Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Meta-Analysis on the Efficacy of Tai Chi in Patients with Parkinson's Disease between 2008 and 2014

Objective. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence on the effect of Tai Chi for Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods. Six electronic databases up to June 2014 were searched. The methodological quality was assessed with PEDro scale. Standardised mean difference and 95% confidence intervals of random-effects model were calculated. Results. Nine studies were included in our review. The aggregated results are in favor of Tai Chi on improving motor function (P = 0.002) and balance (P < 0.00001) in patients with PD. However, there is no sufficient evidence to support or refute the value of Tai Chi on improving gait velocity (P = 0.11), stride length (P = 0.21), or quality of life (P = 0.40). And there is no valid evidence in follow-up effects of Tai Chi for PD. Conclusion. The current results suggest that Tai Chi can significantly improve the motor function and balance in patients with PD, but there is indeed not enough evidence to conclude that Tai Chi is effective for PD because of the small treatment effect, methodological flaws of eligible studies, and insufficient follow-up. Consequently, high-quality studies with long follow-up are warranted to confirm current beneficial findings.
FootStriker: An EMS-based Foot Strike Assistant for Running

In running, knee-related injuries are very common. The main cause are high impact forces when striking the ground with the heel first. Mid- or forefoot running is generally known to reduce impact loads and to be a more efficient running style. In this paper, we introduce a wearable running assistant, consisting of an electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) device and an insole with force sensing resistors. It detects heel striking and actuates the calf muscles during the flight phase to control the foot angle before landing. We conducted a user study, in which we compared the classical coaching approach using slow motion video analysis as a terminal feedback to our proposed real-time EMS feedback. The results show that EMS actuation significantly outperforms traditional coaching, i.e., a decreased average heel striking rate, when using the system. As an implication, EMS feedback can generally be beneficial for the motor learning of complex, repetitive movements.
Prevalence of overweight and obese children between 1989 and 1998: population based series of cross sectional studies

Abstract Objective: To determine trends in weight, height, and body mass index in children between 1989 and 1998. Design: Retrospective series of cross sectional studies of routinely collected data. Setting: Primary care in the Wirral Health Authority. Participants: 35 662 infants aged 1-3 months (representing 88% of live births) and 28 768 children aged 2.9-4.0 years. 21 582 infants and children (25.1%) were excluded because of missing or inaccurate data. Main outcome measures: Weight, height, sex, and age routinely recorded by health visitors. Height, weight, and body mass index standardised for age and sex. SD score >1.04 for body mass index (>85th centile) was defined as overweight and >1.64 (>95th centile) as obese. Body mass index was not calculated in infants as it is difficult to interpret. Results: From 1989 to 1998 there was a highly significant increasing trend in the proportion of overweight children (14.7% to 23.6%; P<0.001) and obese children (5.4% to 9.2%; P<0.001). There was also a highly significant increasing trend in the mean SD score for weight (0.05 to 0.29; P<0.001) and body mass index (−0.15 to 0.31; P<0.001) but not height. Infants showed a small but significantly increasing trend in mean SD score for weight (−0.17 to −0.05; P=0.005). Conclusions: From 1989 to 1998 there was a highly significant increase in weight and body mass index in children under 4 years of age. Routinely collected data are valuable in identifying anthropometric trends in populations.
Characterising game styles in the English Premier League using the “moments of play” framework

ABSTRACT The aim of the current study was to identify different playing styles within 2015–16 English Premier League season. Game-related variables were allocated to the “moments of play” framework, and multidimensional game styles were investigated using cluster analysis and related to finishing position. Totally, 96 game-related variables were allocated into one of five discrete “moments of play”; set pieces (SP), established offence (EO), transition to offence (TO), transition to defence (TD) and established defence (ED). Moments of play variables were z-score transformed. The game-specific mean z-score for the five moments was used as K-means cluster analysis inputs. Relationships between game style clusters and finishing position were investigated using chi-square analysis. Three game style clusters were identified: (1) moderately favouring ED and prevalent among lower-ranked teams (n = 270 games); (2) dominant in TO and TD (n = 241) and represented by the top team, (3) strong in EO and SP and characterised by higher ranked teams (games n = 249). Success for the top-ranked team was associated with the dominance in transition moments. Higher ranked teams demonstrate control of EO and SP, whereas lower ranked teams clustered for poor performance in all moments except ED. Game style varies across teams, however, it also aggregates relative to finishing position.
Role of environmental interaction in interdisciplinary thinking: from knowledge resources perspectives

