Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The mediating role of appraisal and coping in the relationship between optimism‐pessimism and quality of life

Longitudinal data from 165 women diagnosed and treated for breast cancer were used to investigate if the relationship between optimism–pessimism and quality of life (QOL) is attributed to the appraisal and coping strategies. The women completed the Life Orientation Test‐Revised (LOT‐R), as a measurement of optimism–pessimism, the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) Scale, as a measure for coping, a VAS for appraisal and the EORTC QLQ‐C30, as a measure for QOL at two time points: at diagnosis and 12‐months after breast cancer surgery. Optimism–pessimism had both a direct and indirect influence on QOL. Two coping strategies were particularly strong mediators for the indirect influence: fighting spirit and hopeless/helpless. Optimists responded with fighting spirit, which had a positive effect on their QOL. On the other hand, pessimists responded with hopeless/helplessness, which had a negative effect on their QOL. The relationship between pessimism and QOL at time of diagnosis was also mediated by appraisal, such as threat. The two coping strategies remained fairly stable over the 12 months within the optimists and pessimists.
Structure-Based Design of Novel Dihydroalkoxybenzyloxopyrimidine Derivatives as Potent Nonnucleoside Inhibitors of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Reverse Transcriptase

ABSTRACT Two highly potent dihydroalkoxybenzyloxopyrimidine (DABO) derivatives targeting the nonnucleoside inhibitor (NNI) binding site of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase (RT) have been designed based on the structure of the NNI binding pocket and tested for anti-HIV activity. Our lead DABO derivative, 5-isopropyl-2-[(methylthiomethyl)thio]-6-(benzyl)-pyrimidin-4-(1H)-one, elicited potent inhibitory activity against purified recombinant HIV RT and abrogated HIV replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells at nanomolar concentrations (50% inhibitory concentration, <1 nM) but showed no detectable cytotoxicity at concentrations as high as 100 μM.
Genome Wide Binding Site Analysis Reveals Transcriptional Coactivation of Cytokinin-Responsive Genes by DELLA Proteins

The ability of plants to provide a plastic response to environmental cues relies on the connectivity between signaling pathways. DELLA proteins act as hubs that relay environmental information to the multiple transcriptional circuits that control growth and development through physical interaction with transcription factors from different families. We have analyzed the presence of one DELLA protein at the Arabidopsis genome by chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to large-scale sequencing and we find that it binds at the promoters of multiple genes. Enrichment analysis shows a strong preference for cis elements recognized by specific transcription factor families. In particular, we demonstrate that DELLA proteins are recruited by type-B ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATORS (ARR) to the promoters of cytokinin-regulated genes, where they act as transcriptional co-activators. The biological relevance of this mechanism is underpinned by the necessity of simultaneous presence of DELLAs and ARRs to restrict root meristem growth and to promote photomorphogenesis.
Techniques of Male Circumcision

Male circumcision is a controversial subject in surgical practice. There are, however, clear surgical indications of this procedure. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends newborn male circumcision for its preventive and public health benefits that has been shown to outweigh the risks of newborn male circumcision. Many surgical techniques have been reported. The present review discusses some of these techniques with their merits and drawbacks. This is an attempt to inform the reader on surgical aspects of male circumcision aiding in making appropriate choice of a technique to offer patients. Pubmed search was done with the keywords: Circumcision, technique, complications, and history. Relevant articles on techniques of circumcision were selected for the review. Various methods of circumcision including several devices are in use for male circumcision. These methods can be grouped into three: Shield and clamp, dorsal slit, and excision. The device methods appear favored in the pediatric circumcision while the risk of complications increases with increasing age of the patient at surgery.
Hypothesis Testing For Densities and High-Dimensional Multinomials: Sharp Local Minimax Rates

