Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influences of spinal anesthesia on exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

RATIONALE Lower limb muscle dysfunction contributes to exercise intolerance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We hypothesized that signaling from lower limb muscle group III/IV sensory afferents to the central motor command could be involved in premature cycling exercise termination in COPD. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of spinal anesthesia, which presumably inhibited central feedback from the lower limb muscle group III/IV sensory afferents on exercise tolerance and cardiorespiratory response during constant work-rate cycling exercise in patients with COPD. METHODS In a crossover and double-blind randomized design, eight patients with COPD (FEV(1), 67 ± 8% predicted) completed a constant work-rate cycling exercise after sham (NaCl, interspinous L(3)-L(4)) or active (fentanyl 25 μg, intrathecal L(3)-L(4)) spinal anesthesia. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS When compared with placebo, endurance time was significantly prolonged after spinal anesthesia with fentanyl (639 ± 87 s vs. 423 ± 38 s [mean ± SEM]; P = 0.01). Ventilation and respiratory rate were reduced at isotime points under the fentanyl condition, whereas ventilatory efficiency and dead space ventilation were improved. Patients exhibited less dynamic hyperinflation at isotime points with spinal anesthesia. Consequently, the rise in dyspnea was significantly flatter during the fentanyl condition than with placebo. CONCLUSIONS Spinal anesthesia enhanced cycling exercise tolerance in patients with COPD, mostly by reducing ventilatory response and dyspnea during exercise; these effects were possibly mediated through the inhibition of group III/IV lower limb sensory muscle afferents.
Academic Achievement of K-12 Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

This cross-sectional study was conducted with a random sample of 155 K-12 students served in public school settings and established the extent to which students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) experience academic achievement deficits with attention to age and gender differences. In addition, this study examined particular types of problem behaviors related to academic achievement. Results indicate that students with E/BD showed large academic achievement deficits across all of the content areas, and the deficits appeared to be stable or worsen in the case of mathematics across age. There appeared to be no gender differences. Additionally, externalizing behaviors were related to reading, mathematics, and written language achievement; whereas, internalizing ones were not.
Celecoxib attenuates hepatic cirrhosis through inhibition of epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition of hepatocytes

The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) of hepatocytes is a key step for hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis. Long‐term administration of celecoxib, a selective cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) inhibitor, can ameliorate hepatic fibrosis. This research aimed to examine the effect of celecoxib on the EMT of hepatocytes during the development of liver cirrhosis.
The Link Between Parental Bonding and Adult Attachment in Chinese Graduate Students: Gender Differences

We examined the hypothesized link between early parental bonding experience and adult attachment in 565 graduate students in China. Data were analyzed according to gender. When adult attachment was measured dimensionally, findings showed the hypothesized relationship was not supported in both genders. However, partial support was indicated when adult attachment was measured categorically: (a) securely attached females reported significantly higher levels of paternal care than fearfully attached females; (b) securely attached males reported significantly higher levels of parental care and lower levels of parental overprotection than the 3 insecurely attached groups of males. Results are discussed in the context of the role cultural variables play in the development of attachment quality.
COOH-terminal truncations and site-directed mutations enhance thermostability and chaperone-like activity of porcine αB-crystallin

Purpose The COOH-terminal extension segment of αB-crystallin, a member of small heat shock protein (sHSP) family, appears to be a flexible polypeptide segment susceptible to proteolytic truncation and modifications under physiological conditions. To investigate its role on the structure and chaperone-like activity, we constructed various mutants of porcine αB-crystallin with either COOH-terminal serial truncations or site-specific mutagenesis on the last two residues. Methods The structures of these mutants were analyzed by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, fluorescence spectra, mass spectrometry, Gel-permeation FPLC, and dynamic light-scattering spectrophotometry. Chaperone activity assays were performed under thermal and non-thermal stresses. The stability of proteins was examined by turbidity assays and CD spectra. Results All mutants showed similar secondary and tertiary structural features to the wild-type αB-crystallin as revealed by circular dichroism. However, truncations of the COOH-terminal segment generated crystallin aggregates with a molecular size slightly smaller than that of the wild-type αB-crystallin. The deletion of 12 residues from the COOH-terminal end greatly reduced the solubility, thermostability, and chaperone activity of αB-crystallin. On the contrary, the truncation of only 10 residues or less resulted in increased thermostability and enhanced anti-aggregation chaperone activity of αB-crystallin, with a maximal effect occurring on elimination of the last two residues. Moreover, displacing the last two lysines with glutamates or other neutral amino acids tended to show even higher chaperone activity than the deletion mutants. Conclusions Our study clearly demonstrated that both the length and electrostatic charge of the COOH-terminal segment play crucial roles in governing the structural stability and chaperone activity of αB-crystallin.
Effects of Class Size and Instruction on Kindergarten Achievement

