Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Mothers’ Nutrition Knowledge and Attitudes on Their Purchase Intention for Infant Cereal with No Added Sugar Claim

A higher sugar intake in infancy might result in a predisposition to a higher sugar intake in later childhood. In Taiwan, many commercial infant and toddler foods with nutrition claims have high sugar content. This study explored the influence of mothers’ knowledge and attitudes on their purchase intention for infant food with nutrition claims. This study was a cross-sectional survey. An online survey was distributed to 940 mothers who had a child aged between 4 months and 3 years; 40% of mothers tend to misunderstand that “no added sugar” (NAS) indicates no sugar or less sugar content and, thus, that NAS infant cereal is healthy. Approximately 50–70% of mothers believe that NAS infant cereal is more natural, healthier, and contains less sugar. Attitude toward the NAS claim was found to be a mediating variable between sugar-related knowledge and purchase intention. The lower the level of sugar-related knowledge was, the more positive the attitude toward NAS infant cereal and the higher the purchase intention for NAS infant cereal were. In the future, regulation of no added sugar is needed to avoid the misleading information and mothers’ sugar-related knowledge need to be improved through nutrition education.
Deriving Total Suspended Matter Concentration from the Near-Infrared-Based Inherent Optical Properties over Turbid Waters: A Case Study in Lake Taihu

Normalized water-leaving radiance spectra nLw(λ), particle backscattering coefficients bbp(λ) in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths, and total suspended matter (TSM) concentrations over turbid waters are analytically correlated. To demonstrate the use of bbp(λ) in the NIR wavelengths in coastal and inland waters, we used in situ optics and TSM data to develop two TSM algorithms from measurements of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) using backscattering coefficients at the two NIR bands bbp(745) and bbp(862) for Lake Taihu. The correlation coefficients between the modeled TSM concentrations from bbp(745) and bbp(862) and the in situ TSM are 0.93 and 0.92, respectively. A different in situ dataset acquired between 2012 and 2016 for Lake Taihu was used to validate the performance of the NIR TSM algorithms for VIIRS-SNPP observations. TSM concentrations derived from VIIRS-SNPP observations with these two NIR bbp(λ)-based TSM algorithms matched well with in situ TSM concentrations in Lake Taihu between 2012 and 2016. The normalized root mean square errors (NRMSEs) for the two NIR algorithms are 0.234 and 0.226, respectively. The two NIR-based TSM algorithms are used to compute the satellite-derived TSM concentrations to study the seasonal and interannual variability of the TSM concentration in Lake Taihu between 2012 and 2016. In fact, the NIR-based TSM algorithms are analytically based with minimal in situ data to tune the coefficients. They are not sensitive to the possible nLw(λ) saturation in the visible bands for highly turbid waters, and have the potential to be used for estimation of TSM concentrations in turbid waters with similar NIR nLw(λ) spectra as those in Lake Taihu.
Hyperspectral Unmixing via Low-Rank Representation with Space Consistency Constraint and Spectral Library Pruning

Spectral unmixing is a popular technique for hyperspectral data interpretation. It focuses on estimating the abundance of pure spectral signature (called as endmembers) in each observed image signature. However, the identification of the endmembers in the original hyperspectral data becomes a challenge due to the lack of pure pixels in the scenes and the difficulty in estimating the number of endmembers in a given scene. To deal with these problems, the sparsity-based unmixing algorithms, which regard a large standard spectral library as endmembers, have recently been proposed. However, the high mutual coherence of spectral libraries always affects the performance of sparse unmixing. In addition, the hyperspectral image has the special characteristics of space. In this paper, a new unmixing algorithm via low-rank representation (LRR) based on space consistency constraint and spectral library pruning is proposed. The algorithm includes the spatial information on the LRR model by means of the spatial consistency regularizer which is based on the assumption that: it is very likely that two neighbouring pixels have similar fractional abundances for the same endmembers. The pruning strategy is based on the assumption that, if the abundance map of one material does not contain any large values, it is not a real endmember and will be removed from the spectral library. The algorithm not only can better capture the spatial structure of data but also can identify a subset of the spectral library. Thus, the algorithm can achieve a better unmixing result and improve the spectral unmixing accuracy significantly. Experimental results on both simulated and real hyperspectral datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Is intake of breakfast cereals related to total and cause-specific mortality in men?

