Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual Attention during Virtual Social Situations Depends on Social Anxiety

Theories of anxiety propose that people with phobias involuntarily allocate their attention first toward threatening stimuli and then away from these stimuli. Therefore, the current study assessed attention toward and away of social cues in virtual fear-relevant situations. More specifically, open visual attention was assessed by means of electroocculogram (EOG)-based eye-tracking combined with head-tracking. Participants viewed virtual persons with different facial expressions (happy or angry) in a free-viewing virtual elevator situation. Twenty-six students participated in the study. Actual anxiety was induced to half of them by announcing that they had to give a talk after leaving the virtual elevator. Habitual social anxiety was assessed by questionnaires. Results indicate that participants initially attended more to happy than to angry virtual persons, and participants who expected to give a talk afterwards were especially likely to sustain attending to the happy virtual persons and avoiding the angry persons. Correlation analyses revealed that higher social anxiety was positively related to initial avoidance of happy and angry virtual persons. Thus, higher socially anxious participants seem to initially avoid emotional facial expressions. These results confirm the assumption that faces are especially meaningful for socially anxious people but contradict findings of an open initial hypervigilance toward threatening stimuli. The results indicate that virtual social situations are especially suitable to measure overt attention in an ecologically valid environment.
Multiobjective Optimization of Manganese Recovery from Sea Nodules Using Genetic Algorithms

Treatment of low grade manganese ores is receiving widespread attention due to major use of manganese (85–90%) as ferromanganese alloy in the rapidly growing iron and steel sector and also in other important industrial products like electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) used in the energy sector. Manganese bearing polymetallic sea nodules containing less than 40% Mn fall in the category of lean grade ores and besides manganese these nodules are the reserve for other metals like copper, nickel, and cobalt. In this present work, treatment of these polymetallic sea nodules in an acid-based hydrometallurgical route has been proposed using two different schemes, batch and parallel in nature. Both processes have been optimized using multiobjective genetic algorithms.
Gas flow effects on the structure and composition of SiN_x/Si/SiN_x films prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

The structure and composition of SiN_x/Si/SiN_x films were investigated by means of x-ray reflectivity, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The three-layer films were prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering under the condition of constant nitrogen flow and the argon flow. It was found that the deposition rate and surface structure of the silicon nitride films were mainly determined by the nitrogen flow rather than the argon flow. But the composition of the silicon nitride films was controlled by the gas flow ratio (F_Ar/F_N2) used during sputtering.
Knowledge-Based Detection and Assessment of Damaged Roads Using Post-Disaster High-Resolution Remote Sensing Image

Road damage detection and assessment from high-resolution remote sensing image is critical for natural disaster investigation and disaster relief. In a disaster context, the pairing of pre-disaster and post-disaster road data for change detection and assessment is difficult to achieve due to the mismatch of different data sources, especially for rural areas where the pre-disaster data (i.e., remote sensing imagery or vector map) are hard to obtain. In this study, a knowledge-based method for road damage detection and assessment solely from post-disaster high-resolution remote sensing image is proposed. The road centerline is firstly extracted based on the preset road seed points. Then, features such as road brightness, standard deviation, rectangularity, and aspect ratio are selected to form a knowledge model. Finally, under the guidance of the road centerline, the post-disaster roads are extracted and the damaged roads are detected by applying the knowledge model. In order to quantitatively assess the damage degree, damage assessment indicators with their corresponding standard of damage grade are also proposed. The newly developed method is evaluated using a WorldView-1 image over Wenchuan, China acquired three days after the earthquake on 15 May 2008. The results show that the producer’s accuracy (PA) and user’s accuracy (UA) reached about 90% and 85%, respectively, indicating that the proposed method is effective for road damage detection and assessment. This approach also significantly reduces the need for pre-disaster remote sensing data.
Activation of Protein Kinase C and MAPKs Proliferation, Cytokine Production, and Fatty Acids on Human T Lymphocyte -Thia Polyunsaturated g -Thia, and b -Oxa, b The Immunomodulatory Effects of Novel

