved at the cost of a long pre-processing step. This is tedious for artists and limits the input resolution. In addition, the aggressively pruned search space results in strong artifacts when synthesizing multiple textures under user guidance (Texture-By-Numbers, TBN). In this thesis, we replace the k-coherence search step used by most modern synthesis algorithms with a new parallel, coherent random walk. We show that this drastically improves the synthesis quality with TBN, while maintaining the parallel nature, speed, and flexibility of the original ASTS runtime. Since it removes the expensive pre-computation of k-coherent candidates, we are able to use larger inputs, and start synthesis much faster. This is essential for artists designing high-quality exemplars.
Novel word integration in the mental lexicon: Evidence from unmasked and masked semantic priming

We sought to establish whether novel words can become integrated into existing semantic networks by teaching participants new meaningful words and then using these new words as primes in two semantic priming experiments, in which participants carried out a lexical decision task to familiar words. Importantly, at no point in training did the novel words co-occur with the familiar words that served as targets in the primed lexical decision task, allowing us to evaluate semantic priming in the absence of direct association. We found that familiar words were primed by the newly related novel words, both when the novel word prime was unmasked (Experiment 1) and when it was masked (Experiment 2), suggesting that the new words had been integrated into semantic memory. Furthermore, this integration was strongest after a 1-week delay and was independent of explicit recall of the novel word meanings: Forgetting of meanings did not attenuate priming. We argue that even after brief training, newly learned words become an integrated part of the adult mental lexicon rather than being episodically represented separately from the lexicon.
Space–Time Line Code

This paper characterizes rate-one (i.e., full rate) full-spatial-diversity-achieving communication schemes based on the channel state information (CSI) availability and antenna configurations, i.e., CSI at a transmitter (CSIT) or CSI at a receiver (CSIR) and the numbers of transmit and receive antennas <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (denoted by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times N$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), respectively. The maximum ratio combining (MRC), maximum ratio transmission (MRT), and space–time block code (STBC) schemes are rate-one full-spatial-diversity-achieving method facilitated for communication systems with: 1) <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1\times N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and CSIR; 2) <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and CSIT; and 3) <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and CSIR, respectively. A novel space–time line code (STLC) is then introduced for a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1\times 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> system with CSIT, and it is extended to an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> STLC. The proposed STLC uses CSI for encoding at the transmitter and enables the receiver to decode the STLC symbols without CSI. Also, the STLC encoding matrices with various code rates and decoding (combining) schemes are designed for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 3$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> STLC systems: A code rate of 3/4, 1/2, and 3/7 for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 3$ </tex-math></inline-formula> systems and a code rate of 3/4, 4/7, and 1/2 for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\times 4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> systems. For each STLC scheme, a full-diversity achieving STLC decoding method is designed. Based on analyses and numerical results, we verify that the proposed STLC scheme achieves a full diversity order, i.e., <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$MN$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and is robust against CSI uncertainty. It is also shown that the array processing gain is inversely proportional to the code rate. To verify the merit of STLC, we introduce a joint operation with STBC and STLC schemes, called an STBLC system. The STBLC system achieves full-spatial-diversity gain in both uplink and downlink communications. The new STLC achieving full-spatial diversity is scalable for various code rates and expected to be applied to various wireless communication systems along with MRC, MRT, and STBC.
In situ monitoring and universal modelling of sacrificial PSG etching using hydrofluoric acid

A video system has been designed to monitor in situ and accurately the etching of sacrificial phosphosilicate-glass (PSG) microchannels using hydrofluoric acid (HF). An universal model, which predicts accurately the etching length vs. time over a wide range of HF concentration (3-49 wt.%), has been identified. In addition to diffusion, this model is based on a first-and-second order chemical reaction mechanism. It is found that the PSG microchannel etching rate in HF is sensitive to channel thickness but not width. Finally, bubble formation and movement inside the etched microchannels are observed. Most of the generated bubbles are mobile and can enhance the etching rate. <<ETX>>
The Patient-Centered Care and Receipt of Preventive Services Among Older Adults With Chronic Diseases: A Nationwide Cross-sectional Study

This article investigates the associations between the patient-centered care (PCC) and receipt of preventive services among older adults with chronic diseases. Data were derived from the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The full-year consolidated data files from 2009 to 2013 were pooled to yield a final analytic sample (N = 16 654). Study outcomes included the receipt of 7 types of preventive screenings and 2 types of health education services. Patients’ PCC groups were categorized as PCC, partial PCC, and non-PCC, based on 9 questions classified under the 3 distinctive attributes of PCC—whole-person care, patient engagement, and enhanced access to care. Prevalence rates for each outcome variable were calculated. We estimated odds ratios from multiple logistic regressions, comparing the likelihood of outcome variables across 3 groups of patients. Adjusting for covariates, the PCC group was more likely than the non-PCC group to receive 8 types of preventive services. The partial PCC group had a greater likelihood than the non-PCC group of receiving 7 types of preventive services. Our study reveals significant associations between PCC and receipt of preventive services. PCC has demonstrated the potential to improve preventive care for older adults with chronic diseases.
Conjugacy p-separability of right-angled Artin groups and applications

