Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactions Between Leptin and Hypothalamic Neuropeptide Y Neurons in the Control of Food Intake and Energy Homeostasis in the Rat

Leptin acts on the brain to inhibit feeding, increase thermogenesis, and decrease body weight. Neuropeptide Y (NPY)-ergic neurons of the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC) that project to the paraventricular nuclei (PVN) and dorsomedial nuclei (DMH) are postulated to control energy balance by stimulating feeding and inhibiting thermogenesis, especially under conditions of energy deficit. We investigated whether leptin's short-term effects on energy balance are mediated by inhibition of the NPY neurons. Recombinant murine leptin (11 μg) injected into the lateral ventricle of fasted adult Wistar rats inhibited food intake by 20–25% between 2 and 6 h after administration, compared with saline-treated controls (P < 0.05). Uncoupling protein mRNA levels in brown adipose tissue (BAT) rose by 70% (P < 0.01). Leptin treatment significantly reduced NPY concentrations by 20–50% (P < 0.05) in the ARC, PVN, and DMH and significantly decreased hypothalamic NPY mRNA levels (0.61 ± 0.02 vs. 0.78 ± 0.03 arbitrary units; P < 0.01). A second study examined changes in leptin during 5 days' intracerebroventricular NPY administration (10 μg/day), which induced sustained hyperphagia and excessive weight gain. In NPY-treated rats, leptin mRNA levels in epididymal fat were comparable to those in saline-treated controls (0.94 ± 0.17 vs. 1.0 ± 0.28 arbitrary units; P > 0.1), but plasma leptin levels were significantly higher (4.88 ± 0.66 vs. 2.85 ± 0.20 ng/ml; P < 0.01). Leptin therefore acts centrally to decrease NPY synthesis and NPY levels in the ARC-PVN projection; reduced NPY release in the PVN may mediate leptin's hypophagic and thermogenic actions. Conversely, NPY-induced obesity results in raised circulating leptin concentrations. Leptin and the NPY-ergic ARC-PVN neurons may interact in a homeostatic loop to regulate body fat mass and energy balance.
High Adherence Is Necessary to Realize Health Gains from Water Quality Interventions

Background Safe drinking water is critical for health. Household water treatment (HWT) has been recommended for improving access to potable water where existing sources are unsafe. Reports of low adherence to HWT may limit the usefulness of this approach, however. Methods and Findings We constructed a quantitative microbial risk model to predict gains in health attributable to water quality interventions based on a range of assumptions about pre-treatment water quality; treatment effectiveness in reducing bacteria, viruses, and protozoan parasites; adherence to treatment interventions; volume of water consumed per person per day; and other variables. According to mean estimates, greater than 500 DALYs may be averted per 100,000 person-years with increased access to safe water, assuming moderately poor pre-treatment water quality that is a source of risk and high treatment adherence (>90% of water consumed is treated). A decline in adherence from 100% to 90% reduces predicted health gains by up to 96%, with sharpest declines when pre-treatment water quality is of higher risk. Conclusions Results suggest that high adherence is essential in order to realize potential health gains from HWT.
SharedPhys: Live Physiological Sensing, Whole-Body Interaction, and Large-Screen Visualizations to Support Shared Inquiry Experiences

We present and evaluate a new mixed-reality tool called SharedPhys, which tightly integrates real-time physiological sensing, whole-body interaction, and responsive large-screen visualizations to support new forms of embodied interaction and collaborative learning. While our primary content area is the human body, we use the body and physical activity as a pathway to other STEM areas such as biology, health, and mathematics. We describe our participatory design process with 20 elementary school teachers, the development of three contrasting SharedPhys prototypes, and results from six exploratory evaluations in two after-school programs. Our findings suggest that the tight coupling between physical interaction, sensing, and visualization in a multi-user environment helps promote engagement, allows children to easily explore cause-and-effect relationships, supports and shapes social interactions, and promotes playful experiences.
Astigmatic changes following pterygium removal: Comparison of 5 different methods