Although experimental results indicate that smaller classes promote higher achievement in early elementary school, the broader literature on class-size effects is inconclusive. This seeming contradiction raises questions about the generalizability of experimental evidence, an issue that this article addresses by examining the effects of class size on achievement in kindergarten with data from a nationwide survey, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Class of 1998–99. To distinguish class-level from individual-level effects, this analysis utilizes hierarchical linear models. In response to concerns about selectivity, teacher fixed-effects models are also estimated. In an effort to understand the inconsistent findings of the past, the authors examine classroom conditions that may affect the link between class size and academic achievement, and also consider whether class size has different effects for different groups of students. The authors find no evidence of class-size effects on student achievement in either reading or mathematics, and results indicate that class size is equally insignificant for students from different race/ethnic, economic, and academic backgrounds. Teacher fixed-effects analyses also yield null findings for class size. Instructional activities offer significant boosts to achievement, but the effects of instruction do not differ between small and large classes. The authors discuss why the small class size advantage evidenced by experimental research might not generalize to nonexperimental, naturally occurring settings throughout the nation.
The Variability of Sesquiterpenes Emitted from Two Zea mays Cultivars Is Controlled by Allelic Variation of Two Terpene Synthase Genes Encoding Stereoselective Multiple Product Enzymes

The mature leaves and husks of Zea mays release a complex blend of terpene volatiles after anthesis consisting predominantly of bisabolane-, sesquithujane-, and bergamotane-type sesquiterpenes. The varieties B73 and Delprim release the same volatile constituents but in significantly different proportions. To study the molecular genetic and biochemical mechanisms controlling terpene diversity and distribution in these varieties, we isolated the closely related terpene synthase genes terpene synthase4 (tps4) and tps5 from both varieties. The encoded enzymes, TPS4 and TPS5, each formed the same complex mixture of sesquiterpenes from the precursor farnesyl diphosphate but with different proportions of products. These mixtures correspond to the sesquiterpene blends observed in the varieties B73 and Delprim, respectively. The differences in the stereoselectivity of TPS4 and TPS5 are determined by four amino acid substitutions with the most important being a Gly instead of an Ala residue at position 409 at the catalytic site of the enzyme. Although both varieties contain tps4 and tps5 alleles, their differences in terpene composition result from the fact that B73 has only a single functional allele of tps4 and no functional alleles of tps5, whereas Delprim has only a functional allele of tps5 and no functional alleles of tps4. Lack of functionality was shown to be attributable to frame-shift mutations or amino acid substitutions that greatly reduce the activity of their encoded proteins. Therefore, the diversity of sesquiterpenes in these two maize cultivars is strongly influenced by single nucleotide changes in the alleles of two terpene synthase genes.
A New Metric of Inclusive Fitness Predicts the Human Mortality Profile

Biological species have evolved characteristic patterns of age-specific mortality across their life spans. If these mortality profiles are shaped by natural selection they should reflect underlying variation in the fitness effect of mortality with age. Direct fitness models, however, do not accurately predict the mortality profiles of many species. For several species, including humans, mortality rates vary considerably before and after reproductive ages, during life-stages when no variation in direct fitness is possible. Variation in mortality rates at these ages may reflect indirect effects of natural selection acting through kin. To test this possibility we developed a new two-variable measure of inclusive fitness, which we term the extended genomic output or EGO. Using EGO, we estimate the inclusive fitness effect of mortality at different ages in a small hunter-gatherer population with a typical human mortality profile. EGO in this population predicts 90% of the variation in age-specific mortality. This result represents the first empirical measurement of inclusive fitness of a trait in any species. It shows that the pattern of human survival can largely be explained by variation in the inclusive fitness cost of mortality at different ages. More generally, our approach can be used to estimate the inclusive fitness of any trait or genotype from population data on birth dates and relatedness.
Health is wealth ‐ Organisational Utopia or myopia?

