Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Six-Month Outcome in Bipolar Spectrum Alcoholics Treated with Acamprosate after Detoxification: A Retrospective Study

Background: Glutamate system is modified by ethanol and contributes both to the euphoric and the dysphoric consequences of intoxication, but there is now growing evidence that the glutamatergic system also plays a central role in the neurobiology and treatment of mood disorders, including major depressive disorders and bipolar disorders. We speculate that, using acamprosate, patients with bipolar depression (BIP-A) can take advantage of the anti-glutamate effect of acamprosate to “survive” in treatment longer than peers suffering from non-bipolar depression (NBIP-A) after detoxification. Method: We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of a long-term (six-month) acamprosate treatment, after alcohol detoxification, in 41 patients (19 males and 22 females), who could be classified as depressed alcoholics, while taking into account the presence/absence of bipolarity. Results: During the period of observation most NBIP-A patients relapsed, whereas a majority of BIP-A patients were still in treatment at the end of their period of observation. The cumulative proportion of ‘surviving’ patients was significantly higher in BIP-A patients, but this finding was not related to gender or to other demographic or clinically investigated characteristics. The treatment time effect was significant in both subgroups. The treatment time-group effect was significant (and significantly better) for bipolar patients on account of changes in the severity of their illness. Limitations: Retrospective methodology and the lack of DSM criteria in diagnosing bipolarity. Conclusions: Bipolarity seems to be correlated with the efficacy of acamprosate treatment in inducing patients to refrain from alcohol use after detoxification (while avoiding relapses) in depressed alcoholics. Placebo-controlled clinical trials are now warranted to check the validity of this hypothesis.
Quercetin Ameliorates Diabetic Nephropathy by Reducing the Expressions of Transforming Growth Factor-β1 and Connective Tissue Growth Factor in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the main causes of end-stage renal disease. Many studies have indicated that transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were involved in the pathophysiological mechanisms of DN. In addition, quercetin has been suggested to attenuate DN. In this study, we aim to examine whether quercetin ameliorates renal function through an effect on the expressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced in Sprague–Dawley rats with a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ. The diabetic rats were then randomized to diabetic group and quercetin therapy group. At the end of the 12th week, blood glucose, body weight, kidney weight/body weight, urine albumin excretion (UAE), serum creatinine (sCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine clearance (Ccr) were measured. The expressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF in the kidneys were determined using real-time PCR and Western blot method. Diabetic rats showed significant increases in blood glucose, kidney weight/body weight, UAE, sCr, BUN, and Ccr than control group. Treatment with quercetin improved these parameters except blood glucose. Compared with the control group, the expressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF were elevated in the diabetic group. The overexpressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF in the renal tissues of diabetic rats were attenuated by administration of quercetin. Our results suggest that quercetin improved renal function in rats with DN by inhibiting the overexpressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF in the kidney.
Biaxial Fracture Behaviour of Steel-Span and Steel-Fibre- Reinforced Concrete

The wedge splitting method according Tschegg has been used to determine the fracture-mechanical values for cubes (e.g. 150 × 150 × 150 mm3) under uniaxial (tension) and biaxial (compression + orthogonal tension) loading. The steel-fibre-reinforced concrete had fibre lengths of 15 to 60 mm and a volume content of 0.5 to 1%. The fracture behaviour and the influence of the fibre length and the fibre content on the fracture parameters can be explained qualitatively using a very simple model. Finally, some aspects relating to the biaxial fracture testing in steel-fibre-reinforced concrete which are of interest to engineers are discussed.
Total Variation on a Tree

We consider the problem of minimizing the continuous valued total variation subject to different unary terms on trees and propose fast direct algorithms based on dynamic programming to solve these problems. We treat both the convex and the nonconvex case and derive worst-case complexities that are equal to or better than existing methods. We show applications to total variation based two dimensional image processing and computer vision problems based on a Lagrangian decomposition approach. The resulting algorithms are very efficient, offer a high degree of parallelism, and come along with memory requirements which are only in the order of the number of image pixels.
Choice alters Drosophila oviposition site preference on menthol

Summary Food choice and preference relies on multiple sensory systems that are under the control of genes and sensory experience. Exposure to specific nutrients and nutrient-related molecules can change food preference in vertebrates and invertebrates. For example, larval exposure of several holometabolous insects to menthol can change their adult response to this molecule. However, studies involving Drosophila melanogaster exposure to menthol produced controversial results due maybe to methodological differences. Here, we compared the oviposition-site preference of wild-type D. melanogaster lines freely or forcibly exposed to menthol-rich food. After 12 generations, oviposition-site preference diverged between the two lines. Counterintuitively, menthol ‘forced’ lines showed a persistent aversion to menthol whereas ‘free choice’ lines exhibited a decreased aversion to menthol-rich food. This effect was specific to menthol since the ‘free choice’ lines showed unaltered responses to caffeine and sucrose. This suggests that the genetic factors underlying Drosophila oviposition site preference are more rapidly influenced when flies have a choice between alternative sources compared to flies permanently exposed to the same aversive substance.
Loss of Bmal1 leads to uncoupling and impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in β-cells

