Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Involvement of NF-κBIZ and related cytokines in age-associated renal fibrosis

Chronic inflammation is a major contributor to age-related nephropathic changes, including renal fibrosis. In this study, various experimental paradigms were designed to delineate the role played by NF-? BIZ (also known as I? B? ) in age-associated renal fibrosis. Analyses based on RNA-sequencing findings obtained by next generation sequencing (NGS) revealed the upregulations of NF-? BIZ and of IL-6 and MCP-1 (both known to be regulated by NF-? BIZ) during aging. The up-regulation of NF-? BIZ in aged rat kidneys coincided with increased macrophage infiltration. In LPS-treated macrophages, oxidative stress was found to play a pivotal role in NF-? BIZ expression, suggesting age-related oxidative stress is associated with NF-? BIZ activation. Furthermore, these in vitro findings were confirmed in LPS-treated old rats, which showed higher levels of oxidative stress and NF-? BIZ in kidneys than LPS-treated young rats. Additional in vitro experiments using macrophages and kidney fibroblasts demonstrated NF-? BIZ and related cytokines participate in fibrosis. In particular, increased levels of NF-? BIZ-associated cytokines in macrophages significantly up-regulated TGF-β induced kidney fibroblast activation. Moreover, experiments with NF-? BIZ knocked down macrophages showed reduced TGF-β- induced kidney fibroblast activation. The findings of the present study provide evidence regarding an involvement of NF-? BIZ in age-associated progressive renal fibrosis and provides potential targets for its prevention.
Closed-Loop Resuscitation of Burn Shock

Fluid therapy for burn shock is adjusted to establish a target level of urinary output. However, the means for adjusting infusion rate are not defined. Our objective was to compare the performance of automated computer-controlled resuscitation with manual control for burn resuscitation. Sheep with a 40% TBSA full-thickness burn, administered under halothane anesthesia, were resuscitated to restore and maintain normal sheep urinary outputs in a target range of 1 to 2 ml/kg per hour over the course of 48 hours using closed-loop resuscitation (n = 10) or manual hourly adjustment of infusion rate (n = 11). The automated closed-loop resuscitation system is based on a proportional—integral—derivative algorithm, which adjusted infusion rate based on continuous monitoring and changes in urinary output. Mean urinary outputs over the course of 48 hours were in target range and were virtually identical at 1.9 ± 0.5 ml/kg per hour for the closed-loop group and 2.0 ± 0.7 ml/kg per hour for the technician group. Mean infusion rates and infused volumes also were similar. The closed-loop group exhibited significantly lower hourly variation for both urinary output and infusion rate compared hourly control. Hourly targets were achieved in 41% of the measurements in technician group compared with 48% for the closed-loop group (P = .23). Hourly urinary output in the technician group was undertarget by 25% as opposed to 16% with the closed-loop group (P = .02). Automated closed-loop control of infusion rates after burn injury produced urinary outputs in target ranges with less variation and less under target values than manual hourly adjustments. Closed-loop resuscitation may provide an improvement over current resuscitation regimens.
Grammar Is a System That Characterizes Talk in Interaction

Much of contemporary mainstream formal grammar theory is unable to provide analyses for language as it occurs in actual spoken interaction. Its analyses are developed for a cleaned up version of language which omits the disfluencies, non-sentential utterances, gestures, and many other phenomena that are ubiquitous in spoken language. Using evidence from linguistics, conversation analysis, multimodal communication, psychology, language acquisition, and neuroscience, we show these aspects of language use are rule governed in much the same way as phenomena captured by conventional grammars. Furthermore, we argue that over the past few years some of the tools required to provide a precise characterizations of such phenomena have begun to emerge in theoretical and computational linguistics; hence, there is no reason for treating them as “second class citizens” other than pre-theoretical assumptions about what should fall under the purview of grammar. Finally, we suggest that grammar formalisms covering such phenomena would provide a better foundation not just for linguistic analysis of face-to-face interaction, but also for sister disciplines, such as research on spoken dialogue systems and/or psychological work on language acquisition.
Explaining Online Customer Repurchase Intentions from a Relationship-Marketing Perspective: An Integration of the 4Rs Marketing Strategy and Customer Trust

