Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary vitamin D2 – a potentially underestimated contributor to vitamin D nutritional status of adults?

It has been suggested that vitamin D2 is not very prevalent in the human food chain. However, data from a number of recent intervention studies suggest that the majority of subjects had measurable serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 (25(OH)D2) concentrations. Serum 25(OH)D2, unlike 25(OH)D3, is not directly influenced by exposure of skin to sun and thus has dietary origins; however, quantifying dietary vitamin D2 is difficult due to the limitations of food composition data. Therefore, the present study aimed to characterise serum 25(OH)D2 concentrations in the participants of the National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS) in Ireland, and to use these serum concentrations to estimate the intake of vitamin D2 using a mathematical modelling approach. Serum 25(OH)D2 concentration was measured by a liquid chromatography–tandem MS method, and information on diet as well as subject characteristics was obtained from the NANS. Of these participants, 78·7 % (n 884) had serum 25(OH)D2 concentrations above the limit of quantification, and the mean, maximum, 10th, 50th (median) and 90th percentile values of serum 25(OH)D2 concentrations were 3·69, 27·6, 1·71, 2·96 and 6·36 nmol/l, respectively. To approximate the intake of vitamin D2 from these serum 25(OH)D2 concentrations, we used recently published data on the relationship between vitamin D intake and the responses of serum 25(OH)D concentrations. The projected 5th to 95th percentile intakes of vitamin D2 for adults were in the range of 0·9–1·2 and 5–6 μg/d, respectively, and the median intake ranged from 1·7 to 2·3 μg/d. In conclusion, the present data demonstrate that 25(OH)D2 concentrations are present in the sera of adults from this nationally representative sample. Vitamin D2 may have an impact on nutritional adequacy at a population level and thus warrants further investigation.
Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts

Payments for environmental services (PES) are part of a new and more direct conservation paradigm, explicitly recognizing the need to bridge the interests of landowners and outsiders. Eloquent theoretical assessments have praised the absolute advantages of PES over traditional conservation approaches. Some pilot PES exist in the tropics, but many field practitioners and prospective service buyers and sellers remain skeptical about the concept. This paper aims to help demystify PES for non-economists, starting with a simple and coherent definition of the term. It then provides practical ‘how-to' hints for PES design. It considers the likely niche for PES in the portfolio of conservation approaches. This assessment is based on a literature review, combined with field observations from research in Latin America and Asia. It concludes that service users will continue to drive PES, but their willingness to pay will only rise if schemes can demonstrate clear additionality vis-a-vis carefully established baselines, if trust-building processes with service providers are sustained, and PES recipients' livelihood dynamics is better understood. PES best suits intermediate and/or projected threat scenarios, often in marginal lands with moderate conservation opportunity costs. People facing credible but medium-sized environmental degradation are more likely to become PES recipients than those living in relative harmony with Nature. The choice between PES cash and in-kind payments is highly context-dependent. Poor PES recipients are likely to gain from participation, though their access might be constrained and non-participating landless poor could lose out. PES is a highly promising conservation approach that can benefit buyers, sellers and improve the resource base, but it is unlikely to completely outstrip other conservation instruments.
Optimal Posted Prices for Online Cloud Resource Allocation

We study online resource allocation in a cloud computing platform through posted pricing: The cloud provider publishes a unit price for each resource type, which may vary over time; upon arrival at the cloud system, a cloud user either takes the current prices, renting resources to execute its job, or refuses the prices without running its job there. We design pricing functions based on current resource utilization ratios, in a wide array of demand-supply relationships and resource occupation durations, and prove worst-case competitive ratios in social welfare. In the basic case of a single-type, non-recycled resource (allocated resources are not later released for reuse), we prove that our pricing function design is optimal, in that it achieves the smallest competitive ratio among all possible pricing functions. Insights obtained from the basic case are then used to generalize the pricing functions to more realistic cloud systems with multiple types of resources, where a job occupies allocated resources for a number of time slots till completion, upon which time the resources are returned to the cloud resource pool.
‘Just Talking About It Opens Your Heart’: meaning-making among Black African migrants and refugees living with HIV

Meaning-making has emerged as a core construct in addressing trauma, loss or crisis. This paper considers how diasporic Black Africans living with HIV, who come from interdependent collectivist cultures where the norm is one of implicit support, extend their meaning-making strategies when faced with a diagnosis of HIV. In this qualitative study, 13 Black African migrants and refugees living with HIV in New Zealand were interviewed and the transcripts analysed. After their diagnosis, participants began a journey of reconceptualising situational and global meaning. They extended their meaning-making strategies to include a community of like others to gain explicit support. Caregivers in host countries must understand the meaning-making processes of HIV-positive Black African migrants in order to provide competent services that lead to good social and health outcomes. All healthcare and social services workers should regularly assess Black African migrants and refugees living with HIV for positive social connectedness as well as medication adherence and more specific health concerns.
Pathways-Driven Sparse Regression Identifies Pathways and Genes Associated with High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Two Asian Cohorts