We consider the goodness-of-fit testing problem of distinguishing whether the data are drawn from a specified distribution, versus a composite alternative separated from the null in the total variation metric. In the discrete case, we consider goodness-of-fit testing when the null distribution has a possibly growing or unbounded number of categories. In the continuous case, we consider testing a Lipschitz density, with possibly unbounded support, in the low-smoothness regime where the Lipschitz parameter is not assumed to be constant. In contrast to existing results, we show that the minimax rate and critical testing radius in these settings depend strongly, and in a precise way, on the null distribution being tested and this motivates the study of the (local) minimax rate as a function of the null distribution. For multinomials the local minimax rate was recently studied in the work of Valiant and Valiant. We re-visit and extend their results and develop two modifications to the chi-squared test whose performance we characterize. For testing Lipschitz densities, we show that the usual binning tests are inadequate in the low-smoothness regime and we design a spatially adaptive partitioning scheme that forms the basis for our locally minimax optimal tests. Furthermore, we provide the first local minimax lower bounds for this problem which yield a sharp characterization of the dependence of the critical radius on the null hypothesis being tested. In the low-smoothness regime we also provide adaptive tests, that adapt to the unknown smoothness parameter. We illustrate our results with a variety of simulations that demonstrate the practical utility of our proposed tests.
Posttranslational Modifications, Localization, and Protein Interactions of Optineurin, the Product of a Glaucoma Gene

Background Glaucoma is a major blinding disease. The most common form of this disease, primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), is genetically heterogeneous. One of the candidate genes, optineurin, is linked principally to normal tension glaucoma, a subtype of POAG. The present study was undertaken to illustrate the basic characteristics of optineurin. Methodology/Principal Findings Lysates from rat retinal ganglion RGC5 cells were subjected to N- or O-deglycosylation or membrane protein extraction. The phosphorylation status was evaluated after immunoprecipitation. It was found that while phosphorylated, optineurin was neither N- nor O-glycosylated, and was by itself not a membrane protein. RGC5 and human retinal pigment epithelial cells were double stained with anti-optineurin and anti-GM130. The endogenous optineurin exhibited a diffuse, cytoplasmic distribution, but a population of the protein was associated with the Golgi apparatus. Turnover experiments showed that the endogenous optineurin was relatively short-lived, with a half-life of approximately 8 hours. Native blue gel electrophoresis revealed that the endogenous optineurin formed homohexamers. Optineurin also interacted with molecules including Rab8, myosin VI, and transferrin receptor to assemble into supermolecular complexes. When overexpressed, optineurin–green fluorescence protein (GFP) fusion protein formed punctate structures termed “foci” in the perinuclear region. Treatment of nocadazole resulted in dispersion of the optineurin foci. In addition, tetracycline-regulated optineurin-GFPs expressing RGC5 stable cell lines were established for the first time. Conclusions/Significance The present study provides new information regarding basic characteristics of optineurin that are important for future efforts in defining precisely how optineurin functions normally and how mutations may result in pathology. The inducible optineurin-GFP–expressing cell lines are also anticipated to facilitate in-depth studies of optineurin. Furthermore, the demonstrations that optineurin is an aggregation-prone protein and that the foci formation is microtubule-dependent bear similarities to features documented in neurodegenerative diseases, supporting a neurodegenerative paradigm for glaucoma.
A subchronic (180-day) oral toxicity study of ethyl tertiary-butyl ether, a bioethanol, in rats

Abstract A subchronic (180-day) toxicity study was conducted to evaluate the effects of ethyl tertiary-butyl ether (ETBE), a biomass fuel, in male and female rats. ETBE was administered at dose levels of 0, 5, 25, 100 and 400 mg/kg/body weight (b.w.)/day by gavage. No treatment-related adverse effects were observed at 5, 25 or 100 mg/kg. Centrilobular hypertrophy of hepatocytes was observed in males and females and their relative liver weights were increased, suggesting enhanced metabolic activity. From these results, we concluded that the no observed adverse effect level of ETBE was 100 mg/kg b.w. /day under the conditions tested.
The enigma of spontaneous preterm birth.

