Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ursodeoxycholic Acid Is Conjugated with Taurine to Promote Secretin-Stimulated Biliary Hydrocholeresis in the Normal Rat

Background & Aims Secretin induces bicarbonate-rich hydrocholeresis in healthy individuals, but not in untreated patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) – the first choice treatment for PBC – restores the secretin response. Compared with humans, secretin has poor effect in experimental normal-rat models with biliary drainage, although it may elicit hydrocholeresis when the bile-acid pool is maintained. In view of the benefits of UDCA in PBC, we used normal-rat models to unravel the acute contribution of UDCA (and/or taurine-conjugated TUDCA) for eliciting the biliary secretin response. Methods Intravascular and/or intrabiliary administration of agonists and inhibitors was performed in normal rats with biliary monitoring. Secretin/bile-acid interplay was analyzed in 3D cultured rat cholangiocytes that formed expansive cystic structures with intralumenal hydroionic secretion. Results In vivo, secretin stimulates hydrocholeresis upon UDCA/TUDCA infusion, but does not modify the intrinsic hypercholeretic effect of dehydrocholic acid (DHCA). The former effect is dependent on microtubule polymerization, and involves PKCα, PI3K and MEK pathways, as shown by colchicine (i.p.) and retrograde biliary inhibitors. In vitro, while secretin alone accelerates the spontaneous expansion of 3D-cystic structures, this effect is enhanced in the presence of TUDCA, but not UDCA or DHCA. Experiments with inhibitors and Ca2+-chelator confirmed that the synergistic effect of secretin plus TUDCA involves microtubules, intracellular Ca2+, PKCα, PI3K, PKA and MEK pathways. Gene silencing also demonstrated the involvement of the bicarbonate extruder Ae2. Conclusions UDCA is conjugated in order to promote secretin-stimulated hydrocholeresis in rats through Ae2, microtubules, intracellular Ca2+, PKCα, PI3K, PKA, and MEK.
Transmen and FTMs: Identities, Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities

Writing as an insider and an anthropologist, Jason Cromwell presents the first in-depth examination of what it means to be a female-bodied trans person. Through extensive participant observation and open-ended interviews, "Transmen and FTMs" allows female-to-male transsexuals to speak for themselves and reveal aspects of female gender diversity that do not fit into the ready-made categories of male and female.In clarifying how trans men and FTMs define and validate their lives, as opposed to how society attempts to pigeonhole and belittle them, Cromwell shows how female-to-male trans people have been made virtually invisible by male-dominated discourses. He considers cross-cultural data on female gender diversity, historical evidence of female-bodied people who have lived as men, and contemporary trans men and FTMs. He also addresses how FTMs and trans men are working to challenge the mental illness model of transness as well as other misconceptions. "Transmen and FTMs" seeks to reframe the dialogue about gender identity and move away from regarding fixed gender categories as normative. By redefining gender diversity from a manifestation of pathology to a human condition, "Transmen and FTMs" promotes a fuller understanding of these individuals as persons in their own right.
Synthesizing qualitative research: a review of published reports

ABSTRACT Although there is increasing demand for syntheses of qualitative research, little is known about papers that aim to report such syntheses. We searched for published reports of attempts to conduct syntheses of qualitative research in health and healthcare. Papers were included if they were published between 1988 and 2004, in the English language, and in a peer-reviewed journal. We identified a modest body of literature (42 papers) reporting syntheses of qualitative research in health and healthcare. We extracted data on the topic of the paper and on reported methods for searching, appraisal, and synthesis. Some papers reported purposive attempts to innovate with, and to adapt, methods for synthesis. Many papers lack explicitness about methods for searching, appraisal, and synthesis, and there is little evidence of emerging consensus on many issues. There was also some evidence of possibly inappropriate use of some techniques. We conclude that continued methodological progress and improved reporting are required.
Use of Artificial Neural Network in Pattern Recognition