The circadian clock has been shown to regulate metabolic homeostasis. Mice with a deletion of Bmal1, a key component of the core molecular clock, develop hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia suggesting β-cell dysfunction. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully known. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the regulation of β-cell function by Bmal1. We studied β-cell function in global Bmal1-/- mice, in vivo and in isolated islets ex vivo, as well as in rat insulinoma cell lines with shRNA-mediated Bmal1 knockdown. Global Bmal1-/- mice develop diabetes secondary to a significant impairment in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). There is a blunting of GSIS in both isolated Bmal1-/- islets and in Bmal1 knockdown cells, as compared with controls, suggesting that this is secondary to a loss of cell-autonomous effect of Bmal1. In contrast to previous studies, in these Bmal1-/- mice on a C57Bl/6 background, the loss of stimulated insulin secretion, interestingly, is with glucose but not to other depolarizing secretagogues, suggesting that events downstream of membrane depolarization are largely normal in Bmal1-/- islets. This defect in GSIS occurs as a result of increased mitochondrial uncoupling with consequent impairment of glucose-induced mitochondrial potential generation and ATP synthesis, due to an upregulation of Ucp2. Inhibition of Ucp2 in isolated islets leads to a rescue of the glucose-induced ATP production and insulin secretion in Bmal1-/- islets. Thus, Bmal1 regulates mitochondrial energy metabolism to maintain normal GSIS and its disruption leads to diabetes due to a loss of GSIS.
Biological reconstruction after excision of juxta-articular osteosarcoma around the knee: a new classification system.

BACKGROUND A new classification system for juxta-articular osteosarcoma around the knee joint was developed to allow biological reconstructions using distraction osteogenesis or frozen autograft containing tumors treated with liquid nitrogen. Type I: Tumor has metaphyseal extension to a maximum of 2 cm from the epiphyseal cartilage plate. Type II: Tumor extends to at least half the circumference of the epiphyseal cartilage plate. Type III: Extension to the whole circumference of the epiphyseal cartilage plate. Type IV: Tumor extends to part of the epiphysis through any point of the epiphyseal cartilage plate 10 mm from the joint line. Type V: Tumor extends to half or less of the epiphysis. Type VI: Extension of the tumor to more than half of the epiphysis. PATIENTS AND METHODS Twenty patients with juxta-articular osteosarcoma around the knee joint were treated according to this classification system. The cohort comprised 12 males and 8 females with a mean age of 20 years. The tumors were located in the femur in 12 patients and in the tibia in 8 patients. RESULTS The tumors were Type II in 1 patient, Type III in 8 patients, Type IV in 2 patients, Type V in 3 patients and Type VI in 6 patients. Reconstruction after tumor excision was performed using distraction osteogenesis in 13 patients and using frozen autografts in 7 patients. The mean follow-up in the series was 54 months, ranging from 5 to 103 months. CONCLUSION The classification system may act as a guide to appropriate decision-making in cases of juxta-articular osteosarcoma around the knee joint. Biological reconstruction, using distraction osteogenesis or frozen autografts, may yield good functional results without leading to an increase in the incidence of local recurrence.
Assessing and minimizing the effects of noise and motion in clinical DTI at 3 T

Compared with conventional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is more prone to thermal noise and motion. Optimized sampling schemes have been proposed that reduce the propagation of noise. At 3 T, however, motion may play a more dominant role than noise. Although the effects of noise at 3 T are less compared with 1.5 T because of the higher signal‐to‐noise ratio, motion is independent of field strength and will persist. To improve the reliability of clinical DTI at 3 T, it is important to know to what extent noise and motion contribute to the uncertainties of the DTI indices. In this study, the effects of noise‐ and motion‐related signal uncertainties are disentangled using in vivo measurements and computer simulations. For six clinically standard available sampling schemes, the reproducibility was assessed in vivo, with and without motion correction applied. Additionally, motion and noise simulations were performed to determine the relative contributions of motion and noise to the uncertainties of the mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA). It is shown that the contributions of noise and motion are of the same order of magnitude at 3 T. Similar to the propagation of noise, the propagation of motion‐related signal perturbations is also influenced by the choice of sampling scheme. Sampling schemes with only six diffusion directions demonstrated a lower reproducibility compared with schemes with 15 and 32 directions and feature a positive bias for the FA in relatively isotropic tissue. Motion correction helps improving the precision and accuracy of DTI indices. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assessing Musical Abilities Objectively: Construction and Validation of the Profile of Music Perception Skills