We have recently demonstrated that a novel n -3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ( (cid:1) -oxa 21:3 n -3) was a more potent and more selective anti-inﬂammatory agent than n -3 PUFA. To gain further insights into this technology, we synthesized other novel PUFA consisting of (cid:1) -oxa, (cid:1) -thia, and (cid:2) -thia compounds. All three types displayed anti-inﬂammatory activity. Each of the unsaturated (cid:1) -oxa fatty acids showed similar inhibition of PHA-PMA-induced T cell proliferation with a parallel inhibition of TNF- (cid:1) production. However, (cid:1) -oxa 25:6 n -3 and (cid:1) -oxa 21:4 n -3 displayed lower inhibitory action on IFN- (cid:2) production. Surpris-ingly, (cid:1) -oxa 23:4 n -6 and (cid:1) -oxa 21:3 n -6 had marginal effect on IL-2 production. Thus, structural variation can generate selectivity for different immunological parameters. The (cid:1) -thia compounds 23:4 n -6, 21:3 n -6, and 21:3 n -3 were highly effective in inhibiting all immunological responses. Of the two (cid:2) -thia PUFA tested, (cid:2) -thia 24:4 n -6 was a strong inhibitor of all responses apart from IL-2, but (cid:2) -thia 22:3 n -6 had very little inhibitory effect. Two of the most active compounds, (cid:1) -thia 23:4 n -6 and (cid:1) -thia 21:3 n -6, were studied in more detail and shown to have an IC 50 of 1–2 (cid:3) M under optimal conditions. Thus, these PUFA retain the immuno-suppressive properties of the n -3 PUFAs, 20:5 n -3 and 22:6 n -3, but not the neutrophil-stimulating properties. Their action on T lymphocytes is independent of cyclooxygenase or lipoxygenase activity, and they act at a postreceptor-binding level by inhibiting the activation of protein kinase C and ERK1/ERK2 kinases. The Journal of Immunology, 174: 233–243. lymphoproliferation the of IFN- (cid:2) (40, 41), and (cid:1) (16) in response to antigenic or CD3-CD28 stimulation. These data suggest that MEK1, ERK1, and ERK2 are important for the production of both Th1- and Th2-type cytokines (39).
Addressing the "Fas counterattack" controversy: blocking fas ligand expression suppresses tumor immune evasion of colon cancer in vivo.

Fas ligand (FasL/CD95L) is a transmembrane protein belonging to the tumor necrosis factor superfamily that can trigger apoptotic cell death following ligation to its receptor, Fas (CD95/APO-1). Expression of FasL may help to maintain tumor cells in a state of immune privilege by inducing apoptosis of antitumor immune effector cells-the "Fas counterattack. " However, the ability of FasL to mediate tumor immune privilege is controversial due to studies that indicate FasL has both pro- and anti-inflammatory activities. To resolve this controversy and functionally define the role of FasL in tumor immune evasion, we investigated if suppression of endogenously expressed FasL in colon tumor cells resulted in reduced tumor development and improved antitumor immune challenge in vivo. Specifically, FasL expression in CMT93 colon carcinoma cells was down-regulated following stable transfection with a plasmid encoding antisense FasL cDNA. Down-regulation of FasL expression had no effect on tumor growth in vitro but significantly reduced tumor development in syngeneic immunocompetent mice in vivo. Tumor size was also significantly decreased. Reduced FasL expression by tumor cells led to increased lymphocyte infiltration. The overall level of neutrophils present in all of the tumors examined was low, with no difference between the tumors, irrespective of FasL expression. Thus, down-regulation of FasL expression by colon tumor cells results in an improved antitumor immune challenge in vivo, providing functional evidence in favor of the "Fas counterattack" as a mechanism of tumor immune evasion.
Mindfulness Intervention for Stress Eating to Reduce Cortisol and Abdominal Fat among Overweight and Obese Women: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Study

