Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Adiponectin With Body Composition and Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients.

BACKGROUND In the general population, circulating adiponectin is associated with a favorable cardiovascular risk profile (eg, lower triglycerides and body fat) and decreased mortality. Hemodialysis (HD) patients have comparatively higher adiponectin concentrations, but prior studies examining the adiponectin-mortality association in this population have not accounted for body composition or shown a consistent relationship. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS We examined baseline serum adiponectin concentrations in 501 HD patients across 13 dialysis centers from the prospective MADRAD (Malnutrition, Diet, and Racial Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease) cohort (entry period, October 2011 to February 2013; follow-up through August 2013). PREDICTOR Serum adiponectin concentration in tertiles (tertiles 1, 2, and 3 defined as ≤16.1, >16.1-<30.1, and ≥30.1-100.0 μg/mL, respectively). Adjustment variables included case-mix and laboratory test results (age, sex, race, ethnicity, vintage, diabetes, serum albumin, total iron-binding capacity, serum creatinine, white blood cell count, phosphate, hemoglobin, and normalized protein catabolic rate), body composition surrogates (subcutaneous, visceral, and total-body fat and lean body mass), and serum lipid levels (cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides). OUTCOMES All-cause mortality using survival (Cox) models incrementally adjusted for case-mix and laboratory test results. RESULTS Among 501 HD patients, 50 deaths were observed during 631.1 person-years of follow-up. In case-mix- and laboratory-adjusted Cox analyses, the highest adiponectin tertile was associated with increased mortality versus the lowest tertile (HR, 3.35; 95% CI, 1.50-7.47). These associations were robust in analyses that additionally accounted for body composition (HR, 3.18; 95% CI, 1.61-8.24) and lipid levels (HR, 3.64; 95% CI, 1.34-7.58). LIMITATIONS Residual confounding cannot be excluded. CONCLUSIONS Higher adiponectin level is associated with a 3-fold higher death risk in HD patients independent of body composition and lipid levels. Future studies are needed to elucidate underlying mechanisms and determine therapeutic targets associated with improved outcomes in HD patients.
Quartz enhanced photoacoustic H2S gas sensor based on a fiber-amplifier source and a custom tuning fork with large prong spacing

A quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor, employing an erbium-doped fiber amplified laser source and a custom quartz tuning fork (QTF) with its two prongs spaced ∼800 μm apart, is reported. The sensor employs an acoustic micro-resonator (AmR) which is assembled in an “on-beam” QEPAS configuration. Both length and vertical position of the AmR are optimized in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, significantly improving the QEPAS detection sensitivity by a factor of ∼40, compared to the case of a sensor using a bare custom QTF. The fiber-amplifier-enhanced QEPAS sensor is applied to H2S trace gas detection, reaching a sensitivity of ∼890 ppb at 1 s integration time, similar to those obtained with a power-enhanced QEPAS sensor equipped with a standard QTF, but with the advantages of easy optical alignment, simple installation, and long-term stability.
Controlled and behaviorally relevant levels of oral ethanol intake in rhesus macaques using a flavorant-fade procedure.

BACKGROUND Flavorant-fading procedures can initiate and maintain oral ethanol intake in rodents. The present study developed a similar procedure to achieve controlled and behaviorally relevant levels of ethanol intake in monkeys. METHODS Male rhesus macaques (N = 13) were initially given the opportunity to consume 0.5 g/kg of a 1% (w/v) ethanol plus 4% (w/v) Tang solution in 1-hr limited-access sessions without the requirement of an operant response. Once consumption was stable at a particular concentration (%) and/or amount (g/kg), animals were given access to higher concentrations and/or amounts of ethanol. Animals were tested on a bimanual motor skill (BMS) task 20 and 90 min after consumption to assess behavioral impairment. Blood alcohol levels (BALs) were assessed after a session in which animals had the opportunity to consume up to 3.0 g/kg of 6% (w/v) ethanol. RESULTS The gradual fading up of higher concentrations and amounts of ethanol resulted in controlled and robust levels (>2.0 g/kg) of ethanol intake in half of the subjects. Increasing the concentration of the sweetener from 4 to 6% (w/v) was effective in initiating consumption in three animals. Two monkeys required the additional step of presenting the increased-sweetener solutions after a meal (postprandial consumption) to initiate significant ethanol intake. Animals were significantly impaired on the BMS task after consumption of 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 g/kg of ethanol. Individual consumption ranging from 0.8 to 3.0 g/kg of ethanol produced BALs of 18 to 269 mg/dl. CONCLUSIONS The flavorant-fading procedure was effective in producing behaviorally relevant levels of ethanol consumption in rhesus macaques. This model facilitated a randomized-dose procedure to determine the behavioral effects of 0.5 to 3.0 g/kg of ethanol. This procedure therefore is of significant utility in determining behavioral or physiologic effects of specific doses of consumed ethanol in monkeys.
Fate of fructo-oligosaccharides in the human intestine