A common approach for determining musical competence is to rely on information about individuals’ extent of musical training, but relying on musicianship status fails to identify musically untrained individuals with musical skill, as well as those who, despite extensive musical training, may not be as skilled. To counteract this limitation, we developed a new test battery (Profile of Music Perception Skills; PROMS) that measures perceptual musical skills across multiple domains: tonal (melody, pitch), qualitative (timbre, tuning), temporal (rhythm, rhythm-to-melody, accent, tempo), and dynamic (loudness). The PROMS has satisfactory psychometric properties for the composite score (internal consistency and test-retest r>.85) and fair to good coefficients for the individual subtests (.56 to.85). Convergent validity was established with the relevant dimensions of Gordon’s Advanced Measures of Music Audiation and Musical Aptitude Profile (melody, rhythm, tempo), the Musical Ear Test (rhythm), and sample instrumental sounds (timbre). Criterion validity was evidenced by consistently sizeable and significant relationships between test performance and external musical proficiency indicators in all three studies (.38 to.62, p<.05 to p<.01). An absence of correlations between test scores and a nonmusical auditory discrimination task supports the battery’s discriminant validity (−.05, ns). The interrelationships among the various subtests could be accounted for by two higher order factors, sequential and sensory music processing. A brief version of the full PROMS is introduced as a time-efficient approximation of the full version of the battery.
Plasmodium actin is incompletely folded by heterologous protein-folding machinery and likely requires the native Plasmodium chaperonin complex to enter a mature functional state

Actin filament turnover underpins several processes in the life cycle of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Polymerization and depolymerization are especially important for gliding motility, a substrate‐dependent form of cell movement that underpins the protozoan parasite's ability to disseminate and invade host cells. To date, given difficulties in extraction of native actins directly from parasites, much of our biochemical understanding of malarial actin has instead relied on recombinant protein extracted and purified from heterologous protein expression systems. Here, using in vitro transcription‐translation methodologies and quantitative protein‐binding assays, we explored the folding state of heterologously expressed P. falciparum actin 1 (PfACTI) with the aim of assessing the reliability of current recombinant‐protein‐based data. We demonstrate that PfACTI, when expressed in non‐native systems, is capable of binding to and release from bacterial, yeast, and mammalian chaperonin complexes but appears to be incompletely folded. Characterization of the native Plasmodium folding machinery in silico, the chaperonin containing t‐complex protein‐1 complex, highlights key divergences between the different chaperonin systems that likely underpins this incomplete folded state. These results highlight the importance of characterizing actin's folded state and raise concerns about the interpretation of actin polymerization kinetics based solely on protein derived from heterologous expression systems. —Olshina, M. A. , Baumann, H. , Willison, K. R. , Baum, J. Plasmodium actin is incompletely folded by heterologous protein‐folding machinery and likely requires the native Plasmodium chaperonin complex to enter a mature functional state. FASEB J. 30, 405‐416 (2016). www.fasebj. org
Proteomic Evaluation of Acquired Enamel Pellicle during In Vivo Formation

Acquired enamel pellicle (AEP) is a protein film that forms on the enamel surface of teeth by selective adsorption of proteins and peptides present in the mouth. This protein film forms the interface between enamel and the damage oral biofilm, which modulates the attachment of bacteria found in oral biofilm. The overall goal of this study was to gain insight into the biological formation of the human in vivo AEP. This study hypothesized that AEP is created by the formation of successive protein layers, which consist of initial binding to enamel and subsequent protein-protein interactions. This hypothesis was examined by observing quantitative and qualitative changes in pellicle composition during the first two hours of AEP formation in the oral cavity. Quantitative mass spectrometry approaches were used to generate an AEP protein profile for each time-point studied. Relative proteomic quantification was carried out for the 50 proteins observed in all four time-points. Notably, the abundance of important salivary proteins, such as histatin 1, decrease with increasing of the AEP formation, while other essential proteins such as statherin showed constant relative abundance in all time-points. In summary, this is the first study that investigates the dynamic process to the AEP formation by using proteomic approaches. Our data demonstrated that there are significant qualitative and quantitative proteome changes during the AEP formation, which in turn will likely impact the development of oral biofilms.
Effects of Air Pollution on the Upper Respiratory Tract of Children