The world's preterm birth rate continues to increase. In 2006, preterm births accounted for 12.8% of live births in the United States. Only about half the cases of prematurity result from identifiable causes. This review discusses the challenge of understanding the causes of premature birth and finding ways to prevent it.
Synthesis, Growth, and Characterization of Bisglycine Hydrobromide Single Crystal

Single crystals of BGHB were grown by slow evaporation technique. The unit cell dimensions and space group of the grown crystals were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The modes of vibration of the molecules and the presence of functional groups were identified using FTIR technique. The microhardness study shows that the Vickers hardness number of the crystal increases with the increase in applied load. The optical properties of the crystals were determined using UV-Visible spectroscopy. The thermal properties of the grown crystal were also determined. The refractive index was determined as 1.396 using Brewster’s angle method. The emission of green light on passing the Nd: YAG laser light confirmed the second harmonic generation property of the crystals and the SHG efficiency of the crystals was found to be higher than that of KDP. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss measurements were carried out for different temperatures and frequencies. The ac conductivity study of the crystals was also discussed. The photoconductivity studies confirm that the grown crystal has negative photoconductivity nature. The etching studies were carried out to study the formation of etch pits.
Primary somatosensory cortex in chronic low back pain – a 1H-MRS study

The goal of this study was to investigate whether certain metabolites, specific to neurons, glial cells, and the neuronal-glial neurotransmission system, in the primary somatosensory cortex (SSC), are altered and correlated with clinical characteristics of pain in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP). Eleven LBP patients and eleven age-matched healthy controls were included. N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), myo-inositol (mI), and glutamine/glutamate (Glx) were measured with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in left and right SSC. Differences in metabolite concentrations relative to those of controls were evaluated as well as analyses of metabolite correlations within and between SSCs. Relationships between metabolite concentrations and pain characteristics were also evaluated. We found decreased NAA in the left SSC (P = 0.001) and decreased Cho (P = 0.04) along with lower correlations between all metabolites in right SSC (P = 0.007) in LBP compared to controls. In addition, we found higher and significant correlations between left and right mI (P < 0.001 in LBP vs P = 0.1 in controls) and between left mI and right Cho (P = 0.048 vs P = 0.6). Left and right NAA levels were negatively correlated with pain duration (P = 0.04 and P = 0.02 respectively) while right Glx was positively correlated with pain severity (P = 0.04). Our preliminary results demonstrated significant altered neuronal-glial interactions in SSC, with left neural alterations related to pain duration and right neuronal-glial alterations to pain severity. Thus, the 1H-MRS approach proposed here can be used to quantify relevant cerebral metabolite changes in chronic pain, and consequently increase our knowledge of the factors leading from these changes to clinical outcomes.
Detection of BRAF mutations in patients with hairy cell leukemia and related lymphoproliferative disorders

Hairy cell leukemia has been shown to be strongly associated with the BRAF V600E mutation. We screened 59 unenriched archived bone marrow aspirate and peripheral blood samples from 51 patients with hairy cell leukemia using high resolution melting analysis and confirmatory Sanger sequencing. The BRAF V600E mutation was detected in 38 samples (from 36 patients). The BRAF V600E mutation was detected in all samples with disease involvement above the limit of sensitivity of the techniques used. Thirty-three of 34 samples from other hematologic malignancies were negative for BRAF mutations. A BRAF K601E mutation was detected in a patient with splenic marginal zone lymphoma. Our data support the recent finding of a disease defining point mutation in hairy cell leukemia. Furthermore, high resolution melting with confirmatory Sanger sequencing are useful methods that can be employed in routine diagnostic laboratories to detect BRAF mutations in patients with hairy cell leukemia and related lymphoproliferative disorders.
Trunk Tissue Creep Can Increase Spine Forces During a Subsequent Lifting Task