There is a need for studies on colonic fermentation in order to learn more abouthealth and diseases of the colon. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the fate of twodifferent doses of fructo-oligosaccharides (5 and 15 g/d) v. glucose in the intestine of healthy men. Twenty-four volunteers participated in a 5-weekstudy. The study was a completely balanced multiple crossover trial using an orthogonal Latin-square design for three periods, with supplement periods of 7 d and two 7 d wash-out periods. Breath samples and faecal samples were collected. There was a clear gaseous response to the consumption of fructo-oligosaccharides. The highest dose significantly increased 24 h integratedexcretion of breath H2 (P < 0·05). Breath H2 excretion after ingestion of 5 g fructo-oligosaccharides was higher than control, but did not reach significance. No effects on the total concentration of short-chain fatty acids in faeces were observed, no modification of the molar proportions of the various short-chain fatty acids was observed. The faecal pH did not change. No changes in faecal weight were observed. No fructo-oligosaccharides were recovered in faeces. We conclude that fructo-oligosaccharides added to the diet of young Western subjects are fully metabolized in the large intestine. The level of fermentation seems to be dose-dependent.
Outage probability of finite-sized selective relaying systems with unreliable backhauls

Considering unreliable wireless backhaul connections across transmitters, we investigate the outage performance of a finite-sized selective relaying system with M transmitters and N relays under Nakagami-m fading channels. To send the source message to the destination, the transmitter-relay pair providing the highest end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio is selected for transmission. The backhaul reliability is introduced to reflect the practical constraints on transmitter-relay cooperation. The closed-form outage probability and asymptotic outage performance limits are derived for the finite-sized selective relaying system. It is shown that asymptotic outage probability is exclusively determined by M and a set of backhaul reliability levels. It is also shown that diversity gain promised by the finite-sized selective relaying system is determined by M, N, and shape factors of Nakagami-m fading channels. Link-level simulations are conducted to verify the derived joint impact of backhaul reliability and transmitter-relay cooperation on the outage performance.
Incorporating Uncertainty into In-Cloud Application Deployment Decisions for Availability

Cloud consumers have a variety of deployment related techniques, such as auto-scaling policies and recovery strategies, for dealing with the uncertainties in the cloud. Uncertainties can be characterized as stochastic (such as failures, disasters, and workload spikes) and subjective (such as choice among various deployment options). Cloud consumers must consider both stochastic and subjective uncertainties. Analytic support for consumers in selecting appropriate techniques and setting the required parameters in the face of different types of uncertainty is currently limited. In this paper, we propose a set of application availability analysis models that capture subjective uncertainties in addition to stochastic uncertainties. We built and validated the models by using industry best practices on deployment, and actual commercial products for disaster recovery and live migration. Our results show that the models permit more informed and quantitative availability analysis than industry best practices under a wide range of scenarios.
Accuracy of Automatic Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat and Calorie Counting Based on Voice Descriptions of Meals in People with Type 1 Diabetes

The aim of this work was to assess the accuracy of automatic macronutrient and calorie counting based on voice descriptions of meals provided by people with unstable type 1 diabetes using the developed expert system (VoiceDiab) in comparison with reference counting made by a dietitian, and to evaluate the impact of insulin doses recommended by a physician on glycemic control in the study’s participants. We also compared insulin doses calculated using the algorithm implemented in the VoiceDiab system. Meal descriptions were provided by 30 hospitalized patients (mean hemoglobin A1c of 8.4%, i.e., 68 mmol/mol). In 16 subjects, the physician determined insulin boluses based on the data provided by the system, and in 14 subjects, by data provided by the dietitian. On one hand, differences introduced by patients who subjectively described their meals compared to those introduced by the system that used the average characteristics of food products, although statistically significant, were low enough not to have a significant impact on insulin doses automatically calculated by the system. On the other hand, the glycemic control of patients was comparable regardless of whether the physician was using the system-estimated or the reference content of meals to determine insulin doses.
Personality Types and Career Success among Malaysian Managers

This paper attempts to investigate the relationships between personality types and career success. The big five personality types are used to represent personality. Career success is measured by the integration of the dimensions of salary, position and age. A sample of 111 managers from the private sector provided data for this cross-sectional survey. It appears that all the five personality types; conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, and openness to experience are positively related to career success to varying degrees.
Controlled Nucleation and Controlled Growth for Size Predicable Synthesis of Nanoscale Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): A General and Scalable Approach.

Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (nanoMOFs) are promising porous nanomaterials for diverse applications, such as catalysis, imaging, functional membranes, and drug delivery. At the nanoscale, the size of materials is critical for their properties and utility. Herein, a straightforward and convenient strategy is developed for size precisely controlled synthesis of nanoMOFs. Unlike other approaches, this strategy can directly give nanoMOFs of predicable sizes within a wide range without the time consuming trial-and-error process and without the addition of additives. In this approach, the preciseness of size control is ensured by the separated and controlled nucleation and growth. The size controlled synthesis of 9 kinds of most widely studied nanoMOFs confirms the versatility of this strategy. More importantly, this approach can be utilized for scale-up synthesis of nanoMOFs with the same precise size control.
Is There Lexical Competition in the Recognition of L2 Words for Different-Script Bilinguals? An Examination Using Masked Priming With Japanese-English Bilinguals

The present research examined whether a lexical competition process operates when different-script bilinguals process L2 words. In masked priming lexical decision experiments (67 ms prime duration), word neighbor primes facilitated target identification for Japanese-English bilinguals (Experiment 1) although the same primes produced inhibitory effects for L1 English readers (Experiment 2). Subsequent experiments confirmed that the facilitory priming effects are reliable (Experiment 4), and are not due to bilinguals’ inability to process masked L2 primes to the lexical level (Experiments 3 and 4) or bilinguals relying on sublexical activation from neighbor primes in responding to upper-case English targets (Experiment 5). Some evidence of lexical competition was observed, however, with clearly visible primes (Experiment 6, using a 175 ms prime duration). These results suggest that different-script bilinguals deal with orthographic similarity in L2 words differently from L1 readers. The authors discuss ways in which the L2 lexicon of different-script bilinguals may be different.
The dynamical behaviour of a jet in an on-disk coronal hole observed with AIA/SDO

Aims. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) jets situated in coronal holes are thought to play an important role in supplying heated material to the corona and solar wind. The multi-wavelength capabilities and high signal-to-noise ratio of detectors on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) allow for detailed study of these jets’ evolution. We aim to exploit SDO’s capabilities to reveal information on the jet dynamics and to obtain estimates for plasma properties associated with the jets. Methods. We studied the dynamics of an EUV jet with SDO at a coronal hole boundary. The details of the jet evolution are discussed and measurements of the jet’s parameters, e.g. length, width, life time, and outward speed, are obtained. Furthermore, automated emission measure analysis is exploited to determine estimates for the temperature and density of the jet. A propagating transverse wave supported by the jet spire is also observed. Measurements of the wave properties are exploited for magneto-seismology and are used in conjunction with the emission measure results to estimate the magnetic field strength of the jet. Results. We present a detailed description of the jet’s evolution, with new evidence of plasma flows, prior to the jet’s initiation, along the loops at the base of the jet and also find further evidence that flows along the jet spire consist of multiple, quasi-periodic smallscale plasma ejection events. In addition, spectroscopic analysis reveal that the jet has temperatures of log 5.89 ± 0.08 K and electron densities of log 8.75 ± 0.05 cm −3 . Measured properties of the transverse wave provide evidence that a strong damping of the wave occurs as it propagates along the jet spire with speeds of ∼110 km s −1 . The magneto-seismological inversion of the wave parameters provides values of B = 1.21 ± 0.2 G along the jet spire, which is in line with previous estimates for open fields in coronal holes.
Barriers Identification as Intervention to Engage Breast Cancer Survivors in Physical Activity

This study was designed to demonstrate the advantage of adding cancer barriers to components of decision-making in the transtheoretical model (TTM). In study 1, questionnaires were completed by 139 breast cancer survivors including decisional balance, cancer-related barriers and stages of readiness. In study 2, efficiency of directly tackling cancer-related barriers through motivational-style conversation was tested in a quasi-experimental design. From study 1, all decisionmaking variables were related to stages of readiness, but cancer-related barriers were the sole predictors of engagement in physical activity. Out of the three groups of study 2, only the group with motivational-style conversation displayed a significant progress for engagement in physical activity. Demonstrating that cancer-related barriers predict stage of change above the effects of the two components of decisional balance provides a validation of positions that put cancer-related barriers as uniquely related to stages of change, and suggests that adding them in decision making variables in TTM’s model can provide a genuinely new contribution to the understanding of physical activity adherence. Regarding implication for cancer survivors, these results suggest that in order to stimulate progress in early stages of change, a greater emphasis may be needed on reducing cancer-related barriers.
Investigating Correlates of Hypersexual Behavior in Religious Patients

abstract The current study investigated correlates of hypersexuality in a sample of religious (n = 52) and non-religious (n = 105) men assessed for hypersexual disorder as part of the DSM-5 Field Trial. Our results indicate that religiosity was unrelated to self-reported levels of hypersexuality as measured by the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory and the Hypersexual Behavior Consequences Scale. Patients who reported being highly religious had comparable levels of problematic solo-sex behaviors (e.g., pornography use and masturbation) as non-religious patients, but significantly less relational sexual behaviors as measured by the number of life-time sex partners and sex partners in the previous 12-month period. Further, the religious hypersexual group showed significantly lower levels of alcohol and drug abuse, as well as anxiety, compared to the non-religious hypersexual patients. Interestingly, we did not observe group differences on indices of shame, life satisfaction, impulsivity, or stress proneness. Religiosity was correlated with greater levels of depression, but only among the religious group of hypersexual patients. Implications for these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research among populations of religious patients seeking help for hypersexual behavior.
Psychopathy and the ability to read the “language of the eyes”: Divergence in the psychopathy construct