BACKGROUND Prospective studies suggested that substituting whole-grain products for refined-grain products lowers the risks of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. Although breakfast cereals are a major source of whole and refined grains, little is known about their direct association with the risk of premature mortality. OBJECTIVE We prospectively evaluated the association between whole- and refined-grain breakfast cereal intakes and total and CVD-specific mortality in a cohort of US men. DESIGN We examined 86,190 US male physicians aged 40-84 y in 1982 who were free of known CVD and cancer at baseline. RESULTS During 5.5 y, we documented 3114 deaths from all causes, including 1381 due to CVD (488 myocardial infarctions and 146 strokes). Whole-grain breakfast cereal intake was inversely associated with total and CVD-specific mortality, independent of age; body mass index; smoking; alcohol intake; physical activity; history of diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol; and use of multivitamins. Compared with men who rarely or never consumed whole-grain cereal, men in the highest category of whole-grain cereal intake (> or = 1 serving/d) had multivariate-estimated relative risks of total and CVD-specific mortality of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.94; P for trend < 0.001) and 0.80 (0.66, 0.97; P for trend < 0.001), respectively. In contrast, total and refined-grain breakfast cereal intakes were not significantly associated with total and CVD-specific mortality. These findings persisted in analyses stratified by history of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS Both total mortality and CVD-specific mortality were inversely associated with whole-grain but not refined-grain breakfast cereal intake. These prospective data highlight the importance of distinguishing whole-grain from refined-grain cereals in the prevention of chronic diseases.
Paranasal sinus development and choanal atresia.

BACKGROUND Although the determinates of paranasal sinus development and sinusitis are not well defined, a candidate factor is blockage of the choana. HYPOTHESIS Maxillary sinuses ipsilateral to unilateral choanal atresia are comparatively small and have more evidence of sinusitis than do the contralateral sinuses. DESIGN Retrospective. SETTING Children's hospitals. PATIENTS Sixteen nonsyndomic children with isolated unilateral congenital choanal atresia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Determination of maxillary sinus volumes and mucoperiosteal thickening on preoperative computed tomograms. RESULTS Maxillary sinuses ipsilateral to unilateral choanal atresia have slightly larger volumes than, and mucoperiosteal thickening that is similar to, the contralateral sinuses. CONCLUSION These data suggest that maxillary sinus development and sinusitis are independent of posterior nasal ventilation and drainage.
Act versus Impact: Conservatives and liberals exhibit different structural emphases in moral judgment

Conservatives and liberals disagree sharply on matters of morality and public policy. We propose a novel account of the psychological basis of these differences. Specifically, we find that conservatives tend to emphasize the intrinsic value of actions during moral judgment, in part by mentally simulating themselves performing those actions, while liberals instead emphasize the value of the expected outcomes of the action. We then demonstrate that a structural emphasis on actions is linked to the condemnation of victimless crimes, a distinctive feature of conservative morality. Next, we find that the conservative and liberal structural approaches to moral judgment are associated with their corresponding patterns of reliance on distinct moral foundations. In addition, the structural approach uniquely predicts that conservatives will be more opposed to harm in circumstances like the well-known trolley problem, a result which we replicate. Finally, we show that the structural approaches of conservatives and liberals are partly linked to underlying cognitive styles (intuitive versus deliberative). Collectively, these findings forge a link between two important yet previously independent lines of research in political psychology: cognitive style and moral foundations theory.
Impact of random telegraph noise on CMOS logic delay uncertainty under low voltage operation

Statistical nature of RTN-induced delay fluctuation is described by measuring 2,520 ROs fabricated in a commercial 40 nm CMOS technology. Small number of samples have a large RTN-induced delay fluctuation. RTN-induced delay fluctuation becomes as much as 10.4% of nominal oscillation frequency under low supply voltage (0.65V). By slightly increasing the transistor size, more than 50% reduction of frequency uncertainty can be achieved under 0.75V operation. The impact of the parameters that can be changed by circuit designers is clarified in view of RTN-induced CMOS logic delay uncertainty.
A novel Meloidogyne graminicola effector, MgMO237, interacts with multiple host defence-related proteins to manipulate plant basal immunity and promote parasitism.