Abstract This article examined the role of environmental interaction in interdisciplinary thinking and the use of different knowledge resource types. The case study was conducted with two classes (N = 40) of 8th-grade students, ages 13 to 14. The outdoor trail aimed to help students synthesize history, geography, and science knowledge. Two groups’ discourse from each class was audio-recorded and transcribed for content analysis. We coded the discourse to examine: (i) the use of different knowledge resource types (i.e., contextual resource, new conceptual resource, prior knowledge resource); (ii) the relationship among these knowledge resource types; and (iii) evidences of interdisciplinary thinking. Findings showed that contextual resources enhanced students’ capacity to develop new conceptual resources and to activate prior knowledge resources. Further, about 80% of students’ discourse demonstrated interdisciplinary connections of two subjects.
Role of Peripheral Vascular Resistance for the Association Between Major Depression and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract: Major depression and cardiovascular diseases are 2 of the most prevalent health problems in Western society, and an association between them is generally accepted. Although the specific mechanism behind this comorbidity remains to be elucidated, it is clear that it has a complex multifactorial character including a number of neuronal, humoral, immune, and circulatory pathways. Depression-associated cardiovascular abnormalities associate with cardiac dysfunctions and with changes in peripheral resistance. Although cardiac dysfunction in association with depression has been studied in detail, little attention was given to structural and functional changes in resistance arteries responsible for blood pressure control and tissue perfusion. This review discusses recent achievements in studies of depression-associated abnormalities in resistance arteries in humans and animal experimental models. The changes in arterial structure, contractile and relaxing functions associated with depression symptoms are discussed, and the role of these abnormalities for the pathology of major depression and cardiovascular diseases are suggested.
ON GENERALIZED KÄHLER-RICCI SOLITONS

By definition, Kahler‐Ricci solitons are defined on Fano mani folds. In this note, we shall generalize the notion of Kahler‐Ricci solitons to the case of general polarized manifolds from the view point of K-energy, which are called “generalized Kahler‐Ricci solitons”. Moreover, “generalized Kahler‐Ricci solitons” are also one of generalizations of constant scalar curvature Kahler metrics. Furthermore, we shall give a non-trivial example of a “generalized Kahler‐Ricci soliton”.
Predicting posttraumatic stress symptoms from pretraumatic risk factors: a 2-year prospective follow-up study in firefighters.

OBJECTIVE Most studies focusing on risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have used retrospective study designs. Only a small number of studies have prospectively examined risk factors in the immediate aftermath of trauma exposure in predicting PTSD symptoms. The purpose of this study was to identify predictive risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptoms and comorbid psychopathological symptoms present during the time before exposure to traumatic stress in a high-risk population. METHOD Forty-three professional firefighters were assessed immediately after basic training (baseline) and at 6, 9, 12, and 24 months after entry into firefighter service. Subjects were screened for psychopathological symptoms, including symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Subjects were also characterized with regard to personality traits such as self-efficacy, hostility, and alexithymia. Neuroendocrine activity was assessed by examination of awakening and diurnal salivary cortisol profiles and 24-hour urinary catecholamine excretion. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze posttraumatic stress symptoms at 24-month follow-up as a function of pretraumatic characteristics. RESULTS A high level of hostility and a low level of self-efficacy at baseline accounted for 42% of the variance in posttraumatic stress symptoms after 2 years. Subjects who had both risk factors at baseline showed a significant increase in measures of PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, general psychological morbidity, global symptom severity, and alexithymia during the 2-year period. Biological characteristics were not predictive of the development of psychopathological symptoms. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that specific personality traits may constitute markers of vulnerability to the development of psychopathological symptoms after trauma exposure. Early identification of preexisting risk factors is needed to provide effective prevention and intervention for individuals who are at risk of developing trauma-related disorders.
Educators’ Target Language Varieties for Language Learners: Orientation Toward ‘Native’ and ‘Nonnative’ Norms in a Minority Language Context

Target varieties for language learning are contentious in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. Debates centre on the nature and utility of alternative norms. Approximation to 'native speaker' practices is the hallmark of language education. Thus, policy and pedagogy frequently orient toward achieving native‐like production. While many language learning stakeholders are committed to this model, it is also contested. Opponents point to the ideological assumptions about 'native' and 'nonnative' speech inherent in the model, and to the unrealistic aims it presents to teachers and learners. While much research focuses on learner preferences, little work exists on teacher attitudes. This article aims to address this dearth in the target variety debate. By focusing on Irish as a minority language, the article supplements the literature on classroom targets for English and other major languages. A thematic analysis of interviews with Irish language pedagogues is presented and reveals their engagement with target varieties for the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Mining the Most Interesting Web Access Associations