Among the various traditional approaches of pattern recognition the statistical approach has been most intensively studied and used in practice. More recently, the addition of artificial neural network techniques theory have been receiving significant attention. The design of a recognition system requires careful attention to the following issues: definition of pattern classes, sensing environment, pattern representation, feature extraction and selection, cluster analysis, classifier design and learning, selection of training and test samples, and performance evaluation. In spite of almost 50 years of research and development in this field, the general problem of recognizing complex patterns with arbitrary orientation, location, and scale remains unsolved. New and emerging applications, such as data mining, web searching, retrieval of multimedia data, face recognition, and cursive handwriting recognition, require robust and efficient pattern recognition techniques. The objective of this review paper is to summarize and compare some of the well-known methods used in various stages of a pattern recognition system using ANN and identify research topics and applications which are at the forefront of this exciting and challenging field.
Effects of autogenic training on lung capacity, competitive anxiety andsubjective vitality.

The goal of this study is to analyze the effect of regular practice of autogenic training (AT) on lung capacity, subjective vitality and competitive anxiety. We have selected a sample of size n- 18. Voluntary athletes were randomly distributed in two groups: the control (n-9) and the experimental group (n-9); all of them practiced autogenic training for 6 weeks. Pre and postintervention spirometry measurements were conducted, and the values of peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory volume at the end of the first second (FEV1) were registered; additionally, values of Subjective Vitality (SVS) and Competitive Anxiety (CSAI-2) were obtained. A significant improvement (p=0.001) of Subjective Vitality and Competitive Anxiety (self-confidence dimension) was observed; however, the rest of the variables under study were unaffected. The regular practice of autogenic training could be useful to improve some of the parameters associated with sport performance.
An updated digital model of plate boundaries

A global set of present plate boundaries on the Earth is presented in digital form. Most come from sources in the literature. A few boundaries are newly interpreted from topography, volcanism, and/or seismicity, taking into account relative plate velocities from magnetic anomalies, moment tensor solutions, and/or geodesy. In addition to the 14 large plates whose motion was described by the NUVEL‐1A poles (Africa, Antarctica, Arabia, Australia, Caribbean, Cocos, Eurasia, India, Juan de Fuca, Nazca, North America, Pacific, Philippine Sea, South America), model PB2002 includes 38 small plates (Okhotsk, Amur, Yangtze, Okinawa, Sunda, Burma, Molucca Sea, Banda Sea, Timor, Birds Head, Maoke, Caroline, Mariana, North Bismarck, Manus, South Bismarck, Solomon Sea, Woodlark, New Hebrides, Conway Reef, Balmoral Reef, Futuna, Niuafo'ou, Tonga, Kermadec, Rivera, Galapagos, Easter, Juan Fernandez, Panama, North Andes, Altiplano, Shetland, Scotia, Sandwich, Aegean Sea, Anatolia, Somalia), for a total of 52 plates. No attempt is made to divide the Alps‐Persia‐Tibet mountain belt, the Philippine Islands, the Peruvian Andes, the Sierras Pampeanas, or the California‐Nevada zone of dextral transtension into plates; instead, they are designated as “orogens” in which this plate model is not expected to be accurate. The cumulative‐number/area distribution for this model follows a power law for plates with areas between 0.002 and 1 steradian. Departure from this scaling at the small‐plate end suggests that future work is very likely to define more very small plates within the orogens. The model is presented in four digital files: a set of plate boundary segments; a set of plate outlines; a set of outlines of the orogens; and a table of characteristics of each digitization step along plate boundaries, including estimated relative velocity vector and classification into one of 7 types (continental convergence zone, continental transform fault, continental rift, oceanic spreading ridge, oceanic transform fault, oceanic convergent boundary, subduction zone). Total length, mean velocity, and total rate of area production/destruction are computed for each class; the global rate of area production and destruction is 0.108 m2/s, which is higher than in previous models because of the incorporation of back‐arc spreading.
A Hyper-Heuristic Framework for Agent-Based Crowd Modeling and Simulation: (Extended Abstract)

