Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of GSK‐3β increases trabecular bone volume but not cortical bone volume in adenine‐induced uremic mice with severe hyperparathyroidism

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk for bone fractures compared with the general population. Repression of the Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway is associated with bone abnormalities. Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)‐3β, a critical component of the Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway, increases bone volume through accumulation of β‐catenin. It remains unknown whether inhibition of GSK‐3β increases bone volume in CKD. The present in vivo study examined the effects of GSK‐3β inhibition on bone volume in CKD mice. Wild‐type mice were divided into three groups. One group was fed a control diet (CNT) and the other two groups were fed a diet containing 0.2% adenine and given water with or without lithium chloride (LiCl), a GSK‐3 inhibitor (CKD, CKD+LiCl, respectively). GSK‐3β heterozygous knockout mice were fed a diet containing 0.2% adenine (CKD‐GSK‐3β+/−). After 6 weeks, trabecular and cortical bone volumes of the femur were analyzed using microcomputed tomography. CKD mice developed azotemia, hyperphosphatemia, and hyperparathyroidism, followed by a decrease in cortical bone volume without any change in trabecular bone volume. Serum levels of urea nitrogen, phosphate, and parathyroid hormone were comparable among the three groups of CKD mice. Trabecular bone volume increased in CKD‐GSK‐3β+/− and CKD+LiCl mice compared with CNT and CKD mice. However, there were no significant differences in cortical bone volume among the three groups of CKD mice. The results suggest that inhibition of GSK‐3β increases trabecular bone volume but not cortical bone volume in adenine‐induced uremic mice with uncontrolled hyperparathyroidism.
Mining Diagnostic Taxonomy and Diagnostic Rules for Multi-Stage Medical Diagnosis from Hospital Clinical Data

Experts' reasoning selects the final diagnosis from many candidates by using hierarchical differential diagnosis. In other words, candidates give a sophisticated hiearchical taxonomy, usually described as a tree. In this paper, the characteristics of experts' rules are closely examined from the viewpoint of hierarchical decision steps and and a new approach to rule mining with extraction of diagnostic taxonomy from medical datasets is introduced. The key elements of this approach are calculation of the characterization set of each decision attribute (a given class) and one of the similarities between characterization sets. From the relations between similarities, tree-based taxonomy is obtained, which includes enough information for hierarchical diagnosis. The proposed method was evaluated on three medical datasets, the experimental results of which show that induced rules correctly represent experts' decision processes.
Dyspnea-pain counterirritation induced by inspiratory threshold loading: a laser-evoked potentials study.

BACKGROUND experimentally induced dyspnea of the work/effort type inhibits, in a top-down manner, the spinal transmission of nociceptive inputs (dyspnea-pain counterirritation). Previous studies have demonstrated that this inhibition can be assessed by measuring the nociceptive flexion reflex (RIII). However, its clinical application is limited because of the strong discomfort associated with the electrical stimuli required to elicit the RIII reflex. STUDY OBJECTIVES we examined whether the dyspnea-pain counterirritation phenomenon can be evaluated by measuring the effect of work/effort type dyspnea on the magnitude of laser-evoked brain potentials (LEPs). METHODS 10 normal male volunteers were studied (age: 19-30 years). LEPs were elicited using a CO(2) laser stimulator delivering 10- to 15-ms stimuli of 6 ± 0.7 W over a 12.5 mm(2) area. The EEG was recorded using nine scalp channels. Non-nociceptive somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) served as control. LEPs and SEPs were recorded before, during, and after 10 min of experimentally induced dyspnea [inspiratory threshold loading (ITL)]. RESULTS pain caused by the nociceptive laser stimulus was mild. ITL consistently induced dyspnea, mostly of the "excessive effort" type. Amplitude of the N2-P2 wave of LEPs decreased by 37.6 ± 13.8% during ITL and was significantly correlated with the intensity of dyspnea [r = 0.66, CI 95% (0.08-0.92, P = 0.0319)]. In contrast, ITL had no effect on the magnitude of non-nociceptive SEPs. DISCUSSION experimentally induced dyspnea of the work/effort type reduces the magnitude of LEPs. This reduction correlates with the intensity of dyspnea. The recording of LEPs could constitute a clinically applicable approach to assess the dyspnea-pain counterirritation phenomenon in patients.
Immigration Economics by George J. Borjas: A Review Essay

We review Immigration Economics by George J. Borjas, published in 2014 by Harvard University Press. The book is written as a graduate-level textbook, and summarizes and updates many of Borjas's important contributions to the field over the past thirty years. A key message of the book is that immigration poses significant costs to many members of the host-country labor market. Though the theoretical and econometric approaches presented in the book will be very useful for students and specialists in the field, we argue that the book presents a one-sided view of immigration, with little or no attention to the growing body of work that offers a more nuanced picture of how immigrants fit into the host-country market and affect native workers.
Exogenous Cortisol Administration; Effects on Risk Taking Behavior, Exercise Performance, and Physiological and Neurophysiological Responses