Although the healthy organisation has attracted the attention of researchers over the last decade and beyond, the concept remains poorly defined. Nonetheless, there would appear to be an underlying acceptance that health is a desirable state, and is one which is likely to enable the organisation to cope effectively with the challenges presented by its environment. Using financial measures as one index of the economically healthy organisation, this paper explores organisational health within two financially healthy and two financially unhealthy clothing companies in Northern Ireland. Statistical analyses reveal that each of the organisations was unhealthy for different reasons and in different ways. Furthermore, the findings suggest that “wealth” does not necessarily mean “health”, and it may in fact be indicative of organisational myopia rather than Utopia.
Geo-data visualization on online and offline mode of mobile web using HTML5

Mobile devices including popular smartphone contributes to efficiency improvement of on-site data processing. Mobile environment for real-time data processing needs some additional aspects besides desktop ones, as the style of mobile app, mobile web and mobile web app. Generally, mobile app provides internal storage service so that offline data processing is possible. But mobile app needs separate development according to different types of devices or operating systems, even to different sizes of display panel of mobile devices. Geo-based data are composed of vector and raster formats from complex structure, compared to other data sets including image data and multimedia data. Hence, even though mobile applications development for geo-based data is more complicated than other ones, users' demands with respect to geo-based data processing functionalities on mobile environment are increasing in these days. Mobile web supported by technical basis of HyperText Markup Language5 (HTML5) is regarded as useful service type combining geo-based data processing modules and mobile environments, because it does not require user' downloading or installation of programs and just needs web browsers. Indexed DB Application Programming Interface (API) within this international web standard provides offline data storage functions on mobile environment. Using this API, data sets can be permanently stored into mobile devices, not cache memory. Among numerous geo-data functionalities, visualization topic is basically and commonly used in most mobile services. This study presents an implementation case of mobile web app with geo-based data visualization processing on online and offline mode. Types of geo-based data sets are base map of Open Street Map (OSM), OSM vector layers with Extensible Markup Language (XML) contents and high resolution satellite images of optical sensor. It is thought that the result of this implementation can play a role to create intelligent mobile application fields using both geo-based data sets and earth observation satellite image sets.
Sibship Size and Children’s Family Resources

Despite ample evidence on the negative association between sibship size and educational attainment, relatively fewer studies have directly addressed the immediate effect of sibship size on children’s family resources. With data from a nationally representative survey in China, this study estimated the effects of sibship size on various family resources for Chinese adolescents between ages 10 and 15, with a particular interest in the possible role of gender on resource allocation. Consistent with prior research on educational attainment, sibship size was negatively associated with the amount of resources a child received from the family. Siblings who were closer in ages had equal or more negative effects on family resources a child received compared with widely spaced siblings. A more rapid decrease was observed in economic resources than in interpersonal resources. Furthermore, brothers showed greater negative effects than sisters. The current findings provided direct evidence for the resource dilution theory.
Ethical issues in transnational higher education: the case of international branch campuses

The establishment of an international branch campus can impact upon a diverse range of stakeholders in both home and host countries. Many of the arguments against international branch campuses are based on ethical issues, such as the lack of academic freedom and civil liberties in host countries. Ignoring ethical issues may deny institutions the achievement of legitimacy, which can result in financial losses and reputational damage. Thus, the purpose of this article is to identify the ethical issues that higher education managers should recognise and address when considering the establishment of an international branch campus. A framework based on analysing how home and host country stakeholders might be impacted by the establishment of an international branch campus – and how they might influence higher education institutions – is proposed. It was found that institutions which are flexible, quick to learn, and possess the dynamic capabilities necessary to drive organisational change might be the institutions that have the greatest chance of success in foreign markets. Given that at the start of 2015, at least 24 new international branch campuses were planned or in the process of being built, it is concluded that higher education institutions will have to continue treading the thin line between trying to fit in with their host cultures while simultaneously trying to achieve academic freedom and improve local social, political, and legal conditions.
‘I want to do everything!’: leisure innovation among retirement-age women