This paper proposes a hyper-heuristic crowd modeling framework to generate realistic crowd dynamics that can match video data. In the proposed framework, motions of agents are driven by a high-level heuristic (HH) which intelligently selects way-points for agents based on the current situations. Three low-level heuristics are defined and used as building blocks of the HH. Based on the newly defined building blocks and fitness evaluation function, the Self-Learning Gene Expression Programming (SL-GEP) is utilized to automatically evolve a suitable HH. To test its effectiveness, the proposed framework is applied to learn suitable HHs based on real video data. The best HH learned is then applied to generate crowd simulations and the simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective to generate realistic crowd dynamics.
Design and implementation of a user‐level Sockets layer over Virtual Interface Architecture

The Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA) is an industry standard user‐level communication architecture for system area networks. The VIA provides a protected, directly‐accessible interface to a network hardware, removing the operating system from the critical communication path. In this paper, we design and implement a user‐level Sockets layer over VIA, named SOVIA (Sockets Over VIA). Our objective is to use the SOVIA layer to accelerate the existing Sockets‐based applications with a reasonable effort and to provide a portable and high‐performance communication library based on VIA to application developers.
Laminin‐induced aggregation of the inwardly rectifying potassium channel, Kir4.1, and the water‐permeable channel, AQP4, via a dystroglycan‐containing complex in astrocytes

Dystroglycan (DG) is part of a multiprotein complex that links the extracellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton of muscle fibers and that is involved in aggregating acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction. This complex is also expressed in regions of the central nervous system where it is localized to both neuronal and glial cells. DG and the inwardly rectifying potassium channels, Kir4.1, are concentrated at the interface of astroglia and small blood vessels. These channels are involved in siphoning potassium released into the extracellular space after neuronal excitation. This raises the possibility that DG may be involved in targeting Kir4.1 channels to specific domains of astroglia. To address this question, we used mixed hippocampal cultures to investigate the distribution of DG, syntrophin, dystrobrevin, and Kir4.1 channels, as well as aquaporin‐permeable water channels, AQP4. These proteins exhibit a similar distribution pattern and form aggregates in astrocytes cultured on laminin. Both DG and syntrophin colocalize with Kir4.1 channel aggregates in astrocytes. Similarly, DG colocalizes with AQP4 channel aggregates. Quantitative studies show a significant increase of Kir4.1 and AQP4 channel aggregates in astrocytes cultured in the presence of laminin when compared with those in the absence of laminin. These findings show that laminin has a role in Kir4.1 and AQP4 channel aggregation and suggest that this may be mediated via a dystroglycan‐containing complex. This study reveals a novel functional role for DG in brain including K+ buffering and water homeostasis. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Susceptibility of Filamentous Fungi to Voriconazole Tested by Two Microdilution Methods

ABSTRACT The growing number of fungal infections, coupled with emerging resistance to classical antifungal agents, has led to the development of new agents, among them voriconazole. Susceptibility to voriconazole was tested by two microdilution techniques: the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards reference method M38-A and a colorimetric method, Sensititre YeastOne. The study tested a total of 244 isolates: 223 Aspergillus (136 Aspergillus fumigatus, 37 A. niger, 26 A. terreus, 16 A. flavus, 7 A. nidulans, and 1 A. ustus), 14 Fusarium (8 Fusarium moniliformis, and 6 F. oxysporum), 6 Scedosporium apiospermum, and 1 Rhizomucor pusillus strain and four control strains (Candida parapsilosis ATCC 22019, C. krusei ATCC 6258, A. fumigatus ATCC 204305, and A. flavus ATCC 204304). For all tested species except one F. moniliforme strain and R. pusillus, the MIC, the MIC at which 50% of the isolates are inhibited (MIC50), and MIC90 ranges of ≤1 μg/ml were obtained for voriconazole, indicating excellent activity against these species. The high rate of agreement between the two methods used (97 to 99%) suggests that the Sensititre YeastOne colorimetric method may be a valuable tool for determining the susceptibility of filamentous fungi to voriconazole.
Dental treatment duration as an indicator of the behavior of 3-to 9-year-old pediatric patients in clinical dental settings.