Aims: To investigate the effect of surgery type on the postoperative astigmatism in pterygium surgery. Settings and Design: Retrospective comparative clinical trial. Materials and Methods: Data of 240 eyes that underwent pterygium excision were investigated. Following removal of the pterygium, patients underwent 5 different types of surgeries: Conjunctival autograft with sutures (CAG-s) or fibrin glue (CAG-g), conjunctival rotational flap (CRF), or amniotic membrane transplantation with either suture (AMT-s) or with glue (AMT-g). The preoperative and postoperative keratometric measurements, evaluated using an automated keratorefractometer, were noted. Statistical Analysis: The overall changes in BCVA and astigmatic degree were evaluated using Wilcoxon signed rank test. The difference in astigmatic values between groups was calculated using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The most commonly performed procedure was CAG-s (N = 115), followed by CAG-g (N = 53), CRF (N = 47), AMT-s (N = 15), and AMT-g (N = 10). Following surgery, astigmatic values decreased from 3.47 ± 2.50 D to 1.29 ± 1.07 D (P < 0.001, paired t test). The changes in astigmatism was significantly related to the preoperative size of the pterygium (ρ = 3.464, P = 0.005). The postoperative astigmatism correlated with preoperative astigmatism (ρ = 0.351, P < 0.001, Spearman correlation analysis). The changes in astigmatic values was not related to the method of surgery (P = 0.055, ANOVA). Conclusion: Pterygium results in high corneal astigmatism, which decreases to an acceptable level following excision. According to our study, the type of grafting as CAG, CRF or AMT or the use of suture or glue to fixate the graft does not have a significant effect on the change in astigmatism degree.
The Value of Privacy Assurance: An Exploratory Field Experiment

This paper reports the results of an exploratory field experiment in Singapore that assessed the values of two types of privacy assurance: privacy statements and privacy seals. We collaborated with a local firm to host the experiment on its website with its real domain name, and the subjects were not informed of the experiment. Hence, the study provided a field observation of the subjects' behavioral responses toward privacy assurances. We found that (1) the existence of a privacy statement induced more subjects to disclose their personal information but that of a privacy seal did not; (2) monetary incentive had a positive influence on disclosure; and (3) information request had a negative influence on disclosure. These results were robust in other specifications that used alternative measures for some of our model variables. We discuss this study in relation to the extant privacy literature, most of which employs surveys and laboratory experiments for data collection, and draw related managerial implications.
Factors Influencing Adaptation and Performance at Physical Exercise in Complex Congenital Heart Diseases after Surgical Repair

In the last thirty years, steady progress in the diagnostic tools and care of subjects affected by congenital heart diseases (CHD) has resulted in a significant increase in their survival to adulthood, even for those affected by complex CHD. Based on these premises, a number of teenagers and adults affected by corrected (surgically or through interventional techniques) CHD ask to be allowed to undertake sporting activities, both at a recreational and competitive level. The purpose of this review is to examine the mechanisms influencing the adaption at physical exercise of patients suffering from complex CHD. The conclusion is that even if there are some modest risks with exercise, they should be seen in perspective, and the life-long benefits of regular exercise on general health, mood, and well-being should be emphasized.
Selective inhibition of unfolded protein response induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells

Endoplasmic reticulum stress from unfolded proteins is associated with the proliferation of pancreatic tumor cells, making the many regulatory molecules of this pathway appealing targets for therapy. The objective of our study was to assess potential therapeutic efficacy of inhibitors of unfolded protein response (UPR) in pancreatic cancers focusing on IRE1α inhibitors. IRE1α-mediated XBP-1 mRNA splicing encodes a transcription factor that enhances transcription of chaperone proteins in order to reverse UPR. Proliferation assays using a panel of 14 pancreatic cancer cell lines showed a dose- and time-dependent growth inhibition by IRE1α-specific inhibitors (STF-083010, 2-Hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde, 3-Ethoxy-5,6-dibromosalicylaldehyde, toyocamycin). Growth inhibition was also noted using a clonogenic growth assay in soft agar, as well as a xenograft in vivo model of pancreatic cancer. Cell cycle analysis showed that these IRE1α inhibitors caused growth arrest at either the G1 or G2/M phases (SU8686, MiaPaCa2) and induced apoptosis (Panc0327, Panc0403). Western blot analysis showed cleavage of caspase 3 and PARP, and prominent induction of the apoptotic molecule BIM. In addition, synergistic effects were found between either STF-083010, 2-Hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde, 3-Ethoxy-5,6-dibromosalicylaldehyde, or toyocamycin and either gemcitabine or bortezomib. Our data suggest that use of an IRE1α inhibitor is a novel therapeutic approach for treatment of pancreatic cancers.
Association of nutritional markers with physical and mental health status in prevalent hemodialysis patients from the HEMO study.

OBJECTIVE To determine associations of potentially modifiable nutritional factors with physical and mental health status after adjusting for sociodemographic and comorbid conditions. DESIGN Cross-sectional multivariable analysis. SETTING Fifteen dialysis centers across the United States participating in the Reduction of Morbidity and Mortality Among Hemodialysis Patients (HEMO) study. PATIENTS Enrollment of 1,545 prevalent hemodialysis subjects in the HEMO study. INDEPENDENT (PREDICTOR) VARIABLES: The following nutritional markers were assessed in this analysis: serum albumin, energy intake, protein catabolic rate, serum creatinine, midarm muscle circumference, calf circumference, and smoking status. Smoking status, although not a nutritional factor per se, was also included because it is a modifiable lifestyle factor. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Physical and mental health status were assessed using the medical staff-assessed Karnofsky Index and the patient self-assessed Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS After adjusting for sociodemographic factors and comorbid conditions, serum albumin, serum creatinine, and calf circumference were independently associated with Karnofsky Index scores. Similarly, serum creatinine and calf circumference were also independently associated with the Physical Component Summary (PCS) score of the SF-36. Of the nutritional variables selected, no variables were significantly associated with the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score of the SF-36. CONCLUSIONS Markers of poor nutrition were associated with decreased physical functioning scores, independent of case mix. Measures that improve nutrition may therefore have wide-reaching effects to improve not only morbidity and mortality but also health-related quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease.
Family change and the state of family sociology