Innovation theory asserts that the adoption of new leisure activities in later life (leisure innovation) may facilitate healthy ageing through personal growth, interest renewal, identity reconstruction and increased sense of meaning in life. The purpose of this study was to explore innovation theory among retirement-age women. Thirteen women aged 60–70 completed in-depth interviews and focus groups. Data were analysed through open, axial and selective coding. Themes emerged regarding the nature of newly adopted leisure activities, triggers of innovation and outcomes of innovation. Participants attributed meaning to innovation within established interest areas and to innovation related to taking advantage of previously unavailable opportunities. Participants also identified innovation catalysts including additional resources, increased perceived freedom, purposive life changes and health concerns. Outcomes of innovation included feelings of joy, self-confidence, independence and improved social connections. Findings support and extend innovation theory and suggest that acknowledging and exploring the adoption of new leisure activities can extend existing theory and improve future research related to leisure and ageing.
Knowledge Representation and Management in Indoor Mobile Environments

The range of applications in ambient information systems progressively evolves from large to small scale environments. This is particularly the case for applications that assist humans in navigation-related activities in indoor spaces (e.g., airports, museums, office buildings). The research presented by this Ph.D. dissertation develops a data and knowledge representation of an indoor environment that takes into account user-centred contextual dimensions and mobile data management issues. We introduce a hierarchical, context-dependent, and feature-based indoor spatial data model. This model takes into account additional contextual dimensions such as time, user profiles, and real-time events. The model is based on a tree structure in which location information is represented at different levels of abstraction. The hierarchical design favours performance and scalability of location-dependent query processing. A query grammar is developed and implemented on top of that model. This query language supports continuous location-dependent queries and takes into account user preferences at execution time. The concept of location granules is introduced at the query execution and presentation levels.This modelling approach is complemented by the development of a generic architecture for continuous query processing. Several algorithms for location dependent query processing over indoor moving objects have been designed and implemented. These algorithms include path searches and range queries applied to both static and moving objects. They are based on an incremental approach in order to execute continuous location-dependent queries.The operators and constraints introduced in the query language and the algorithms for location-dependent query processing have been implemented as a database extension of the open source DBMS PostgreSQL, and where the hierarchical network-based indoor data model has been developed at the logical level. Several experiments have been conducted to evaluate the scalability and performance of the whole framework.
On the ambivalence-indifference problem in attitude theory and measurement: A suggested modification of the semantic differential technique.

This article explores the alternate meanings of attitudinal neutrality in the context of the bipolarity-reciprocal antagonism issue. Specifically, it proposes a modification of the semantic differential technique wherein the "liking" and "disliking" components of attitude can be separately measured. A geometrical model is developed in which three nondirectional attitude variables ("total affect," "ambivalence," and "polarization") are distinguished from the usual attitude variable. Reliability and validity data are presented, and an application of the model is discussed. In his 1935 review of the general area of attitude theory and research, Gordon Allport concluded that most investigators basically agreed that "attitude is a learned predisposition to respond to an object in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner [p. 818J. " Furthermore, he suggested that this bipolarity in the direction of an attitude (i.e., the favorable versus unfavorable) was viewed as its most distinctive feature. Thus, he felt that attitude had been conceptualized as a simple unidimensional concept—the evaluative (or affec
Toward Inclusion of Special Education Students in General Education

The primary intent of this program evaluation was to determine the degree of inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classes in four elementary and four secondary schools; the similarities and differences in how special education services were offered; and the ways in which students with disabilities were supported in the least restrictive environment. Staff perceptions of special education services were examined by conducting personal interviews with a large majority of the classroom teachers, special education teachers, instructional assistants, and principals in each school. The findings include descriptions of how far along each school was with inclusion, the amount of time students spent in general education, the roles of the special education teachers, the rates of student referrals for special education consideration, the attitudes of all staff toward inclusion and toward collaboration, and the skills of the teachers related to the inclusion of special education students. The findings also include descriptions of the impact of inclusion on other students, the performance of all students on a statewide test, and the qualitative responses of educators toward inclusion. Overall, educators were positive about educating students with disabilities in general education settings. They were conservative about how to best do this, with many of them preferring to have the included students accompanied by a special education teacher or instructional assistant or continuing to have resource room services. Nearly everyone favored using instructional assistants to help all students, not just the students with disabilities. Most educators reported feeling positive about working collaboratively and felt they had administrative support to offer inclusive education programs.