Plant-parasitic nematodes can secrete effector proteins into the host tissue to facilitate their parasitism. In this study, we report a novel effector protein, MgMO237, from Meloidogyne graminicola, which is exclusively expressed within the dorsal oesophageal gland cell and markedly up-regulated in parasitic third-/fourth-stage juveniles of M. graminicola. Transient expression of MgMO237 in protoplasts from rice roots showed that MgMO237 was localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus of the host cells. Rice plants overexpressing MgMO237 showed an increased susceptibility to M. graminicola. In contrast, rice plants expressing RNA interference vectors targeting MgMO237 showed an increased resistance to M. graminicola. In addition, yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation assays showed that MgMO237 interacted specifically with three rice endogenous proteins, i.e. 1,3-β-glucan synthase component (OsGSC), cysteine-rich repeat secretory protein 55 (OsCRRSP55) and pathogenesis-related BetvI family protein (OsBetvI), which are all related to host defences. Moreover, MgMO237 can suppress host defence responses, including the expression of host defence-related genes, cell wall callose deposition and the burst of reactive oxygen species. These results demonstrate that the effector MgMO237 probably promotes the parasitism of M. graminicola by interacting with multiple host defence-related proteins and suppressing plant basal immunity in the later parasitic stages of nematodes.
A hypothetical evolutionary history of passalid beetles narrated by the comparative anatomy of the hindgut (Coleoptera: Passalidae)

When seen as a whole, the hindgut, more than any other section of the digestive tube, provides insights for the taxonomy of higher-level taxa of Passalidae. This comparative cladistics study utilized parsimony analyses, with 57 terminal taxa (including five outgroups) and 18 characters from the ileum of most genera of passalid beetles (Coleoptera: Passalidae), which resulted in a single tree. Based on the results and the topology of the cladogram, the following classification was adopted: (Aulacocyclinae (Solenocyclinae (Proculinae (Passalinae, Macrolininae)))). Three subfamilies (Solenocyclinae, Proculinae, and Macrolininae) are here elevated from the tribal level to the subfamily level. The subfamily Passalinae is redefined and no longer contains any tribes. The family-group name Leptaulacinae is placed in synonym with Solenocyclinae and the family-group name Ceracupedini is placed in synonymy with Aulacocyclinae.
The relation of magnesium and calcium intakes and a genetic polymorphism in the magnesium transporter to colorectal neoplasia risk.

BACKGROUND Mean magnesium intake in the US population does not differ from that in East Asian populations with traditionally low risks of colorectal cancer and other chronic diseases, but the ratio of calcium to magnesium (Ca:Mg) intake is much higher in the US population. Transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) is a newly found gene essential to magnesium absorption and homeostasis. OBJECTIVE We aimed to test whether the association of colorectal polyps with intake of calcium, magnesium, or both and Thr1482Ile polymorphism in the TRPM7 gene is modified by the Ca:Mg intake. DESIGN Included in the study were a total of 688 adenoma cases, 210 hyperplastic polyp cases, and 1306 polyp-free controls from the Tennessee Colorectal Polyp Study. RESULTS We found that total magnesium consumption was linked to a significantly lower risk of colorectal adenoma, particularly in those subjects with a low Ca:Mg intake. An inverse association trend was found for hyperplastic polyps. We also found that the common Thr1482Ile polymorphism was associated with an elevated risk of both adenomatous and hyperplastic polyps. Moreover, this polymorphism significantly interacted with the Ca:Mg intake in relation to both adenomatous and hyperplastic polyps. The subjects who carried >or=1 1482Ile allele and who consumed diets with a high Ca:Mg intake were at a higher risk of adenoma (odds ratio: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.12, 2.29) and hyperplastic polyps (odds ratio: 1.85; 95% CI: 1.09, 3.14) than were the subjects who did not carry the polymorphism. CONCLUSION These findings, if confirmed, may provide a new avenue for the personalized prevention of magnesium deficiency and, thus, colorectal cancer.
A β-Arrestin/Green Fluorescent Protein Biosensor for Detecting G Protein-coupled Receptor Activation*