Standard approaches to data analysis in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) ignore any potential functional relationships between gene variants. In contrast gene pathways analysis uses prior information on functional structure within the genome to identify pathways associated with a trait of interest. In a second step, important single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or genes may be identified within associated pathways. The pathways approach is motivated by the fact that genes do not act alone, but instead have effects that are likely to be mediated through their interaction in gene pathways. Where this is the case, pathways approaches may reveal aspects of a trait's genetic architecture that would otherwise be missed when considering SNPs in isolation. Most pathways methods begin by testing SNPs one at a time, and so fail to capitalise on the potential advantages inherent in a multi-SNP, joint modelling approach. Here, we describe a dual-level, sparse regression model for the simultaneous identification of pathways and genes associated with a quantitative trait. Our method takes account of various factors specific to the joint modelling of pathways with genome-wide data, including widespread correlation between genetic predictors, and the fact that variants may overlap multiple pathways. We use a resampling strategy that exploits finite sample variability to provide robust rankings for pathways and genes. We test our method through simulation, and use it to perform pathways-driven gene selection in a search for pathways and genes associated with variation in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in two separate GWAS cohorts of Asian adults. By comparing results from both cohorts we identify a number of candidate pathways including those associated with cardiomyopathy, and T cell receptor and PPAR signalling. Highlighted genes include those associated with the L-type calcium channel, adenylate cyclase, integrin, laminin, MAPK signalling and immune function.
Listening to Rural Hispanic Immigrants in the Midwest: A Community-Based Participatory Assessment of Major Barriers to Health Care Access and Use

Hispanic immigrants are increasingly residing in rural communities, including in the midwestern United States. Limitations in the ability of rural Hispanics to access and utilize health care contribute to patterns of poor health and health disparity. A conceptual model of “vulnerability” guides this community-based participatory assessment project designed to explore rural Hispanics' perceived barriers to accessing and utilizing health care. Findings from a series of 19 focus groups with 181 participants from three communities in the upper Midwest identified perceived barriers at the individual and health care system levels. The most commonly perceived barriers were the lack of and limitations in health insurance coverage, high costs of health care services, communication issues involving patients and providers, legal status/discrimination, and transportation concerns. Findings imply that these barriers could be addressed using multiple educational and health service delivery policy-related strategies that consider the vulnerable nature of this growing population.
Knowing feeling : affect, script, and psychotherapy

This text explores contemporary affect studies, focusing on the work of Silvan Tomkins, and examining their impact on the theory and practice of psychotherapy. Sections of the book cover research on affect, the theoretical implications of this information for a number of different schools of psychological and pschiatric thought, and the clinical applications of the understanding of innate affect in a variety of disorders.
Treatment of pilonidal sinuses in Denmark is not optimal.

INTRODUCTION The standard treatments of chronic pilonidal sinuses (PS) were previously wide excision with primary midline closure or open treatment by non-specialist surgeons resulting in high rates of unhealed wounds and recurrences. An evidence-based shift from the now obsolete midline procedures towards off-line procedures seems to have occurred over the past 3-4 years. We decided to analyse the present state of PS treatment in Denmark. MATERIAL AND METHODS A questionnaire was sent to all public hospitals and private clinics potentially treating PS. It included questions on the volume of procedures, experience of surgeons, and methods of anaesthesia and procedures in different cases. RESULTS The questionnaire was answered by 37 departments (response rate 95%) in public hospitals and by 92 private clinics (response rate 84%). Off-midline closure was performed in 75% of the public departments, but some of these are also still performing midline surgery in some case. A total of 54% of the public departments are still performing midline surgery in some cases. Local analgesia is used in only 41% of the departments, and in 58% of these departments, local analgesia is used in fewer than 10% of the cases. In 11 (39%) departments, elective PS is performed by one or two surgeons, and there is a significant relation (p = 0.033) between low experience and large number of PS surgeons per department. Midline surgery seems to be performed in departments with more PS surgeons. CONCLUSION Too many surgeons are still performing obsolete midline surgery. National guidelines are needed. The number of cases treated under local analgesia is unsatisfactorily low.
Detection of difficult calvings in dairy cows using neural classifier