Rationale: Exogenous cortisol is a modulator of behavior related to increased motivated decision making (Putman et al., 2010), where risky choices yield potentially big reward. Making risk based judgments has been shown to be important to athletes in optimizing pacing during endurance events (Renfree et al., 2014; Micklewright et al., 2015). Objectives: Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine the effect of 50 mg exogenous cortisol on neurophysiological responses and risk taking behavior in nine healthy men. Further to this, to examine the effect of exogenous cortisol on exercise performance. Methods: Using a double blind counterbalanced design, cyclists completed a placebo (PLA), and a cortisol (COR) trial (50 mg cortisol), with drug ingestion at 0 min. Each trial consisted of a rest period from 0 to 60 min, followed by a risk taking behavior task, a 30 min time trial (TT) with 5 × 30 s sprints at the following time intervals; 5, 11, 17, 23, and 29 min. Salivary cortisol (SaCOR), Electroencephalography (EEG) and Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRs) were measured at 15, 30, 45, and 60 min post-ingestion. Glucose and lactate samples were taken at 0 and 60 min post-ingestion. During exercise, power output (PO), heart rate (HR), EEG, and NIRS were measured. SaCOR was measured 10 min post-exercise. Results: Cortisol increased risk taking behavior from baseline testing. This was in line with significant neurophysiological changes at rest and during exercise. At rest, SaCOR levels were higher (P < 0.01) in COR compared to PLA (29.7 ± 22.7 and 3.27 ± 0.7 nmol/l, respectively). At 60 min alpha slow EEG response was higher in COR than PLA in the PFC (5.5 ± 6.4 vs. −0.02 ± 8.7% change; P < 0.01). During the TT there was no difference in total km, average power or average sprint power, although Peak power (PP) achieved was lower in COR than PLA (465.3 ± 83.4 and 499.8 ± 104.3; P < 0.05) and cerebral oxygenation was lower in COR (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This is the first study to examine the effect of exogenous cortisol on exercise performance. These results are in line with previous research showing altered risk taking behavior following exogenous cortisol, however the altered behavior did not translate into changes in exercise performance.
PENGARUH HUMAN RELATIONS TERHADAP KINERJA PEGAWAI DI KANTOR WILAYAH KEMENTERIAN AGAMA PROVINSI SULAWESI TENGAH

This study aimed to examine the effect of independent variable human relations on employee performance. The data in this study were collected by the method of observation, interview and questionnaires. Data analysis techniques used multiple regression analysis. The population in this study is all employees in the Ministry of Religious Affairs Regional Office of Central Sulawesi Province as many as 126 people. The sampling technique used is proportional stratified random sampling, which took samples of the number of respondents as many as 96 employees. The theory used the principle of human relations from Reece, Brant and Howie, while the performance used Sumarsono theory. The results of this study simultaneously showed a positive and significant relationship between human relations and employee performance by 0.649 or 64.9% with the level of the relationship amounted to 62.1% which means included in the category of Strong influence. In the other words it can be stated that if human relations increases, the performance of employees also increased, and vice versa if human relations also decreases the performance decreases. Partially, the dominant dimension of human relations significantly affect to the performance of employees in the Ministry of Religious Affairs Office of Central Sulawesi Province is Trust (x1.5), while the lowest dimension contributes is Motivation (X1.4). Meanwhile, Self-Disclosure dimension (X1.6) provide no significant effect on the performance of employees.
Corporate Governance Diversity and Its Impact on Intellectual Capital Performance in an Emerging Economy

This study addresses various deficiencies in the corporate governance and intellectual capital literature by examining the association between the level of gender and ethnic diversity on the boards of directors of South African publicly listed firms and their degree of intellectual capital performance. A total of eighty-four South African publicly listed firms were included in this study. Empirical results indicated a positive association between the percentage of female and non-white directors on the boards of directors of South African publicly listed status and a firm’s intellectual capital performance. Based on the results of this study, it is concluded South African publicly listed firms may be able to enhance their intellectual capital performance by utilizing a well balanced and structured board of directors in terms of gender and ethnic representation. Finally, for a conceptual perspective, the results of this study support the application of resourcedependence theory as a relevant theoretical framework to examine and explain factors influencing intellectual capital performance.
Modulation of dayside reconnection during northward interplanetary magnetic field