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the age-specific effect of treatment duration on pediatric patient behavior. METHODS AND MATERIALS A total of 450 children 3 to 9 years of age were allocated into six consecutive age groups (n=75 for each group). All children received dental treatment procedures which included the fabrication of a Type 1 composite resin restoration, then a dental prophylaxis followed by fluoride therapy with each procedure requiring an average of 20 minutes. The children's behavior was evaluated at the end of each treatment period using the sound, eye, and motor (SEM) scale. RESULTS The results of a mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated a significant main effect of treatment duration, F (1.69, 255.01) = 188.29, P < 0.001, and of chronological age, F (1, 144) = 115.82, P < 0.001. Moreover, the main effects of time and chronological age was qualified by a significant interaction between time and chronological age, F (8.86, 255.01) = 115.82, P < 0.001. The beta weights (0.64 for age versus 0.44 for time) suggest chronological age contributes the most to predicting the behavior of children during dental treatment followed by the duration of treatment. CONCLUSION Treatment duration may affect the behavior of pediatric patients parallel with chronological age and, thus, should be considered in the arrangement of the treatment plan. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE The findings of this study suggest appropriate pediatric behavior management should include thoughtful scheduling of appointments according to a treatment plan formulated with consideration of the effects of age and appointment length.
The Surprising Power of Age-Dependent Taxes

This paper provides a new, empirically driven application of the dynamic Mirrleesian framework by studying a feasible and potentially powerful tax reform: age-dependent labour income taxation. I show analytically how age dependence improves policy on both the intratemporal and intertemporal margins. I use detailed numerical simulations, calibrated with data from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics, to generate robust policy implications: age dependence (1) lowers marginal taxes on average and especially on high-income young workers and (2) lowers average taxes on all young workers relative to older workers when private saving and borrowing are restricted. Finally, I calculate and characterize the welfare gains from age dependence. Despite its simplicity, age dependence generates a welfare gain equal to between 0·6% and 1·5% of aggregate annual consumption, and it captures more than 60% of the gain from reform to the dynamic optimal policy. The gains are due to substantial increases in both efficiency and equity. When age dependence is restricted to be Pareto improving, the welfare gain is nearly as large. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.
The design and conduct of Keep It Off: An online randomized trial of financial incentives for weight-loss maintenance

Background Obesity continues to be a serious public health challenge. Rates are increasing worldwide, with nearly 70% of the US adults overweight or obese, leading to increased clinical and economic burden. While successful approaches for achieving weight loss have been identified, techniques for long-term maintenance of initial weight loss have largely been unsuccessful. Financial incentive interventions have been shown in several settings to be successful in motivating participants to adopt healthy behaviors. Purpose Keep It Off is a three-arm randomized controlled trial that compares the efficacy of a lottery-based incentive, traditional direct payment incentive, and control of daily feedback without any incentive for weight-loss maintenance. This design allows comparison of a traditional direct payment incentive with one based on behavioral economic principles that consider the underlying psychology of decision-making. Methods Participants were randomized in a 2:1 ratio for each active arm relative to control, with a targeted 188 participants in total. Eligible participants were those aged 30–80 who lost at least 11 lb (5 kg) during the first 4 months of participation in Weight Watchers, a national weight-loss program, with whom we partnered. The interventions lasted 6 months (Phase I); participants were followed for an additional 6 months without intervention (Phase II). The primary outcome is weight change from baseline to the end of Phase I, with the change at the end of Phase II a key secondary endpoint. Keep It Off is a pragmatic trial that recruited, consented, enrolled, and followed patients electronically. Participants were provided a wireless weight scale that electronically transmitted daily self-monitored weights. Weights were verified every 3 months at a Weight Watchers center local to the participant and electronically transmitted. Results Using the study web-based platform, we integrated recruitment, enrollment, and follow-up procedures into a digital platform that required little staff effort to implement and manage. We randomized 191 participants in less than 1 year. We describe the design of Keep It Off and implementation of enrollment. Lessons Learned We demonstrated that our pragmatic design was successful in rapid accrual of participants in a trial of interventions to maintain weight loss. Limitations Despite the nationwide reach of Weight Watchers, the generalizability of study findings may be limited by the characteristics of its members. The interventions under study are appropriate for settings where an entity, such as an employer or health insurance company, could offer them as a benefit. Conclusions Keep It Off was implemented and conducted with minimal staff effort. This study has the potential to identify a practical and effective weight-loss maintenance strategy.
Cotranslational and posttranslational proteolytic processing of preprosomatostatin-I in intact islet tissue