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS Results from the current study show evidence of an adverse effect of prolonged trunk flexion on spine loads during consecutive lifting tasks. The time-dependent methodology introduced here can enhance task assessment based on the duration of flexion exposures. More generally, results demonstrate the importance of considering prior trunk exposures when assessing risk factors for lifting tasks. The proposed solution incorporates “time” as an independent variable, in addition to lifting weight and posture, to better assess spinal loads and maximum lifting capacity based on prior loadings. The current results also suggest that existing ergonomic guidelines or biomechanical models that do not incorporate the viscoelasticity of soft tissues or time-dependent neuromuscular alterations may underestimate spine forces and potential injury risk in some circumstances. To account for this, especially when assessing spine forces during lifting after exposure to prolonged flexion, additional safety margins should be considered. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Background: Prolonged trunk flexion decreases soft tissue stiffness due to viscoelastic deformations and can also lead to altered kinematics when performing a subsequent lifting task. Yet, it remains to be determined if or how these changes and alterations might increase spine forces. Purpose: A previously developed viscoelastic model was used, along with experimental data, to predict changes in peak spine forces during a lifting task performed following a prolonged flexion exposure (creep). Methods: Model inputs were obtained from an experiment using ten participants, within which lifting kinematics and muscle activity were measured both before and after creep exposure. Two sets of simulations were performed; one in which kinematics were assumed to be unchanged by creep exposure and the other incorporating measured changes in kinematics following exposure. Results: Post-exposure changes in lifting kinematics involved a reduction in the peak relative sagittal-plane flexion of superior lumbar motion segments and an increase in these flexion among inferior lumbar motion segments. Creep exposure caused increases in predicted peak spine forces during lifting at all levels of the lumbar spine (65–241 N). A substantial portion (∼51%) of this increase was estimated to be the result of muscular compensations for reduced passive tissue stiffness. Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that both changes in lifting kinematics and viscoelastic deformations resulting from creep exposures can lead to increased trunk muscle forces and spine forces during a lifting task. This evidence suggests a potential mechanical basis for previous epidemiological evidence that indicates an increased risk of low back disorders for jobs involving both trunk flexion and lifting.
Deadlock avoidance for manufacturing systems with partially ordered process plans

Deadlock avoidance policies guarantee deadlock-free resource allocation to concurrent competing processes in flexible manufacturing systems. Most deadlock avoidance work in manufacturing deals with systems where each part requires a fired sequence of operations. In contrast, this paper deals with those systems that support sequencing flexibility, that is, the operations required by the part are partially ordered. In this setting, the order in which operations are performed is not predetermined, but becomes a real-time decision. Specifically, the paper characterizes the deadlock detection and avoidance problems for these systems, presents a sub-optimal deadlock avoidance approach, and addresses two relevant special structures on the partial orders for which optimal deadlock avoidance is of polynomial complexity.
On the Rendezvous Problem for Multiple Nonholonomic Agents

In this note, a decentralized feedback control strategy that drives a system of multiple nonholonomic unicycles to a rendezvous point in terms of both position and orientation is introduced. The proposed nonholonomic control law is discontinuous and time-invariant and using tools from nonsmooth Lyapunov theory and graph theory the stability of the overall system is examined. Similarly to the linear case, the convergence of the multi-agent system relies on the connectivity of the communication graph that represents the inter-agent communication topology. The control law is first defined in order to guarantee connectivity maintenance for an initially connected communication graph. Moreover, the cases of static and dynamic communication topologies are treated as corollaries of the proposed framework
Process parameters control in water jet peening

Recent researches propose the use of Water Jet technology for peening metallic components. Compared with traditional shot peening (SP), water jet peening (WJP) process presents the main advantage of a negligible influence on surface roughness and topography. Nevertheless, the transition from residual stress generation to the beginning of an erosion phenomenon is deeply influenced by an accurate selection of process parameters. Since by now parameter selection is performed by experimental trials, the paper focuses on the analysis of two main parameters the pressure and the traverse rate of the waterjet. The effect of these parameters on residual stress, roughness and erosion is investigated and empirical relationships which can explain these effects are presented.
The Evolution of Interfacial Strength as a Way to Characterize a Low-Temperature Limit of the Surface Glass Transition of an Amorphous Polymer