On 17 September 2000 the IMF was directed continuously northward for more than 3 hours. Density fluctuations in the solar wind resulted in quasiperiodic variations in the solar wind dynamic pressure, and correlated fluctuations also occurred in the IMF Bz component. The Northern Hemisphere SuperDARN radars observed bursts of high-latitude high-velocity plasma flow during this northward IMF interval, both when ionospheric signatures consistent with low-latitude merging were observed and when lobe merging was occurring. On average the recurrence period of these flow bursts was ∼22 min. During this time the SI-12 spectrographic imager channel on the IMAGE spacecraft observed the dayside proton auroral spot continuously (Frey et al., 2003a). The brightness of the auroral spot varied over time. Here we find a direct correlation between the occurrence of bursts of plasma flow and periodic fluctuations in the brightness of the proton auroral spot. Our results suggest that correlated fluctuations in the solar wind dynamic pressure and IMF Bz component modulated ionospheric precipitation and dayside reconnection, resulting in fluctuations in the brightness of the proton auroral spot and periodic variations in the dayside high-latitude plasma flow.
Attentional Control and Subjective Executive Function in Treatment-Naive Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

We investigated performance-derived measures of executive control, and their relationship with self- and informant reported executive functions in everyday life, in treatment-naive adults with newly diagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; n = 36) and in healthy controls (n = 35). Sustained attentional control and response inhibition were examined with the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.). Delayed responses, increased reaction time variability, and higher omission error rate to Go signals in ADHD patients relative to controls indicated fluctuating levels of attention in the patients. Furthermore, an increment in NoGo commission errors when Go stimuli increased relative to NoGo stimuli suggests reduced inhibition of task-irrelevant stimuli in conditions demanding frequent responding. The ADHD group reported significantly more cognitive and behavioral executive problems than the control group on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A). There were overall not strong associations between task performance and ratings of everyday executive function. However, for the ADHD group, T.O. V.A. omission errors predicted self-reported difficulties on the Organization of Materials scale, and commission errors predicted informant reported difficulties on the same scale. Although ADHD patients endorsed more symptoms of depression and anxiety on the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) than controls, ASEBA scores were not significantly associated with T.O. V.A. performance scores. Altogether, the results indicate multifaceted alteration of attentional control in adult ADHD, and accompanying subjective difficulties with several aspects of executive function in everyday living. The relationships between the two sets of data were modest, indicating that the measures represent non-redundant features of adult ADHD.
Differential Effects of Phosphatase Inhibitors on the Calcium Homeostasis and Migration of HaCaT Keratinocytes

Changes in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) as well as in the phosphorylation state of proteins have been implicated in keratinocyte wound healing revealed in scratch assays. Scratching confluent HaCaT monolayers decreased the number of cells displaying repetitive Ca2+ oscillations as well as the frequency of their Ca2+-transients in cells close to the wounded area and initiated migration of the cells into the wound bed. In contrast, calyculin-A (CLA) and okadaic acid (OA), known cell permeable inhibitors of protein phosphatase-1 and 2A, increased the level of resting [Ca2+]i and suppressed cell migration and wound healing of HaCaT cells. Furthermore, neither CLA nor OA influenced how scratching affected Ca2+ oscillations. It is assumed that changes in and alterations of the phosphorylation level of Ca2+-transport and contractile proteins upon phosphatase inhibition mediates cell migration and wound healing.
Early Goal-Directed Top-Down Influences in the Production of Speech

It was recently reported that the conscious intention to produce speech affects the speed with which lexical information is retrieved upon presentation of an object (Strijkers et al., 2011). The goal of the present study was to elaborate further on the role of these top-down influences in the course of planning speech behavior. In an event-related potentials (ERP) experiment, participants were required to overtly name pictures and words in one block of trials, while categorizing the same stimuli in another block of trials. The ERPs elicited by the naming task started to diverge very early on (∼170 ms) from those elicited by the semantic categorization task. Interestingly, these early ERP differences related to task intentionality were identical for pictures and words. From these results we conclude that (a) in line with Strijkers et al. (2011), goal-directed processes play a crucial role very early on in speech production, and (b) these task-driven top-down influences function at least in a domain-general manner by modulating those networks which are always relevant for the production of language, irrespective of which cortical pathways are triggered by the input.
Personal salience and political representation A micro-foundation and some empirical evidence

This paper deals with the concept of salience in models of representation. It develops the argument that salience should be conceptualized and measured at the citizen level. Only then can we ensure a functioning micro link of how salience influences the process of representation. The paper discusses first how issue salience has been seen in the literature before turning to its own argument. Some testable hypotheses are derived from the empirical reasoning about how personal salience could enrich our understanding of representation. These hypotheses are then tested with Swiss election data (2007). The results indicate that personal salience plays a role at the individual and party level and that we indeed get different results when relying on a congruence indicator based on salient issues or on one based on an average of issues or on the left-right dimension. Finally, normative considerations of a salience based model of representation are raised.
Strengthening the Case for the Yield Curve as a Predictor of U.S. Recessions