Due to the low cost of searching for alternatives online, it is difficult to increase customer repurchase intention in the business-to-customer context. Relationship marketing (RM) is seen as an important way to foster customer trust, and in turn encourage repurchase intentions, which is consistent with the RM tactics-relational mediator-outcome paradigm in the offline context. Several studies have noted that the 4Rs marketing strategy both reflects and implements the concept of RM. This study thus examines whether RM-related constructs based on the 4Rs marketing strategy (i.e., assurance, customer satisfaction, perceived usefulness, corporate image, and perceived value) positively affect online customer repurchase intention; it also adopts trust as a relational mediator to investigate whether trust mediates the effect of the 4Rs marketing strategy on repurchase intention. The results of an online survey indicated that satisfaction, perceived usefulness, corporate image, perceived value, and trust were antecedents of repurchase intention. Additionally, this study statistically confirms that trust is a critical mediator of the indirect effects of RM-related constructs on repurchase intention. The theoretical and practical implications of this work are also discussed. Explaining Online Customer Repurchase Intentions from a RelationshipMarketing Perspective: An Integration of the 4Rs Marketing Strategy and Customer Trust
Depth-specific distribution of Bacteroidetes in the oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Representatives of the phylum Bacteroidetes are repeatedly reported to be abundant members of oceanic bacterioplankton, probably because of their ability to degrade complex organic matter. 16S rDNA analysis was performed in order to address the importance of this phylum in a highly oligotrophic region such as the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and to investigate its distribution patterns and community composition. A new antisense primer was designed for PCR and used in combination with the general eubacterial sense primer 27F to specifically target Bacteroidetes representatives. Data were correlated with water depth and water mass properties. Denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis and sequencing of environmental clone libraries revealed specific distribution patterns. A major fraction of the sequences was assigned to the AGG58 cluster, a branch of yet uncultured members of the Bacteroidetes lineage. Our results demonstrate a considerable diversity within the Bacteroidetes lineage in the oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Differing water mass properties are considered to be of major relevance for the spatial distribution with depth; several environmental clone sequence clusters could be specifically assigned to a defined water mass or to the deep waters of investigated locations. Depth-specific distribution of Bacteroidetes is demonstrated for the first time by the results of this study.
Changes in benthic ecosystems and ocean circulation in the Southeast Atlantic across Eocene Thermal Maximum 2

Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2) occurred ~1.8 Myr after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and, like the PETM, was characterized by a negative carbon isotope excursion and warming. We combined benthic foraminiferal and sedimentological records for Southeast Atlantic Sites 1263 (1500 m paleodepth) and 1262 (3600 m paleodepth) to show that benthic foraminiferal diversity and accumulation rates declined more precipitously and severely at the shallower site during peak ETM2. As the sites are in close proximity, differences in surface productivity cannot have caused this differential effect. Instead, we infer that changes in ocean circulation across ETM2 may have produced more pronounced warming at intermediate depths (Site 1263). The effects of warming include increased metabolic rates, a decrease in effective food supply and increased deoxygenation, thus potentially explaining the more severe benthic impacts at Site 1263. In response, bioturbation may have decreased more at Site 1263 than at Site 1262, differentially affecting bulk carbonate records. We use a sediment-enabled Earth system model to test whether a reduction in bioturbation and/or the likely reduced carbonate saturation of more poorly ventilated waters can explain the more extreme excursion in bulk δ13C and sharper transition in wt % CaCO3 at Site 1263. We find that both enhanced acidification and reduced bioturbation during the ETM2 peak are needed to account for the observed features. Our combined ecological and modeling analysis illustrates the potential role of ocean circulation changes in amplifying local environmental changes and driving temporary, but drastic, loss of benthic biodiversity and abundance.
White matter microstructural organisation of interhemispheric pathways predicts different stages of bimanual coordination learning in young and older adults

The ability to learn new motor skills is crucial for activities of daily living, especially in older adults. Previous work in younger adults has indicated fast and slow stages for motor learning that were associated with changes in functional interactions within and between brain hemispheres. However, the impact of the structural scaffolds of these functional interactions on different stages of motor learning remains elusive. Using diffusion‐weighted imaging and probabilistic constrained spherical deconvolution‐based tractography, we reconstructed transcallosal white matter pathways between the left and right primary motor cortices (M1–M1), left dorsal premotor cortex and right primary motor cortex (LPMd–RM1) and right dorsal premotor cortex and left primary motor cortex (RPMd–LM1) in younger and older adults trained in a set of bimanual coordination tasks. We used fractional anisotropy (FA) to assess microstructural organisation of the reconstructed white matter pathways. Older adults showed lower behavioural performance than younger adults and improved their performance more in the fast but less in the slow stage of learning. Linear mixed models predicted that individuals with higher FA of M1–M1 pathways improve more in the fast but less in the slow stage of bimanual learning. Individuals with higher FA of RPMd–LM1 improve more in the slow but less in the fast stage of bimanual learning. These predictions did not differ significantly between younger and older adults suggesting that, in both younger and older adults, the M1–M1 and RPMd–LM1 pathways are important for the fast and slow stage of bimanual learning, respectively.
Critical Review of Burn Depth Assessment Techniques: Part I. Historical Review