Web access patterns can provide valuable information for website designers in making website-based communication more efficient. To extract interesting or useful web access patterns, we use data mining techniques which analyze historical web access logs. In this paper, we present an efficient approach to mine the most interesting web access associations, where the word "interesting" denotes patterns that are supported by a high fraction of access activities with strong confidence. Our approach consists of three steps: 1) transform raw web logs to a relational table; 2) convert the relational table to a collection of access transactions; 3) mine the transaction collection to extract associations and rules. In both step 1 and step 2, we provide users with an effective mechanism to help them generate only "interesting" access records and transactions for mining. In the third step, we present a new efficient data mining algorithm to find the most interesting web access associations. We evaluate this approach using both synthetic data sets and real web logs and show the efficacy, efficiency and good scalability of the proposed mining methods.
Principled Graph Matching Algorithms for Integrating Multiple Data Sources

This paper explores combinatorial optimization for problems of max-weight graph matching on multi-partite graphs, which arise in integrating multiple data sources. In the most common two-source case, it is often desirable for the final matching to be one-to-one; the database and statistical record linkage communities accomplish this by weighted bipartite graph matching on similarity scores. Such matchings are intuitively appealing: they leverage a natural global property of many real-world entity stores-that of being nearly deduped-and are known to provide significant improvements to precision and recall. Unfortunately, unlike the bipartite case, exact max-weight matching on multi-partite graphs is known to be NP-hard. Our two-fold algorithmic contributions approximate multi-partite max-weight matching: our first algorithm borrows optimization techniques common to Bayesian probabilistic inference; our second is a greedy approximation algorithm. In addition to a theoretical guarantee on the latter, we present comparisons on a real-world entity resolution problem from Bing significantly larger than typically found in the literature, on publication data, and on a series of synthetic problems. Our results quantify significant improvements due to exploiting multiple sources, which are made possible by global one-to-one constraints linking otherwise independent matching sub-problems. We also discover that our algorithms are complementary: one being much more robust under noise, and the other being simple to implement and very fast to run.
Rat myr 4 defines a novel subclass of myosin I: identification, distribution, localization, and mapping of calmodulin-binding sites with differential calcium sensitivity

We report the identification and characterization of myr 4 (myosin from rat), the first mammalian myosin I that is not closely related to brush border myosin I. Myr 4 contains a myosin head (motor) domain, a regulatory domain with light chain binding sites and a tail domain. Sequence analysis of myosin I head (motor) domains suggested that myr 4 defines a novel subclass of myosin I's. This subclass is clearly different from the vertebrate brush border myosin I subclass (which includes myr 1) and the myosin I subclass(es) identified from Acanthamoeba castellanii and Dictyostelium discoideum. In accordance with this notion, a detailed sequence analysis of all myosin I tail domains revealed that the myr 4 tail is unique, except for a newly identified myosin I tail homology motif detected in all myosin I tail sequences. The Ca(2+)-binding protein calmodulin was demonstrated to be associated with myr 4. Calmodulin binding activity of myr 4 was mapped by gel overlay assays to the two consecutive light chain binding motifs (IQ motifs) present in the regulatory domain. These two binding sites differed in their Ca2+ requirements for optimal calmodulin binding. The NH2-terminal IQ motif bound calmodulin in the absence of free Ca2+, whereas the COOH-terminal IQ motif bound calmodulin in the presence of free Ca2+. A further Ca(2+)-dependent calmodulin binding site was mapped to amino acids 776-874 in the myr 4 tail domain. These results demonstrate a differential Ca2+ sensitivity for calmodulin binding by IQ motifs, and they suggest that myr 4 activity might be regulated by Ca2+/calmodulin. Myr 4 was demonstrated to be expressed in many cell lines and rat tissues with the highest level of expression in adult brain tissue. Its expression was developmentally regulated during rat brain ontogeny, rising 2-3 wk postnatally, and being maximal in adult brain. Immunofluorescence localization demonstrated that myr 4 is expressed in subpopulations of neurons. In these neurons, prominent punctate staining was detected in cell bodies and apical dendrites. A punctate staining that did not obviously colocalize with the bulk of F- actin was also observed in C6 rat glioma cells. The observed punctate staining for myr 4 is reminiscent of a membranous localization.
The case for primate V3

The visual system in primates is represented by a remarkably large expanse of the cerebral cortex. While more precise investigative studies that can be performed in non-human primates contribute towards understanding the organization of the human brain, there are several issues of visual cortex organization in monkey species that remain unresolved. In all, more than 20 areas comprise the primate visual cortex, yet there is little agreement as to the exact number, size and visual field representation of all but three. A case in point is the third visual area, V3. It is found relatively early in the visual system hierarchy, yet over the last 40 years its organization and even its very existence have been a matter of debate among prominent neuroscientists. In this review, we discuss a large body of recent work that provides straightforward evidence for the existence of V3. In light of this, we then re-examine results from several seminal reports and provide parsimonious re-interpretations in favour of V3. We conclude with analysis of human and monkey functional magnetic resonance imaging literature to make the case that a complete V3 is an organizational feature of all primate species and may play a greater role in the dorsal stream of visual processing.
Adrenomedullin concentrations at two time points following myocardial infarction and prediction of mid-term outcomes