Profound changes in family-related behavior have occurred over the past 40 years in the US. To evaluate the extent to which family sociology has kept pace with these changes the article first reviews four prominent sociology journals from 1993 to 2011, investigating the range of family types covered in published articles over nearly two decades and the kinds of approaches taken to study non-traditional families. The article then presents two case studies of research areas that have always been central to family studies – reproduction and household labor – to review how changes in family structure impact core family processes and alter the approaches for studying them. The advent of assisted reproductive technologies and the range of living arrangements in which the division of household labor now occurs challenge the parameters of the ‘traditional’ family. The findings indicate that family sociologists have been slow to rethink underlying categories of analysis, methodological approaches and scope of inquiry in the wake of significant changes in family experience. Assumptions about the kinds of family forms and household arrangements underlying family research have not yet expanded to meet new realities in American family life.
Calibration techniques for fully parallel 24 × 24 MIMO sounder

In this paper, the calibration techniques for the fully parallel MIMO sounder was introduced. A simplified B2B calibration measurement method was also proposed. With the automatic calibration processes and the simplified B2B measurement method, it is possible to shorten the time greatly for the calibrations, which provides a solution to the major drawback in a fully parallel architecture of the developed MIMO channel sounder.
A Cerebellar-Vestibular Explanation for Fears/Phobias: Hypothesis and Study

To clarify and test the cerebellar-vestibular (CV) basis of fears/phobias, responses of 4000 learning disabled children, adolescents, and adults with neurological and electronystagmographic (ENG) evidence of CV-dysfunction were analyzed for anxiety-related symptoms. Of this sample, 64.6% indicated fears/phobias; females were significantly more predisposed; mixed-handedness was significantly related to fears of heights and reduced vestibular response or asymmetric vestibular functioning. Also, adults bad a higher incidence of the specific fears/phobias characterizing agoraphobia than children and adolescents. Analysis of factors reported as triggering the fears/phobias led to (1) a classification and theory of fears/phobias, obsessions/compulsions, and related anxiety symptoms based on realistic or traumatic, neurotic, and CV- or other CNS-based mechanisms rather than on DSM-III—R surface descriptions; (2) an understanding of the relationships between mitral valve prolapse, agoraphobia and panic episodes, as well as depression; and (3) new insights into differential diagnosis and selective treatment.
Using Mapping Studies in Software Engineering

Background: A mapping study provides a systematic and objective procedure for identifying the nature and extent of the empirical study data that is available to answer a particular research question. Such studies can also form a useful preliminary step for PhD study. Aim: We set out to assess how effective such studies have been when used for software engineering topics, and to identify the specific challenges that they present. Method: We have conducted an informal review of a number of mapping studies in software engineering, describing their main characteristics and the forms of analysis employed. Results: We examine the experiences and outcomes from six mapping studies, of which four are published. From these we note a recurring theme about the problems of classification and a preponderance of ‘gaps’ in the set of empirical studies. Conclusions: We identify our challenges as improving classification guidelines, encouraging better reporting of primary studies, and argue for identifying some ’empirical grand challenges’ for software engineering as a focus for the community.
Short Text Classiﬁcation Improved by Learning Multi-Granularity Topics

Understanding the rapidly growing short text is very important. Short text is different from traditional documents in its shortness and sparsity, which hinders the application of conventional machine learning and text mining algorithms. Two major approaches have been exploited to enrich the representation of short text. One is to fetch contextual information of a short text to directly add more text; the other is to derive latent topics from existing large corpus, which are used as features to enrich the representation of short text. The latter approach is elegant and efﬁcient in most cases. The major trend along this direction is to derive latent topics of certain granularity through well-known topic models such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). However, topics of certain granularity are usually not sufﬁcient to set up effective feature spaces. In this paper, we move forward along this direction by proposing an method to leverage topics at multiple granularity, which can model the short text more precisely. Taking short text classiﬁcation as an example, we compared our proposed method with the state-of-the-art baseline over one open data set. Our method reduced the classiﬁcation error by 20 . 25 % and 16 . 68 % respectively on two classiﬁers.
Unaltered Instrumental Learning and Attenuated Body-Weight Gain in Rats During Non-rotating Simulated Shiftwork