The assessment of burn depth, and as such, the estimation of whether a burn wound is expected to heal on its own within 21 days, is one of the most important roles of the burn surgeon. A false-positive assessment and the patient faces needless surgery, a false-negative one and the patient faces increased length of stay, risks contracture, and hypertrophic scar formation. Although many clinical signs can aid in this determination, accurate assessment of burn depth is possible only 64 to 76% of the time, even for experienced burn surgeons. Through the years, a variety of tools have become available, all attempting to improve clinical accuracy. Part 1 of this two-part article reviews the literature supporting the different adjuvants to clinical decision making is, providing a historical perspective that serves as a framework for part 2, a critical assessment of laser Doppler imaging.
Defining Adult Experiences

This study explored the roles and psychological experiences identified as defining adult moments using mixed methods with a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample of young adults both enrolled and not enrolled in college (N = 726; ages 18-35). First, we evaluated results from a single survey item that asked participants to rate how adult they feel. Consistent with previous research, the majority of participants (56.9%) reported feeling “somewhat like an adult,” and older participants had significantly higher subjective adulthood, controlling for other demographic variables. Next, we analyzed responses from an open-ended question asking participants to describe instances in which they felt like an adult. Responses covered both traditional roles (e.g., marriage, childbearing; 36.1%) and nontraditional social roles and experiences (e.g., moving out of parent’s home, cohabitation; 55.6%). Although we found no differences by age and college status in the likelihood of citing a traditional or nontraditional role, participants who had achieved more traditional roles were more likely to cite them in their responses. In addition, responses were coded for psychological experiences, including responsibility for self (19.0%), responsibility for others (15.3%), self-regulation (31.1%), and reflected appraisals (5.1%). Older participants were significantly more likely to include self-regulation and reflected appraisals, whereas younger participants were more likely to include responsibility for self. College students were more likely than noncollege students to include self-regulation and reflected appraisals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Neuropsychological performance in adolescent marijuana users with co-occurring alcohol use: A three-year longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE The effect of adolescent marijuana use on brain development remains unclear despite relaxing legal restrictions, decreased perceived harm, and increasing use rates among youth. The aim of this 3-year prospective study was to evaluate the long-term neurocognitive effects of adolescent marijuana use. METHOD Adolescent marijuana users with concomitant alcohol use (MJ + ALC, n = 49) and control teens with limited substance use histories (CON, n = 59) were given neuropsychological and substance use assessments at project baseline, when they were ages 16-19. They were then reassessed 18 and 36 months later. Changes in neuropsychological measures were evaluated with repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for lifetime alcohol use, and examined the effects of group, time, and group by time interactions on cognitive functioning. RESULTS MJ + ALC users performed significantly worse than controls, across time points, in the domains of complex attention, memory, processing speed, and visuospatial functioning (ps <.05). Earlier age of marijuana use onset was associated with poorer processing speed and executive functioning by the 3-year follow-up (ps ≤.02). CONCLUSIONS Frequent marijuana use throughout adolescence and into young adulthood appeared linked to worsened cognitive performance. Earlier age of onset appears to be associated with poorer neurocognitive outcomes that emerge by young adulthood, providing further support for the notion that the brain may be uniquely sensitive to frequent marijuana exposure during the adolescent phase of neurodevelopment. Continued follow-up of adolescent marijuana users will determine the extent of neural recovery that may occur if use abates.
Investigation of Formation and Growth Behavior of Cu/Al Intermetallic Compounds during Isothermal Aging