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) represent the single most important drug targets for medical therapy, and information from genome sequencing and genomic data bases has substantially accelerated their discovery. The lack of a systematic approach either to identify the function of a new GPCR or to associate it with a cognate ligand has added to the growing number of orphan receptors. In this work we provide a novel approach to this problem using a β-arrestin2/green fluorescent protein conjugate (βarr2-GFP). It provides a real-time and single cell based assay to monitor GPCR activation and GPCR-G protein-coupled receptor kinase or GPCR-arrestin interactions. Confocal microscopy demonstrates the translocation of βarr2-GFP to more than 15 different ligand-activated GPCRs. These data clearly support the common hypothesis that the β-arrestin binding of an activated receptor is a convergent step of GPCR signaling, increase by 5-fold the number of GPCRs known to interact with β-arrestins, demonstrate that the cytosol is the predominant reservoir of biologically active β-arrestins, and provide the first direct demonstration of the critical importance of G protein-coupled receptor kinase phosphorylation to the biological regulation of β-arrestin activity and GPCR signal transduction in living cells. The use of βarr2-GFP as a biosensor to recognize the activation of pharmacologically distinct GPCRs should accelerate the identification of orphan receptors and permit the optical study of their signal transduction biology intractable to ordinary biochemical methods.
The US Department of Agriculture Automated Multiple-Pass Method reduces bias in the collection of energy intakes.

BACKGROUND The US Department of Agriculture Automated Multiple-Pass Method (AMPM) is used for collecting 24-h dietary recalls in What We Eat In America, the dietary interview component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Because the data have important program and policy applications, it is essential that the validity of the method be tested. OBJECTIVE The accuracy of the AMPM was evaluated by comparing reported energy intake (EI) with total energy expenditure (TEE) by using the doubly labeled water (DLW) technique. DESIGN The 524 volunteers, aged 30-69 y, included an equal number of men and women recruited from the Washington, DC, area. Each subject was dosed with DLW on the first day of the 2-wk study period; three 24-h recalls were collected during the 2-wk period by using the AMPM. The first recall was conducted in person, and subsequent recalls were over the telephone. RESULTS Overall, the subjects underreported EI by 11% compared with TEE. Normal-weight subjects [body mass index (in kg/m(2)) < 25] underreported EI by <3%. By using a linear mixed model, 95% CIs were determined for the ratio of EI to TEE. Approximately 78% of men and 74% of women were classified as acceptable energy reporters (within 95% CI of EI:TEE). Both the percentage by which energy was underreported and the percentage of subjects classified as low energy reporters (<95% CI of EI:TEE) were highest for subjects classified as obese (body mass index > 30). CONCLUSIONS Although the AMPM accurately reported EIs in normal-weight subjects, research is warranted to enhance its accuracy in overweight and obese persons.
Protein expression of TTF1 and cMYC define distinct molecular subgroups of small cell lung cancer with unique vulnerabilities to aurora kinase inhibition, DLL3 targeting, and other targeted therapies

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a recalcitrant cancer for which no new treatments have been approved in over 30 years. While molecular subtyping now guides treatment selection for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and other cancers, SCLC is still treated as a single disease entity. Using model-based clustering, we found two major proteomic subtypes of SCLC characterized by either high thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF1)/low cMYC protein expression or high cMYC/low TTF1. Applying “drug target constellation” (DTECT) mapping, we further show that protein levels of TTF1 and cMYC predict response to targeted therapies including aurora kinase, Bcl2, and HSP90 inhibitors. Levels of TTF1 and DLL3 were also highly correlated in preclinical models and patient tumors. TTF1 (used in the diagnosis lung cancer) could therefore be used as a surrogate of DLL3 expression to identify patients who may respond to the DLL3 antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine. These findings suggest that TTF1, cMYC or other protein markers identified here could be used to identify subgroups of SCLC patients who may respond preferentially to several emerging targeted therapies.
A comparison of the effects of 2 doses of soy protein or casein on serum lipids, serum lipoproteins, and plasma total homocysteine in hypercholesterolemic subjects.