The impact of the environment on the upper respiratory tract of children has become an issue of recent interest. Sulfur dioxide causes nasal congestion in children as well as an increase in both mast cells and lymphocytes in nasal lavage fluids. Chlorpheniramine blocks the effect of sulfur dioxide on the nasal mucosa. Ozone exposure results in nasal congestion, increased levels of histamine, neutrophils, eosinophils, and mononuclear cells in nasal lavage fluid. No data are available on the effects of nitrogen dioxide or wood-burning stoves on the upper respiratory tracts of children. Formaldehyde in sufficient concentrations causes upper airway irritation; however, no data are available on its long-term effects. Detriments in air quality cause adverse changes in the lower respiratory tracts of susceptible individuals. The effects on the upper respiratory tract are more difficult to document. There may be a causal relationship, but definitive proof of whether air pollution results in significant increases in pediatric otitis media, sinusitis, rhinitis, and pharyngitis has yet to be demonstrated.
The Thermal Conductivities of Certain Liquids

The determination of the thermal conductivity of liquids and the variation with temperature has received the attention of a number of workers in the past, notably, Lees in 1898, R. Weber in 1903, and Goldschmidt in 1911. In general, however, the temperature ranges explored were somewhat restricted, and the present work was accordingly directed to determining the conductivities of a number of the more common liquids up to the highest temperatures feasible. In measuring the thermal conductivity of a liquid it is, of course, essential that convection effects should be reduced to a minimum. This may be effected by employing small temperature differences across a thin horizontal layer of the liquid, the heat flow being directed downwards.
Attacks and design of image recognition CAPTCHAs

We systematically study the design of image recognition CAPTCHAs (IRCs) in this paper. We first review and examine all existing IRCs schemes and evaluate each scheme against the practical requirements in CAPTCHA applications, particularly in large-scale real-life applications such as Gmail and Hotmail. Then we present a security analysis of the representative schemes we have identified. For the schemes that remain unbroken, we present our novel attacks. For the schemes for which known attacks are available, we propose a theoretical explanation why those schemes have failed. Next, we provide a simple but novel framework for guiding the design of robust IRCs. Then we propose an innovative IRC called Cortcha that is scalable to meet the requirements of large-scale applications. It relies on recognizing objects by exploiting the surrounding context, a task that humans can perform well but computers cannot. An infinite number of types of objects can be used to generate challenges, which can effectively disable the learning process in machine learning attacks. Cortcha does not require the images in its image database to be labeled. Image collection and CAPTCHA generation can be fully automated. Our usability studies indicate that, compared with Google's text CAPTCHA, Cortcha allows a slightly higher human accuracy rate but on average takes more time to solve a challenge.
TOWARD BUILDING A COMPOSITE OF COLLEGE STUDENT INFLUENCES WITH BODY ART

Body piercing and tattooing flourish on American campuses. The theoretical framework of symbolic interaction and subculture identity were used to examine two similar studies (methods, sample, and tools) for building a composite of influences associated with body art and further understand the psychosocial dimensions. In data from Armstrong, Owen, Roberts, and Koch (2002a, 2002b), and the described study within, four groups of college students (N = 908) were formed; those without tattooing (n = 419, 81%), and with tattooing (n = 97, 19%), and those without body piercing (n = 247, 55%) and with body piercing (N = 145, 32%). Influences (purpose, image, identity, cues, barriers, family, friends) were examined. All four student groups reported a positive image for the body art. Friends provided major support, whereas family were not as influential. Uniqueness was important, with the major purposes "I just wanted one, express myself, feel unique, be myself, I don’t need to impress anyone anymore, and it helps me feel independent. "
Exponential moving average Q-learning algorithm

A multi-agent policy iteration learning algorithm is proposed in this work. The Exponential Moving Average (EMA) mechanism is used to update the policy for a Q-learning agent so that it converges to an optimal policy against the policies of the other agents. The proposed EMA Q-learning algorithm is examined on a variety of matrix and stochastic games. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm converges in a wider variety of situations than state-of-the-art multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) algorithms.
Effects of Welding Positions on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure in Weld Metal of High Strength Steel

In this study the effects of two welding positions included in flat and upward vertical on the mechanical properties and microstructure of high strength weld metal deposited with shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) using an electrode of ASME SFA 5.5-96 E9018B3 type have been investigated. The aim of the present work is to study the effects of these two welding positions for a weld metal alloyed with 1%Mo, 2%Cr, 0.79%Mn, and 0.08% C in the stress relieved condition. For studying mechanical properties Tensile, Impact and hardness experiments have been conducted; meanwhile chemical analysis and microstructure studying have been carried out on specimens. The results show that welding position does not have any significant effect on tensile and hardness of the weld metal but in vertical position welding metal toughness is lower than toughness in flat position in all temperatures. Transition temperature of ductile fracture to brittle fracture is -50 °C for E9018B3 in welding of high strength micro alloyed steels.