Preprosomatostatin-I (PPSS-I) is processed in anglerfish islets to release a 14-residue somatostatin (SS-14). However, very little is known regarding other processing events that affect PPSS-I. This is the first study to identify and quantify the levels of nonsomatostatin products generated as a result of processing of this somatostatin precursor in living islet tissue. The products of PPSS-I processing in anglerfish islet tissue were identified in radiolabeling studies using a number of criteria. These criteria included immunoreactivity, specific radiolabeling by selected amino acids, radiolabel sequencing, and chromatographic comparison to isolated, structurally characterized fragments of anglerfish PPSS-I using reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Intact prosomatostatin-I (aPSS-I) was isolated from tissue incubated with [3H]tryptophan and [14C]leucine. Significant 14C radioactivity was observed in the products of 11 of the first 44 sequencer cycles in positions consistent with the generation of a 96- residue prosomatostatin. These results indicate that signal cleavage occurs after the cysteine located 25 residues from the initiator Met of PPSS-I, resulting in a signal peptide 25 amino acids in length. Nonsomatostatin-containing fragments of the precursor were also found in tissue incubated with a mixture of 3H-amino acids. Only a small quantity of the dodecapeptide representing residues 69-80 in the prohormone was found (10 nmol/g tissue). Two other fragments of aPSS-I, also observed to be present in low abundance, were found to correspond to residues 1-27 (16 nmol/g tissue) and to residues 1-67 (7 nmol/g tissue) of aPSS-I. No evidence for the presence of the fragment corresponding to residues 29-67 was found. However, large quantities of SS-14 were observed (287 nmol/g tissue), indicating that the major site of aPSS-I cleavage is at the basic dipeptide immediately preceding SS- 14. Recovery of much lower levels of the nonsomatostatin fragments of aPSS-I suggests that prohormone processing at the secondary sites identified in this study occurs at a low rate relative to release of SS- 14 from aPSS-I.
Divorced Parents' Qualitative and Quantitative Reports of Children's Living Arrangements

We use data from a sample of divorced parents in Wisconsin (N = 1,392) to examine how parents describe their children's living arrangements. Parents are likely to say that the children live with them as opposed to the other parent, controlling for the number of nights children spend with the mother. When the children spend substantial time in both parents’ homes, both parents are less likely to use the phrase live with to describe living arrangements. Together these findings suggest that family researchers no longer can rely on simple questions to capture complex living arrangements. We need clearer and more careful question wording and, in some instances, follow-up questions to accurately describe where children live.
The Effect of Conceptual and Perceptual Fluency on Brand Evaluation

According to the processing fluency model, advertising exposures enhance the ease with which consumers recognize and process a brand. In turn, this increased perceptual fluency leads to consumers having more favorable attitudes toward the brand. The authors extend the processing fluency model to examine the effect of conceptual fluency on attitudes. In three experiments, the authors show that when a target comes to mind more readily and becomes conceptually fluent, as when it is presented in a predictive context (e.g., a bottle of beer featured in an advertisement that shows a man entering a bar) or when it is primed by a related construct (e.g., an image of ketchup following an advertisement of mayonnaise), participants develop more favorable attitudes toward the target. It is believed that positive valence of fluent processing underlies these processing-fluency effects. When conceptual fluency is associated with negative valence (e.g., hair conditioner primed by a lice-killing shampoo), the authors observe less favorable attitudes.