Psychological distress and elevated cortisol secretion promote abdominal fat, a feature of the Metabolic Syndrome. Effects of stress reduction interventions on abdominal fat are unknown. Forty-seven overweight/obese women (mean BMI = 31.2) were randomly assigned to a 4-month intervention or waitlist group to explore effects of a mindfulness program for stress eating. We assessed mindfulness, psychological distress, eating behavior, weight, cortisol awakening response (CAR), and abdominal fat (by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) pre- and posttreatment. Treatment participants improved in mindfulness, anxiety, and external-based eating compared to control participants. Groups did not differ on average CAR, weight, or abdominal fat over time. However, obese treatment participants showed significant reductions in CAR and maintained body weight, while obese control participants had stable CAR and gained weight. Improvements in mindfulness, chronic stress, and CAR were associated with reductions in abdominal fat. This proof of concept study suggests that mindfulness training shows promise for improving eating patterns and the CAR, which may reduce abdominal fat over time.
Effectiveness of a zinc amino acid chelate and zinc sulfate in restoring serum and soft tissue zinc concentrations when fed to zinc-depleted pigs.

In a 36-d experiment, 32 pigs were depleted of Zn (24 d) using a soy-isolate (basal) diet (17 mg/kg of Zn) and then fed the basal diet (12 d) supplemented with 45 mg/kg of Zn from ZnSO4 (purified zinc sulfate dry powder, ZnSO4.nH2O) or from a Zn amino acid chelate (ZnAAC) to study the effectiveness of these dietary Zn sources in restoring serum and soft tissue Zn concentrations. Concurrently, nondepleted pigs were pair-fed both Zn-supplemented diets (eight pigs per diet) throughout the experiment. Serum Zn concentrations and serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of pigs fed the diets with no supplemental Zn were lower (P < .05) than those of nondepleted pigs after 7 and 14 d, respectively. After 24 d, concentrations of Zn in liver, pancreas, kidney, brain, and small intestine of Zn-depleted pigs were lower (P < .01) than those of nondepleted pigs. Except for decreased (P < .001) kidney Cu, soft tissue Cu and Fe concentrations were not affected by Zn status or Zn source. From d 24 to 36 (Zn repletion), serum and tissue Zn concentrations and serum ALP activities increased (P < .05), but the response was similar for both Zn sources in Zn-depleted and nondepleted pigs. At d 30 and 36, kidney Cu was increased (P < .01) in Zn-depleted pigs fed 45 mg/kg of Zn as either ZnSO4 or ZnAAC. Furthermore, Fe concentration was higher (P < .05) in intestinal segments of Zn-depleted and nondepleted pigs fed ZnAAC than in pigs fed ZnSO4. Accumulations of Cu in the kidney and Fe in the small intestine were affected by depletion and repletion of Zn and by dietary Zn source, respectively. In conclusion, serum and soft tissue Zn concentrations were clearly affected by Zn status: however, an effect of Zn source was not observed.
Short-term outcome of acute inferior wall myocardial infarction with emphasis on conduction blocks: a prospective observational study in Indian population

Objective: The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate the complications, particularly conduction blocks, subsequent morbidity and mortality, and effect of thrombolytic therapy in Indian patients with inferior wall myocardial infarction (IWMI). Methods: This was a prospective, observational, single-center study conducted at LPS Institute of Cardiology, Kanpur, from December 2011 to May 2014. Patients who presented with typical chest pain and were subsequently diagnosed by standardized diagnostic criteria as having IWMI were enrolled. Patients were grouped on basis of conduction abnormalities, right ventricular (RV) infarction and thrombolytic treatment. Each group was analyzed for comparison of complication profile and mortality. Results: Of 573 patients with IWMI enrolled in the study (mean age: 58.90±12.3 years), 81.2% were male, 225 (39.3%) had conduction blocks, and 189 (32.9%) had RV infarction. In patients with conduction blocks, mortality occurred in 27 patients (12.0%) in contrast to 3.4% of patients without conduction block (p<0.03). Also, there were 27 cases of in-hospital mortality in patients with RV infarction compared with 9 cases in patients without RV infarction (p<0.01). Thrombolytic therapy significantly reduced mortality in patients with IWMI (p<0.001). A significant reduction was observed in cardiogenic shock (p=0.002), severe mitral regurgitation (p=0.007), and left ventricular failure (p<0.001) in patients undergoing thrombolytic therapy. Conclusion: In Indian patients with IWMI, incidence of conduction blocks was higher than previously reported studies. Major complications such as atrioventricular block and RV infarction are associated with increased mortality and poor clinical outcomes. Thrombolytic therapy has a beneficial role in reduction of mortality rate and other complications.
Epigenetic regulation of TNFA expression in periodontal disease.