We prove that every subnormal subgroup of p-power index in a right-angled Artin group is conjugacy p-separable. As an application, we prove that every right-angled Artin group is conjugacy separable in the class of torsion-free nilpotent groups. As another application, we prove that the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group is virtually residually p-finite. We also prove that the Torelli group of a right-angled group is residually torsion-free nilpotent, hence residually p-finite and bi-orderable.
Echocardiographic Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study: Associations With Race and Metabolic Dysregulation

Background The determinants of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) are not fully understood. It is unknown whether racial differences in PASP exist or if other population characteristics are associated with pulmonary pressure in humans. We examined echocardiographically estimated PASP in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a middle‐aged, biracial community‐based cohort. Methods and Results At the CARDIA year‐25 examination, 3469 participants underwent echocardiography, including measurement of tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity to estimate PASP. Clinical features, laboratory values, pulmonary function tests, and measurement of adipose depot volume were analyzed for association with PASP. PASP was estimated in 1311 individuals (61% female, 51% white). Older age, higher blood pressure, and higher body mass index were associated with higher PASP. Black race was associated with higher PASP after adjustment for demographics and left and right ventricular function (β 0.94, 95% CI 0.24‐1.64; P=0.009), but this association was no longer significant after further adjustment for lung volume (β 0.42, 95% CI −0.68 to 0.96; P=0.74). Insulin resistance, inflammation (C‐reactive protein and interleukin‐6), and visceral adipose volume were independently associated with higher PASP after adjustment for relevant covariates. PASP rose with worsening diastolic function (ratio of early transmitral Doppler velocity to average mitral annular tissue Doppler velocity [E/e′] and left atrial volume index). Conclusions In a large biracial cohort of middle‐aged adults, we identified associations among black race, insulin resistance, and diastolic dysfunction with higher echocardiographically estimated PASP. Further studies are needed to examine racial differences in PASP and whether insulin resistance directly contributes to pulmonary vascular disease in humans.
Examining the Tip of the Iceberg: A Data Set for Idiom Translation

Neural Machine Translation (NMT) has been widely used in recent years with significant improvements for many language pairs. Although state-of-the-art NMT systems are generating progressively better translations, idiom translation remains one of the open challenges in this field. Idioms, a category of multiword expressions, are an interesting language phenomenon where the overall meaning of the expression cannot be composed from the meanings of its parts. A first important challenge is the lack of dedicated data sets for learning and evaluating idiom translation. In this paper we address this problem by creating the first large-scale data set for idiom translation. Our data set is automatically extracted from a widely used German-English translation corpus and includes, for each language direction, a targeted evaluation set where all sentences contain idioms and a regular training corpus where sentences including idioms are marked. We release this data set and use it to perform preliminary NMT experiments as the first step towards better idiom translation.
Survival of multidrug-resistant bacteria in thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion of dairy manure and waste milk.

Anaerobic digestion is considered as a promising method to manage animal waste with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Current research was conducted to investigate the survival of multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDRB) resistant to three groups of antibiotics: (i) cefazolin, neomycin, vancomycin, kanamycin (group 1); (ii) penicillin, oxytetracycline, ampicillin, streptomycin (group 2); and (iii) cefazolin, neomycin, vancomycin, kanamycin, penicillin, oxytetracycline, ampicillin, streptomycin (group 3), in anaerobic digestion of dairy manure and co-digestion of dairy manure and waste milk at 37°C and 55°C for 22 days, respectively. The population densities of three groups of MDRB on peptone, tryptone, yeast and glucose agar plates incubated at 30°C for 7 days before and after digestion showed 100% destruction in both digestates at thermophilic temperature. Overall reduction of more than 90% of three groups of MDRB was observed in mesophilic digestion with no significant differences (P > 0.05) between manure and milk mixture. Co-digestion of dairy manure and waste milk always produced significantly (P < 0.05) higher total gas and methane gas than digestion of manure alone at both temperatures. Gas production in each case was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in thermophilic digestion than in mesophilic digestion. The results demonstrate that thermophilic co-digestion of dairy manure and waste milk offers more benefits in terms of the environment and economy.
Climatic forcing and larval dispersal capabilities shape the replenishment of fishes and their habitat‐forming biota on a tropical coral reef