The evolution of autoadhesive strength, σ, with healing temperature, T h, at the symmetric amorphous polystyrene (PS)−PS interfaces of the samples with vitrified bulk has been used to characterize a low-temperature limit of the surface glass transition temperature T g surface(low). The existence of a linear relationship between the square root of σ and T h has been found for both polydisperse and monodisperse polymers. By the extrapolation of straight lines σ 1/2 − T h to σ 1/2 = 0, the values of T g surface(low) have been determined and compared with those of a high-temperature limit of T g surface, T g surface(high), measured earlier. The differences between T g surface(low) and T g surface(high) have been found to be insignificant, 10–20°C. Using an average value of the shift of T g surface(low) with healing time, t h, the quasi-equilibrium value of the surface glass transition temperature of amorphous PS T ∞ surface has been estimated to be 10–15°C.
Elastohydrodynamic lubrication of elliptical contacts

The determination of the minimum film thickness within contact is considered for both fully flooded and starved conditions. A fully flooded conjunction is one in which the film thickness is not significantly changed when the amount of lubricant is increased. The fully flooded results presented show the influence of contact geometry on minimum film thickness as expressed by the ellipticity parameter and the dimensionless speed, load, and materials parameters. These results are applied to materials of high elastic modulus (hard EHL), such as metal, and to materials of low elastic modulus(soft EHL), such as rubber. In addition to the film thickness equations that are developed, contour plots of pressure and film thickness are given which show the essential features of elastohydrodynamically lubricated conjunctions. The crescent shaped region of minimum film thickness, with its side lobes in which the separation between the solids is a minimum, clearly emerges in the numerical solutions. In addition to the 3 presented for the fully flooded results, 15 more cases are used for hard EHL contacts and 18 cases are used for soft EHL contacts in a theoretical study of the influence of lubricant starvation on film thickness and pressure. From the starved results for both hard and soft EHL contacts, a simple and important dimensionless inlet boundary distance is specified. This inlet boundary distance defines whether a fully flooded or a starved condition exists in the contact. Contour plots of pressure and film thickness in and around the contact are shown for conditions.
Targeting cell cycle kinases and kinesins in anticancer drug development

The cell cycle is regulated by kinases such as the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and non-CDKs, which include Aurora and polo-like kinases, as well as checkpoint proteins. Mitotic kinesins are involved in the establishment of the mitotic spindle formation and function, and also play a role in cell cycle control. The disruption of the cell cycle is a hallmark of malignancy. Genetic or epigenetic events result in the upregulation of these kinases and mitotic kinesins in a myriad of tumour types, suggesting that their inhibition could result in preferential targeting of malignant cells. Such findings make the development of these inhibitors a rational and attractive new area for cancer therapeutics. Although challenges of potency and non-specificity have hampered their progress through the clinic, several novel compounds are presently in various phases of clinical trial evaluation.
Gender differences in implicit weight identity.

OBJECTIVE This study examined gender differences in explicit and implicit attitudes toward overweight and explicit and implicit weight identity. METHOD Normal weight women (n=22) and men (n=20) and overweight women (n=20) and men (n=21) completed the Implicit Association Test and portions of the Eating Disorders Questionnaire. RESULTS Although explicit and implicit anti-fat attitudes were ubiquitous, gender differences emerged for weight identity. Both men and women provided accurate explicit appraisals of their weight status. However, men implicitly identified themselves as light regardless of actual weight status. Women's implicit weight identity was associated with their actual weight status, explicit weight appraisal, and implicit self-esteem. DISCUSSION These findings may provide additional insight into why men are underrepresented among those seeking weight loss and why women are at increased risk for developing eating disorders.