Exposure to shiftwork has been associated with multiple health disorders and cognitive impairments in humans. We tested if we could replicate metabolic and cognitive consequences of shiftwork, as reported in humans, in a rat model comparable to 5 wks of non-rotating night shifts. The following hypotheses were addressed: (i) shiftwork enhances body-weight gain, which would indicate metabolic effects; and (ii) shiftwork negatively affects learning of a simple goal-directed behavior, i.e., the association of lever pressing with food reward (instrumental learning), which would indicate cognitive effects. We used a novel method of forced locomotion to model work during the animals' normal resting period. We first show that Wistar rats, indeed, are active throughout a shiftwork protocol. In contrast with previous findings, the shiftwork protocol attenuated the normal weight gain to 76 ± 8 g in 5 wks as compared to 123 ± 15 g in the control group. The discrepancy with previous work may be explained by the concurrent observation that with our shiftwork protocol rats did not adjust their between-work circadian activity pattern. They maintained a normal level of activity during the “off-work” periods. In the control experiment, rats were kept active during the dark period, normally dominated by activity. This demonstrated that forced activity, per se, did not affect body-weight gain (mean±SEM: 85 ± 11 g over 5 wks as compared to 84 ± 11 g in the control group). Rats were trained on an instrumental learning paradigm during the fifth week of the protocol. All groups showed equivalent increases in lever pressing from the first (3.8 ± .7) to the sixth (21.3 ± 2.4) session, and needed a similar amount of sessions (5.1 ± .3) to reach a learning criterion (≥27 out of 30 lever presses). These results suggest that while on prolonged non-rotating shiftwork, not fully reversing the circadian rhythm might actually be beneficial to prevent body-weight gain and cognitive impairments. (Author correspondence: C.Leenaars@nin.knaw.nl)
Divisible Transition Systems and Multiplanar Dependency Parsing

Transition-based parsing is a widely used approach for dependency parsing that combines high efficiency with expressive feature models. Many different transition systems have been proposed, often formalized in slightly different frameworks. In this article, we show that a large number of the known systems for projective dependency parsing can be viewed as variants of the same stack-based system with a small set of elementary transitions that can be composed into complex transitions and restricted in different ways. We call these systems divisible transition systems and prove a number of theoretical results about their expressivity and complexity. In particular, we characterize an important subclass called efficient divisible transition systems that parse planar dependency graphs in linear time. We go on to show, first, how this system can be restricted to capture exactly the set of planar dependency trees and, secondly, how the system can be generalized to k-planar trees by making use of multiple stacks. Using the first known efficient test for k-planarity, we investigate the coverage of k-planar trees in available dependency treebanks and find a very good fit for 2-planar trees. We end with an experimental evaluation showing that our 2-planar parser gives significant improvements in parsing accuracy over the corresponding 1-planar and projective parsers for data sets with non-projective dependency trees and performs on a par with the widely used arc-eager pseudo-projective parser.
Characteristic Studies of Ligno-Cellulosic Fabric Grewia tenax

The uniaxial natural fabric Grewia tenax was treated with sodium hydroxide, acetic acid, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and polycarbonate (PC) solutions, and characterized by a variety of techniques. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry were used to characterize the thermal behavior of the fabric. Attenuated total reflectance-infrared spectroscopy was used to characterize the fabric constituents. The morphology of the fabric was studied using scanning electron microscopy technique. X-ray diffraction studies were carried out to determine crystallinity of the fabric. Chemical composition and tensile properties of the fabric samples were also studied. Significant changes were observed in the fabric with various treatments. Tensile properties of the fabric were observed to have improved with PVA and PC treatments. The tensile strength of the fabric was found to be decreased on alkali and acetic acid treatments. The authors conducted all these tests before and after treatments except the chemical composition.
On the actions that one nerve cell can have on another: distinguishing "drivers" from "modulators".

When one nerve cell acts on another, its postsynaptic effect can vary greatly. In sensory systems, inputs from "drivers" can be differentiated from those of "modulators. " The driver can be identified as the transmitter of receptive field properties; the modulator can be identified as altering the probability of certain aspects of that transmission. Where receptive fields are not available, the distinction is more difficult and currently is undefined. We use the visual pathways, particularly the thalamic geniculate relay for which much relevant evidence is available, to explore ways in which drivers can be distinguished from modulators. The extent to which the distinction may apply first to other parts of the thalamus and then, possibly, to other parts of the brain is considered. We suggest the following distinctions: Cross-correlograms from driver inputs have sharper peaks than those from modulators; there are likely to be few drivers but many modulators for any one cell; and drivers are likely to act only through ionotropic receptors having a fast postsynaptic effect whereas modulators also are likely to activate metabotropic receptors having a slow and prolonged postsynaptic effect.