The capacity to interpret others people's behavior and mental states is a vital part of human social communication. This ability, also called mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM), may also serve as a protective factor against aggression and antisocial behavior. This study investigates the relationship between two measures of psychopathy (clinical assessment and self-report) and the ability to identify mental states from photographs of the eye region. The participants in the study were 92 male inmates at Bergen prison, Norway. The results showed some discrepancy in connection to assessment methodology. For the self-report (SRP-III), we found an overall negative association between mental state discrimination and psychopathy, while for the clinical instrument (PCL-R) the results were more mixed. For Factor 1 psychopathic traits (interpersonal and affective), we found positive associations with discrimination of neutral mental states, but not with the positive or negative mental states. Factor 2 traits (antisocial lifestyle) were found to be negatively associated with discrimination of mental states. The results from this study demonstrate a heterogeneity in the psychopathic construct where psychopathic traits related to an antisocial and impulsive lifestyle are associated with lower ability to recognize others' mental states, while interpersonal and affective psychopathic traits are associated with a somewhat enhanced ability to recognize others' emotional states.
Generation Mechanism of Nonlinear Rayleigh Surface Waves for Randomly Distributed Surface Micro-Cracks

This paper investigates the propagation of Rayleigh surface waves in structures with randomly distributed surface micro-cracks using numerical simulations. The results revealed a significant ultrasonic nonlinear effect caused by the surface micro-cracks, which is mainly represented by a second harmonic with even more distinct third/quadruple harmonics. Based on statistical analysis from the numerous results of random micro-crack models, it is clearly found that the acoustic nonlinear parameter increases linearly with micro-crack density, the proportion of surface cracks, the size of micro-crack zone, and the excitation frequency. This study theoretically reveals that nonlinear Rayleigh surface waves are feasible for use in quantitatively identifying the physical characteristics of surface micro-cracks in structures.
Behavior Based Manipulation: Theory and Prosecution Evidence

If investors are not fully rational, what can smart money do? This paper provides an example in which smart money can strategically take advantage of investors' behavioral biases and manipulate the price process to make profit. The paper considers three types of traders, behavior-driven investors who are less willing to sell losers than to sell winners (dispositional effect), arbitrageurs, and a manipulator who can influence asset prices. We show that, due to the investors' behavioral biases and the limit of arbitrage, the manipulator can profit from a "pump-and-dump" trading strategy by accumulating the speculative asset while pushing the asset price up, and then selling the asset at high prices. Since nobody has private information, manipulation here is completely trade-based. The paper also endogenously derives several asset-pricing anomalies, including excess volatility, momentum and reversal. As an empirical test, the paper presents some empirical evidence from the U.S. SEC prosecution of "pump-and-dump" manipulation cases that are consistent with our model.
Safety and Impact of Chlorhexidine Antisepsis Interventions for Improving Neonatal Health in Developing Countries

Affordable, efficacious, and safe interventions to prevent infections and improve neonatal survival in low-resource settings are needed. Chlorhexidine is a broad-spectrum antiseptic that has been used extensively for many decades in hospital and other clinical settings. It has also been given as maternal vaginal lavage, full-body newborn skin cleansing, and/or umbilical cord cleansing to prevent infection in neonates. Recent evidence suggests that these chlorhexidine interventions may have significant public health impact on the burden of neonatal infection and mortality in developing countries. This review examines the available data from randomized and nonrandomized studies of chlorhexidine cleansing, with a primary focus on potential uses in low-resource settings. Safety issues related to chlorhexidine use in newborns are reviewed, and future research priorities for chlorhexidine interventions for neonatal health in developing countries are discussed. We conclude that maternal vaginal cleansing combined with newborn skin cleansing could reduce neonatal infections and mortality in hospitals of sub-Saharan Africa, but the individual impact of these interventions must be determined, particularly in community settings. There is evidence for a protective benefit of newborn skin and umbilical cord cleansing with chlorhexidine in the community in south Asia. Effectiveness trials in that region are required to address the feasibility of community-based delivery methods such as incorporating these interventions into clean birth kits or training programs for minimally skilled delivery assistants or family members. Efficacy trials for all chlorhexidine interventions are needed in low-resource settings in Africa, and the benefit of maternal vaginal cleansing beyond that provided by newborn skin cleansing needs to be determined.