BACKGROUND Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) plays a central role in the molecular pathogenesis of periodontal disease. However, the epigenetic regulation attributable to microbial and inflammatory signals at the biofilm-gingival interface are poorly understood. In this study, the DNA methylation alteration within the TNFA promoter in human gingival biopsies from different stages of periodontal disease is investigated and the regulatory mechanism of TNFA transcription by DNA methylation is explored. METHODS Gingival biopsies were obtained from 17 patients with chronic periodontitis (CP) and 18 periodontally healthy individuals. Another 11 individuals participated in an experimentally induced gingivitis study, and gingival biopsies were collected at the baseline, induction, and resolution phase. To confirm that TNFA promoter methylation modulated TNFA transcription, THP.1 cells were treated with a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, 5-Aza-2-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-2dC), and an RAW294.7 cell line transfected with a TNFA promoter-specific luciferase reporter system with or without methylation was used. RESULTS In gingival biopsies from individuals with severe CP, two individual cytosine-guanine dinucleotides (CpG sites) within the TNFA promoter (at -163 and -161 bp) displayed increased methylation in CP samples compared to those with gingival health (16.1% ± 5.1% versus 11.0% ± 4.6%, P = 0.02 and 19.8% ± 4.1% versus 15.4% ± 3.6%, P = 0.04, respectively). The methylation level at -163 bp was inversely associated with the transcription level of TNFA (P = 0.018). However, no significant difference in the TNFA promoter methylation pattern was observed in samples biopsied during the induction or resolution phase of experimentally induced gingivitis, which represented a reversible periodontal lesion. THP.1 cells treated with 5-Aza-2dC demonstrated a time-dependent increase in TNFA messenger level. It was also found that the luciferase activity decreased 2.6-fold in a construct containing an in vitro methylated TNFA promoter when compared to the unmethylated insert (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION Although the biopsy samples represented a mixed cell population, the change in promoter methylation status in chronic periodontal disease suggested that DNA methylation may be an important regulatory mechanism in controlling TNFA transcriptional expression in periodontal disease.
The Prevalence of Antibodies against Wheat and Milk Proteins in Blood Donors and Their Contribution to Neuroimmune Reactivities

The aim of this study was to look for the presence of IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies against two widely consumed foods, wheat and milk, in a relatively large number of specimens. As wheat, milk, and their antigens have been found to be involved in neuroimmune disorders, we measured the co-occurrence of their antibodies against various neural antigens. We assessed the reactivity of sera from 400 donors to wheat and milk proteins, GAD-65, cerebellar, MBP, and MOG. Statistical analysis showed significant clustering when certain wheat and milk protein antibodies were cross-referenced with neural antibodies. Approximately half of the sera with antibody elevation against gliadin reacted significantly with GAD-65 and cerebellar peptides; about half of the sera with elevated antibodies against α + β-casein and milk butyrophilin also showed antibody elevation against MBP and MOG. Inhibition studies showed that only two out of four of the samples with elevated cerebellar or MOG antibodies could be inhibited by gliadin or α + β-casein, confirming individual variation in epitope recognition. We conclude that a subgroup of blood donors, due to a breakdown in immunological tolerance, may react and produce significant levels of antibodies (p-values less than 0.05) against wheat and milk antigens that cross-react with different neural antigens, which may have broader implications in the induction of neuroimmune reactivities.
Infectious disease and group size: more than just a numbers game