Introduction Adrenomedullin (ADM) is a vasopeptide with multiple actions in the cardiovascular system and a potentially powerful tool in comparison to some of the well-established unimodal biomarkers of risk stratification in myocardial infarction (MI). Previous studies on ADM in acute MI were based on single assessment. Therefore the aim of the study was to examine the relation between ADM plasma concentrations assessed at different time points following MI and outcomes. Material and methods The study included 127 patients with acute MI treated with percutaneous coronary intervention and 60 healthy individuals as controls. Adrenomedullin concentration was assessed at baseline in all study subjects and 48 h after admission in patients with MI. The primary endpoint consisted of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke and the need of target vessel revascularization at 6-month follow-up. Results Mean ADM plasma concentration on admission was higher in patients with MI than in controls (30.3 ±14.3 pmol/l vs. 14.6 ±4.7 pmol/l, p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between ADM concentration after 48 h (30.6 ±12.3 pmol/l) and on admission. The primary endpoint occurred in 9.4% of patients with MI. Multivariable analysis showed that ADM concentration at 48 h after admission (OR = 2.121, 95% CI 1.180-3.810 for every increase of 10 pmol/l, p = 0.012) was the only independent predictor of the primary endpoint. Conclusions In patients with acute MI adrenomedullin plasma concentration assessed at 48 h after admission, but not ADM concentration at baseline, is an independent predictor of major adverse cardiovascular events at mid-term follow-up.
Can Factor Scores be Used Instead of Total Score and Ability Estimation?

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether factor scores can be used instead of ability estimation and total score. For this purpose, the relationships among total score, ability estimation, and factor scores were investigated. In the research, Turkish subtest data from the Transition from Primary to Secondary Education (TEOG) exam applied in April 2014 were used. Total scores in this study were calculated from the total number of correct answers given by individuals to each item. Ability estimations were obtained from a three-parameter logistic model chosen from among item response theory (IRT) models. The Bartlett method was used for factor score estimation. Thus, the ability estimation, sum, and factor scores of each individual were obtained. When the relationship between these variables was investigated, it was observed that there was a high-level, positive, and statistically significant relationship. In the result section of this study, as variables have a high-level relationship, it was suggested that since variables could be used interchangeably, factor scores should be used. Although the total scores of individuals were equal, there were differences in terms of factor score and ability estimations. Therefore, it was suggested that item response theory assumptions were not met, or factor scores should be used when the sample size is small.
Expression of DNA Methyltransferases in Breast Cancer Patients and to Analyze the Effect of Natural Compounds on DNA Methyltransferases and Associated Proteins

Purpose The DNA methylation mediated by specific DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), results in the epigenetic silencing of multiple genes which are implicated in human breast cancer. We hypothesized that the natural compounds modulate the expression of DNMTs and their associated proteins in the breast cancer cell lines and affect the methylation mediated gene silencing. Methods The DNMTs transcript expression was analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the tumors and the adjacent normal breast tissues of the patients with invasive ductal breast carcinoma. We tested the hypothesis that the natural compounds, viz., epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), genistein, withaferin A, curcumin, resveratrol, and guggulsterone, have demethylation potential. To investigate this hypothesis, we analyzed the DNMTs expression at the transcript levels, followed by the analysis of DNMT1 and its associated proteins (HDAC1, MeCP2, and MBD2). Results The increased DNMTs transcripts expression, viz., DNMT1, DNMT3a, and DNMT3b, in the breast cancer tissues suggest involvement of the DNMTs in the breast carcinogenesis. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the treatment with natural compounds, viz., EGCG, genistein, withaferin A, curcumin, resveratrol, and guggulsterone, resulted in a significant decrease in the transcript levels of all the DNMTs investigated. Importantly, these natural compounds decreased the protein levels of DNMT1, HDAC1, and MeCP2. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that the natural compounds, EGCG, genistein, withaferin A, curcumin, resveratrol, and guggulsterone, have the potential to reverse the epigenetic changes. Moreover, their lack of toxicity makes these natural compounds promising candidates for the chemoprevention of the breast cancer. In-depth future mechanistic studies aimed to elucidate how these compounds affect the gene transcription are warranted.