Abstract. In this study, the detection of dairy cows with difficult calvings using artificial neural networks (ANN) and classification functions (CF) is presented. The set of 15 classification variables was used. The dependent variable was the class of calving difficulty: difficult or easy. Perceptrons with one (MLP1) and two (MLP2) hidden layers as well as radial basis function (RBF) networks were analyzed. The prepared classifiers were characterized by good quality. The accuracy amounted to 75–92 %. Only the RBF network had somewhat worse quality. The level of correct detection by ANN was also high. The sensitivity on a test set was 67–80 % at specificity of 61- 81 %. In the case of CF, a considerable disproportion between sensitivity (6 %) and specificity (99 %) was found. The variables with the greatest contribution to the determination of calving difficulty class were calving season, CYP19-PvuII genotype, pregnancy length and, to a lesser degree, other variables. The performed analyses proved the usefulness of ANN for the detection of cows with difficult calvings, whereas the detection by CF was inaccurate.
Parallel Fixed Point Implementation of a Radial Basis Function Network in an FPGA

This paper proposes a parallel fixed point radial basis function (RBF) artificial neural network (ANN), implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) trained online with a least mean square (LMS) algorithm. The processing time and occupied area were analyzed for various fixed point formats. The problems of precision of the ANN response for nonlinear classification using the XOR gate and interpolation using the sine function were also analyzed in a hardware implementation. The entire project was developed using the System Generator platform (Xilinx), with a Virtex-6 xc6vcx240t-1ff1156 as the target FPGA.
Konstruksi dan Identifikasi Properti Psikometris Instrumen Pengukuran Kebahagiaan Berbasis Pendekatan Indigenous Psychology: Studi Multitrait-Multimethod

The aim of this study was to develop a scale of happiness based on indigenous psychology approach and identify it’s psychometric properties. The research was divided into three step of scenario: 1. happiness construct exploration based on indigenous psychology approach; 2. Develop the construct into a scale of happiness (Likert model); and 3. Identify it’s psychometric properties (reliability and validity). The psychometric properties analyses consist of internal consistency reliability (alpha‐Cronbach) and construct validity (convergent‐discriminant). Multitrait‐multimethod matrix was used on the analysis in order to identify the convergent‐discriminant validity (including three comparative scales: Self‐Esteem Scale Rosenberg, Self‐Esteem Inventory Coopersmith, and PGC Morale Scale). The exploration result shows a unique indicators of happiness in the East native culture (N=604). The psychometric properties analysis show the alpha reliability α=0.895 and the validity was psychometrically accepted (N=111). The conclusion of this study: happiness is a unique construct that consist of strong contextual aspects and the measurement of a native happiness should used a scale of happiness that based on indigenous psychology approach. Further result will be discussed.
Age and body make a difference in optimistic health beliefs and nutrition behaviors

Nutrition behaviors are governed by health beliefs such as risk perceptions, outcome expectancies, and optimistic self-beliefs. This study deals with the role that objective criteria such as age and body weight might play in forming subjective beliefs. The question is whether they can deter people from forming an overly optimistic judgment of their health risk. Six kinds of verbal judgments were assessed, namely self-reported health, vulnerability toward cardiovascular diseases, nutrition outcome expectancies, nutrition self-efficacy, intentions to change one’s diet, and reported nutrition behaviors. In a sample of 1,583 men and women between 14 and 87 years of age, these judgments were statistically related to age and body weight. It was found that people do take their objective risk status into account, but only to a certain degree. The self-serving bias continues to exist throughout all age groups and weight levels. Moreover, it was found that individuals report better intentions to adhere to healthy foods and better nutrition behaviors as they grow older and gain weight.
Adolescents' experiences of psychosocial support after traumatisation in a school shooting.

BACKGROUND In November 2007, a student shot and killed eight people and himself at Jokela High School, Finland. METHOD Availability and experiences of psychosocial support were investigated using data (N=231) collected with a questionnaire 4 months after the event. RESULTS Female gender, severity of trauma, psychiatric disturbance and post-traumatic distress were associated with receiving psychosocial support. Over half of the students with a high level of trauma-related symptoms reported immediate support as having been helpful. Additionally, support from family and friends was available to a majority of students. CONCLUSIONS The factors associated with not receiving support or not feeling helped should be studied further for possible implications on crisis interventions.
Cerebellar Involvement in Motor Speech Planning: Some Further Evidence from Foreign Accent Syndrome

Background: Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech disorder that usually follows from damage to the motor speech areas of the language-dominant hemisphere. Recently, a vascular FAS patient was reported in whom a close parallelism was found between the infratentorial perfusional changes on SPECT and the regression of FAS symptoms. Based on the correlation between the near remission of a right cerebellar hypoperfusion and the near remission of FAS, it was hypothesized that the ‘linguistic cerebellum’ might be involved in the pathogenesis of motor speech planning disorders [Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2006;108:518–522]. Aim: In this article the presumed role of the cerebellum in FAS is further investigated on the basis of an additional FAS case. Methods: Phonetic, neurobehavioral and neuroimaging data were analyzed and clinical-anatomical correlations were investigated. Results: In both patients, a close correspondence was found between the neurolinguistic findings and the functional neuroimaging data. 99mTc ECD SPECT follow-up studies demonstrated that clinical recovery of FAS symptoms was accompanied by a remission of a right cerebellar hypoperfusion. Conclusion: The present study, in which the data of a new FAS patient are discussed, corroborates the view that FAS may follow disruption of a close functional interplay between the supra- and infratentorial motor speech centers.
Regulation and intracellular localization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strand exchange protein 1 (Sep1/Xrn1/Kem1), a multifunctional exonuclease