Abstract Fluctuations in marine populations often relate to the supply of recruits by oceanic currents. Variation in these currents is typically driven by large‐scale changes in climate, in particular ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation). The dependence on large‐scale climatic changes may, however, be modified by early life history traits of marine taxa. Based on eight years of annual surveys, along 150 km of coastline, we examined how ENSO influenced abundance of juvenile fish, coral spat, and canopy‐forming macroalgae. We then investigated what traits make populations of some fish families more reliant on the ENSO relationship than others. Abundance of juvenile fish and coral recruits was generally positively correlated with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), higher densities recorded during La Niña years, when the ENSO‐influenced Leeuwin Current is stronger and sea surface temperature higher. The relationship is typically positive and stronger among fish families with shorter pelagic larval durations and stronger swimming abilities. The relationship is also stronger at sites on the coral back reef, although the strongest of all relationships were among the lethrinids (r = .9), siganids (r = .9), and mullids (r = .8), which recruit to macroalgal meadows in the lagoon. ENSO effects on habitat seem to moderate SOI–juvenile abundance relationship. Macroalgal canopies are higher during La Niña years, providing more favorable habitat for juvenile fish and strengthening the SOI effect on juvenile abundance. Conversely, loss of coral following a La Niña‐related heat wave may have compromised postsettlement survival of coral dependent species, weakening the influence of SOI on their abundance. This assessment of ENSO effects on tropical fish and habitat‐forming biota and how it is mediated by functional ecology improves our ability to predict and manage changes in the replenishment of marine populations.
Regulation of Arf activation occurs via distinct mechanisms at early and late Golgi compartments

The Rab GTPase Ypt1 recruits the Golgi Arf-GEFs Gea1, Gea2, and Sec7 to distinct parts of the Golgi. Early Golgi localized Gea1 and Gea2 prefer neutral membranes, whereas late Golgi localized Sec7 prefers anionic membranes. The C-terminal domains of Gea1 and Gea2 regulate their localization and activity and are required for recruitment by Ypt1.
Metabolomics of methadone: clinical and forensic toxicological implications and variability of dose response

Abstract Methadone is a full μ-opioid receptor agonist used in the treatment of heroin addiction. It is commercialized as a racemic mixture with considerable variability in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics between individuals that can affect dose-response and toxicological profile. This review aims to discuss metabolomics of methadone, namely by presenting all major and minor metabolites and pharmacokinetic drug interactions. The main mechanism for methadone metabolism is hepatic through the cytochrome P450, specifically isoenzymes 2B6, 3A4 and 2D6. Firstly, methadone is N-demethylated and cyclize to form its major 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) and 2-ethyl-5-methyl-3,3-diphenylpyraline (EMDP) metabolites. Several alternate minor pathways have been described namely various methadol metabolites, which proved to be active. It is expected that knowing the metabolomics of methadone may provide further insights, attempting a personalized therapy aiming to attain effective blood concentrations. The historical record is therefore especially important when investigating clinical and forensic cases related to methadone administration, since interindividual responses are known to vary considerably.
Renin–angiotensin blockade in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Studies with angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE‐Is) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) have yielded inconsistent results. To conduct a systematic review and meta‐analysis of all evidence for ACE‐I and ARBs in patients with HFpEF, we searched PubMed, Ovid SP, Embase, and Cochrane database to identify randomized trials and observational studies that compared ACE‐I or ARBs against placebo or standard therapy in HFpEF patients. Random‐effect models were used to pool the data, and I2 testing was performed to assess the heterogeneity of the included studies. A total of 13 studies (treatment arm = 8676 and control arm = 8608) were analysed. Pooled analysis of randomized trials for ACE‐I and ARBs (n = 6) did not show any effect on all‐cause mortality [relative risk (RR) = 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.93–1.11, P = 0.68, I2 = 0%], while results from observational studies showed a significant improvement (RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.87–0.95, P = 0.005, I2 = 81.5%). In pooled analyses of all studies, ACE‐I showed a reduction of all‐cause mortality (RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.87–0.95, P = 0.01). There was no reduction in cardiovascular mortality seen, but in pooled analysis of randomized trials, there was a trend towards reduced HF hospitalization risk (RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.83–1.01, I2 = 0%, P = 0.074). These data suggest that ACE‐I and ARBs may have a role in improving outcomes of patients with HFpEF, underscoring the need for future research with careful patient selection, and trial design and conduct.
EZH2 promotes cell migration and invasion but not alters cell proliferation by suppressing E-cadherin, partly through association with MALAT-1 in pancreatic cancer

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is an essential component of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which is required for epigenetic silencing of target genes, including those affecting cancer progression. Its role in pancreatic cancer remains to be clarified; therefore, we investigated the effects of aberrantly expressed EZH2 on pancreatic cancer. We found that EZH2 expression is up-regulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage in pancreatic cancer patients. EZH2 knockdown in pancreatic cancer cell lines inhibited cell migration and invasion, but did not alter cell proliferation. Silencing of EZH2 also increased E-cadherin expression in vitro, and E-cadherin expression was inversely correlated with EZH2 expression in pancreatic cancer tissue samples. Patients with high EZH2 and low E-cadherin expression had the worst prognosis. RIP and ChIP assays suggest that EZH2 is recruited to the E-cadherin promoter by the long non-coding RNA, MALAT-1 (metastasis associated in lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1), where it represses E-cadherin expression. Our results show that EZH2-based therapies may be an option for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.