BACKGROUND Studies have shown that soy protein reduces some atherogenic lipid and lipoprotein concentrations, although lipoprotein(a) concentrations may be increased. The dose response of soy protein has not been established; neither has its effect on plasma total homocysteine. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to evaluate the effect of 2 doses of soy protein on lipid, lipoprotein, and homocysteine concentrations. DESIGN Four to 24 wk after being instructed to consume a lipid-lowering diet, 130 men and women with LDL-cholesterol concentrations > or = 4 mmol/L were studied during a parallel group trial in which 4 interventions were assigned randomly. Thirty grams isolated soy protein (ISP) and 10 g cotyledon fiber or 50 g ISP and 16.6 g cotyledon fiber or equivalent doses of casein and cellulose were consumed daily as a beverage for 16 wk. RESULTS When the 2 groups who consumed ISP were compared with the 2 groups who consumed casein, the differences in the net changes from baseline to week 16 in the concentrations of LDL cholesterol and plasma total homocysteine were -0.26 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.43, -0.09 mmol/L; P = 0.01) and -0.8 micromol/L (-1.4, -0.2 micromol/L; P = 0.005), respectively. The effect of the ISP dose was not significant. There were no significant differences between the 2 ISP and the 2 casein groups in changes in lipoprotein(a), HDL-cholesterol, or triacylglycerol concentrations. CONCLUSIONS Adding 30-50 g soy protein/d to a lipid-lowering diet significantly reduced LDL-cholesterol concentrations without increasing lipoprotein(a) concentrations. Plasma total homocysteine concentrations also decreased, suggesting a novel, possibly antiatherosclerotic effect.
NMDA receptor blockade ameliorates abnormalities of spike firing of subthalamic nucleus neurons in a parkinsonian nonhuman primate

N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are ion channels comprising tetrameric assemblies of GluN1 and GluN2 receptor subunits that mediate excitatory neurotransmission in the central nervous system. Of the four different GluN2 subunits, the GluN2D subunit‐containing NMDARs have been suggested as a target for antiparkinsonian therapy because of their expression pattern in some of the basal ganglia nuclei that show abnormal firing patterns in the parkinsonian state, specifically the subthalamic nucleus (STN). In this study, we demonstrate that blockade of NMDARs altered spike firing in the STN in a male nonhuman primate that had been rendered parkinsonian by treatment with the neurotoxin 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine. In accompanying experiments in male rodents, we found that GluN2D‐NMDAR expression in the STN was reduced in acutely or chronically dopamine‐depleted animals. Taken together, our data suggest that blockade of NMDARs in the STN may be a viable antiparkinsonian strategy, but that the ultimate success of this approach may be complicated by parkinsonism‐associated changes in NMDAR expression in the STN.
Comparing neural networks and Kriging for fitness approximation in evolutionary optimization

Neural networks and Kriging method are compared for constructing fitness approximation models in evolutionary optimization algorithms. The two models are applied in an identical framework to the optimization of a number of well known test functions. In addition, two different ways of training the approximators are evaluated: in one setting the models are built off-line using data from previous optimization runs and in the other setting the models are built online from the data available from the current optimization.
Cassava as a Potent Energy Crop for the Production of Ethanol and Methane in Tropical Countries

The ethanol productivity of cassava crop (variety TMS 30555) and the methane productivity of its waste product (peels) mixed with livestock wastes were investigated in laboratory experiments, and the capability of tropical countries in this respect was computed. Cassava tubers were peeled, cut and washed. Five, 15, 25 and 35kg samples of the tubers were weighed in three replicates, soaked in water for a period of 1day, after which each sample was dried, crushed and the mash mixed with 500ml of N-hexane (C6H14). This crushed mash was then allowed to ferment for a period of 8days and afterwards pressed on a 0.6mm aperture size sieve to yield the alcohol contained in it. This alcohol was heated at 79 o