Past experience has led financial market participants to believe that future interest rates will be closely related to the performance of the economy. If so, the shape of the yield curve ought to summarize the implicit economic forecasts of a broad range of bond traders. Previous research has demonstrated that, relative to carefully tailored forecasting variables such as the index of leading indicators, the yield curve is an excellent predictor of recessions. In this article, Michael Dueker shows that the predictive power of the yield curve does not diminish when examined in the context of econometric models with more sophisticated baseline forecasts.
Length of stay as a predictor of reliable change in psychological recovery and well being following residential substance abuse treatment

Purpose Longer length of stay (LOS) in residential alcohol and other drug treatment has been associated with more favourable outcomes, but the optimal duration has yet to be determined for reliable change indices. Optimal durations are likely to be a function of participant and problem characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether LOS in a residential therapeutic community for alcohol and other drug treatment community independently predicts reliable change across a range of psychological recovery and well-being measures. Design/methodology/approach In total, 380 clients from Australian Salvation Army residential alcohol and other drug treatment facilities were assessed at intake and three months post-discharge using the Addiction Severity Index 5th ed., The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, The Recovery Assessment Scale, the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form and The Life Engagement Test. Findings The findings confirm LOS as an independent predictor of reliable change on measures of well-being and client perceived assessment of recovery. The mean LOS that differentiated reliable change from no improvement was 37.37 days. Originality/value The finding of LOS as a predictor of reliable change and the identification of an estimated time requirement may be useful for residential drug treatment providers in modifying treatment durations.
The Double-Channeled Effects of Experience in Individual Decisions: An Experimental Study

People often make decisions with both descriptive and experiential information available. However, little is known about the role of experience in individual economic decisions with the presence of descriptions. The present paper investigates this issue using an experiment with asset buying tasks and belief elicitation. We document the double-channeled effects of experience: controlling for beliefs, participants significantly relied on experience, repurchasing more assets from which they gained than lost; experience also distorted beliefs, inducing optimism on assets from which they gained, and pessimism on unowned assets. In calibrations, reinforcement learning significantly added predictive power to expected utility models.
Mean Square Convergence Rates for Maximum Quasi-Likelihood Estimators

In this note we study the behavior of maximum quasilikelihood estimators (MQLEs) for a class of statistical models, in which only knowledge about the first two moments of the response variable is assumed. This class includes, but is not restricted to, generalized linear models with general link function. Our main results are related to guarantees on existence, strong consistency and mean square convergence rates of MQLEs. The rates are obtained from first principles and are stronger than known a.s. rates. Our results find important application in sequential decision problems with parametric uncertainty arising in dynamic pricing.
Towards a Probabilistic Model for Lexical Entailment Is It worth Submitting This Run? Assess Your Rte System with a Good Sparring Partner Representing and Resolving Ambiguities in Ontology-based Question Answering Workshop Program Representing and Resolving Ambiguities in Ontology-based Question Ans

Reading comprehension activities are an authentic task including a rich, language-based context, which makes them an interesting reallife challenge for research into automatic content analysis. For textual entailment research, content assessment of reading comprehension exercises provides an interesting opportunity for extrinsic, real-purpose evaluation, which also supports the integration of context and task information into the analysis. In this paper, we discuss the first results for content assessment of reading comprehension activities for German and present results which are competitive with the current state of the art for English. Diving deeper into the results, we provide an analysis in terms of the different question types and the ways in which the information asked for is encoded in the text. We then turn to analyzing the role of the question and argue that the surface-based account of information that is given in the question should be replaced with a more sophisticated, linguistically informed analysis of the information structuring of the answer in the context of the question that it is a response to.
Gang Affiliation as a Measure of Social Structure in Social Structure Social Learning Theory

Abstract The current study seeks to evaluate the use of gang membership as a measure of social structure in social structure social learning theory. The Evaluation of Gang Resistance Education and Training Program in the United States, 1995–1999 dataset was used with structural equation modeling to test if inclusion of gang membership as a social structure variable was a better predictor of deviance than social learning elements alone. The analysis suggests that gang membership will have an impact on the mechanisms of social learning, supporting the use of gang membership as a measure of social structure.
Multi-media theme repertoires in the everyday identity practices of young adults

Abstract While the role of the media in the identity work of children, adolescents, migrants or fans of particular genres and formats has seen much research, little attention has been paid to the impact of everyday media practices on the general identity work of young adults. To address this gap, we conducted an explorative study based on four-week media diaries of 59 students. These were used to identify four different types of multi-media theme repertoires and the ways in which they are employed for different identity practices. While drama-lovers and sports-fans differ strongly in their thematic interests, they share a similar identity style, relying mostly on practices of identification and of expressing their affiliation to certain in-groups via media content. In contrast, the identity style of news-aficionados and intense-media-users is mainly based on practices of distinction.