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae strand exchange protein 1 (Sep1; also referred to as Xrn1, Kem1, Rar5, or Stp beta) catalyzes the formation of hybrid DNA from model substrates in vitro. The protein is also a 5'-to-3' exonuclease active on DNA and RNA. Multiple roles for the in vivo function of Sep1, ranging from DNA recombination and cytoskeleton to RNA turnover, have been proposed. We show that Sep1 is an abundant protein in vegetative S. cerevisiae cells, present at about 80,000 molecules per diploid cell. Protein levels were not changed during the cell cycle or in response to DNA-damaging agents but increased twofold during meiosis. Cell fractionation and indirect immunofluorescence studies indicated that > 90% of Sep1 was cytoplasmic in vegetative cells, and indirect immunofluorescence indicated a cytoplasmic localization in meiotic cells as well. The localization supports the proposal that Sep1 has a role in cytoplasmic RNA metabolism. Anti-Sep1 monoclonal antibodies detected cross-reacting antigens in the fission yeast Schizosccharomyces pombe, in Drosophila melanogaster embryos, in Xenopus laevis, and in a mouse pre-B-cell line.
Chronic mercury exposure at different concentrations produces opposed vascular responses in rat aorta

Mercury chloride exposure for 30 days decreases NO bioavailability and increases oxidative stress. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of mercury on the cardiovascular system are not completely understood, and it is not known if they are dose‐dependent or if some concentrations have no harmful effects. Thus, we investigated the effects of chronic exposure to doses low (half) and high (2.5‐fold higher) than that needed to obtain 29 nmol/L of HgCl2 on the vascular function. Three‐month‐old male Wistar rats received intramuscular (i.m.) HgCl2 for 30 days and were divided in three groups: lower (Low Hg); higher (High Hg); and saline was used as the control. High Hg exposure increased the contractile response to phenylephrine (PHE) in aortic rings, but Low Hg reduced it. The hyporesponsiveness in the Low Hg rats was blunted by endothelial denudation and NOS inhibition with l‐NAME (100 μmol/L). The phosphorylated‐eNOS/eNOS protein ratio increased in the aortas of Low Hg rats. In the High Hg group, endothelial denudation increased the PHE‐induced contractions, while l‐NAME had no effects and indomethacin (10 μmol/L), losartan (10 μmol/L) and apocynin (30 μmol/L) reduced this response. In the High Hg group, protein levels of the NADPH oxidase subunit gp91phox and cyclooxygenase‐2 increased. Our results support previous suggestions that High Hg increases oxidative stress that might activate an inflammatory cascade and the renin‐angiotensin system. However, very low Hg concentrations below the level considered safe still reduced vascular reactivity, suggesting the need for special attention to continuous exposure as a putative cause of increased cardiovascular risk.
A Trust-based Secured Performant Funnel Mobile Service Discovery and Exposure Model

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is subject of various evolutions and refinements. Guideline of these improvement is to upgrade subscriber experience by proposing services and features that respond to its requirements. These features include different actors namely, operators, service providers and subscribers. Through such networks, an important mass of information exists. Many exchanges and interactions are performed between actors. Information, and especially sensitive ones, may be target of malicious attacks. Thus, ensuring actors identity and securing information exchanges through networks remains necessary. Network performance should not be deteriorated at the expense of security aspect. This paper presents our Trust-based Secured Performant Funnel based Mobile Service Discovery and Exposure Model to get around the presented problematic with optimization metrics to avoid network performances deterioration. Results shows improvement compared to other works on several axes.
Exploring the Space of Topic Coherence Measures

Quantifying the coherence of a set of statements is a long standing problem with many potential applications that has attracted researchers from different sciences. The special case of measuring coherence of topics has been recently studied to remedy the problem that topic models give no guaranty on the interpretablity of their output. Several benchmark datasets were produced that record human judgements of the interpretability of topics. We are the first to propose a framework that allows to construct existing word based coherence measures as well as new ones by combining elementary components. We conduct a systematic search of the space of coherence measures using all publicly available topic relevance data for the evaluation. Our results show that new combinations of components outperform existing measures with respect to correlation to human ratings. nFinally, we outline how our results can be transferred to further applications in the context of text mining, information retrieval and the world wide web.