Increased risk of infectious disease is assumed to be a major cost of group living, yet empirical evidence for this effect is mixed. We studied whether larger social groups are more subdivided structurally. If so, the social subdivisions that form in larger groups may act as barriers to the spread of infection, weakening the association between group size and infectious disease. To investigate this ‘social bottleneck’ hypothesis, we examined the association between group size and four network structure metrics in 43 vertebrate and invertebrate species. We focused on metrics involving modularity, clustering, distance and centralization. In a meta-analysis of intraspecific variation in social networks, modularity showed positive associations with network size, with a weaker but still positive effect in cross-species analyses. Network distance also showed a positive association with group size when using intraspecific variation. We then used a theoretical model to explore the effects of subgrouping relative to other effects that influence disease spread in socially structured populations. Outbreaks reached higher prevalence when groups were larger, but subgrouping reduced prevalence. Subgrouping also acted as a ‘brake’ on disease spread between groups. We suggest research directions to understand the conditions under which larger groups become more subdivided, and to devise new metrics that account for subgrouping when investigating the links between sociality and infectious disease risk.
The relative choline-esterase activities of serum and corpuscles from the blood of certain species.

FOLLOWING the discovery by Stedman et al. [1932] that the destruction of acetylcholine by blood serum was brought about by a specific enzyme, which they termed choline-esterase, Stedman et al. [1933] examined the blood sera from a number of species for the presence of this enzyme and compared the cholineesterase activities of these sera with their activities towards two other types of esters, namely, methyl butyrate and tributyrin. The results offered ample confirmation, if such were needed, of the specific nature of choline-esterase. It was further demonstrated that sera from different species differed widely with respect to their content of the enzyme in question, those from certain species being, in fact, so deficient in it that none was detectable by the method of estimation which was employed. It was, however, emphasised that the virtual absence of the enzyme from serum did not necessarily imply its absence from the corpuscles, the choline-esterase activities of which could not at the time be determined since the method of estimation used with serum was not applicable to whole blood or to corpuscles. In order to examine this point the present authors have therefore developed a method for the estimation of choline-esterase in corpuscles, defibrinated blood or tissue and have used it to determine the distribution of the enzyme between corpuscles and serum in the blood of a number of species. This work is described in the present communication. Since this investigation, which was reported to the Meeting of the Biochemical Society in Glasgow in June 1934, was completed papers have appeared on the same subject by Ammon [1934] and Ammon and Voss [1935] in which a method for the determination of cholineesterase is described which is identical in principle with that employed in the present work. Inasmuch, however, as Ammon employs a Warburg apparatus whereas we utilise the Barcroft differential apparatus our experimental procedure differs from that of the German workers. The material which we have examined is, moreover, by no means completely identical with that investigated by Ammon. Estimation of choline-esterase.
Relative clause constructions in children with specific language impairment.

BACKGROUND It is well documented that children with specific language impairment (SLI) experience significant grammatical deficits. While much of the focus in the past has been on morphosyntactic difficulties, less is known about their acquisition of multi-clausal constructions such as those containing relative clauses. AIMS To investigate relative clause constructions in English-speaking, school-aged children with SLI using a sentence-recall task. METHODS & PROCEDURES Children with SLI (mean age = 6;10; n = 32) and two control groups, a typically developing group matched for age (AM-TD; mean age = 6;11; n = 32) and a younger typically developing group (YTD; mean age = 4;9; n = 20), repeated sentences that contained relative clauses which represented a range of syntactic roles. The relative clauses were attached either to the predicate nominal of a copular clause or to the direct object of a transitive clause. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Children with SLI showed significantly greater difficulty than both the AM-TD and the YTD groups overall, but found some relative clause types easier than others, displaying a similar profile to typically developing children but at a lower level of performance. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS Children with SLI who are close to 7 years of age have significantly greater difficulty with relative clauses than their age peers and typically developing children who are on average 2 years younger. Their performance is influenced by the matrix clause type, the role of the relativized element within the relative clause, and in object relative clauses, lexical choices within the matrix clause and the relative clause.