Wire bonding is a key technique for electrical interconnections between integrated circuit (IC) and the metal frame or printed circuit board (PCB). One of the most common wire bonding system is bonding of the Au wire to Al metallization, however, Cu wire is being considered as replacement for Au wire due to surge of Au price. This research focuses on the formation and growth behavior of Cu/Al intermetallic compounds (IMCs). In order to investigate IMC growth after 30, 60 and 120 min of aging at 270, 300 and 330°C, cross-section of Al, Cu and Cu/Al IMCs were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the consumption of the Al layer is more rapid than that of Cu layer, and that after 120 min at 330°C the Al layer is entirely consumed. The formation of three distinct Cu/Al IMC layers was observed. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used to identify the three IMC layers formed at the interface. In addition, the IMC compositions were identified by selected-area diffraction pattern (SAD). These were CuAl, Cu3Al2 and Cu9Al4. Also, the activation energies of Cu/Al IMC growth were obtained from an Arrhenius plot.
Arbitrary Placement of Secondary Nodes, and Error Control, in the Meshless Local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) Method

The truly meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method holds a great promise in solving boundary value problems, using a local symmetric weak form as a natural approach. In the present paper, in the context of MLPG and the meshless interpolation of a moving least squares (MLS) type, a method which uses primary and secondary nodes in the domain and on the global boundary is introduced, in order to improve the accuracy of solution. The secondary nodes can be placed at any location where one needs to obtain a better resolution. The sub-domains for the shape functions in the MLS approximation are defined only from the primary nodes, and the secondary nodes use the same sub-domains. The shape functions based on the MLS approximation, in an integration domain, have a single type of a rational function, which reduces the difficulty of numerical integration to evaluate the weak form. The present method is very useful in an adaptive calculation, because the secondary nodes can be easily added and/or moved without an additional mesh. The essential boundary conditions can be imposed exactly, and non-convex boundaries can be treated without special techniques. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the present method. keyword: meshless method, MLPG method, local symmetric weak form, MLS, primary node, secondary node.
Tecno-economic analysis of PV module selection for residential BIPV with net metering implementation in Malaysia

A building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system is composed of photovoltaic modules integrated into a building envelope, such as a roof. This system is one of most cost effective and practical applications for grid-connected photovoltaic system. Malaysia is located in the equatorial region and receives an average 1700 W/m2 solar radiation. In Malaysia, the energy metering scheme was establish in November 2016 and will run until 2020 with 100 MW capacity per year to complement the feed in tariff mechanism established in 2011. This paper seeks to evaluate the optimum design of selected PV modules for lowest payback period. The 3.3 kW BIPV system on the rooftop of terrace house located at Penang, Malaysia with a longitude 100°30' East and latitude 6°45' North. The design is simulated using four types of PV modules through the PVsyst software to identify the total energy yield produced by the various modules. The life cycle cost (LCC), levelised cost of energy (LCOE) and payback period is calculated to identify the economic value of PV module selection. The study found that LCOE is between RM0.2400 to RM0.3186 per kWh, payback period of each PV module selection varies between 10.8 to 14.8 years and the annual saving is RM1180.75 to RM1294.75 with Net Energy Metering incentive.
Early Outcomes of MDR-TB Treatment in a High HIV-Prevalence Setting in Southern Africa

Background Little is known about treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in high HIV-prevalence settings such as sub-Saharan Africa. Methodology/Principal Findings We did a retrospective analysis of early outcomes of the first cohort of patients registered in the Lesotho national MDR-TB program between July 21, 2007 and April 21, 2008. Seventy-six patients were included for analysis. Patient follow-up ended when an outcome was recorded, or on October 21, 2008 for those still on treatment. Fifty-six patients (74%) were infected with HIV; the median CD4 cell count was 184 cells/μl (range 5–824 cells/μl). By the end of the follow-up period, study patients had been followed for a median of 252 days (range 12–451 days). Twenty-two patients (29%) had died, and 52 patients (68%) were alive and in treatment. In patients who did not die, culture conversion was documented in 52/54 patients (96%). One patient had defaulted, and one patient had transferred out. Death occurred after a median of 66 days in treatment (range 12–374 days). Conclusions/Significance In a region where clinicians and program managers are increasingly confronted by drug-resistant tuberculosis, this report provides sobering evidence of the difficulty of MDR-TB treatment in high HIV-prevalence settings. In Lesotho, an innovative community-based treatment model that involved social and nutritional support, twice-daily directly observed treatment and early empiric use of second-line TB drugs was successful in reducing mortality of MDR-TB patients. Further research is urgently needed to improve MDR-TB treatment outcomes in high HIV-prevalence settings.
Physical (in)activity‐dependent structural plasticity in bulbospinal catecholaminergic neurons of rat rostral ventrolateral medulla

Increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system is thought to play a role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Recent work has shown that physical inactivity versus activity alters neuronal structure in brain regions associated with cardiovascular regulation. Our physiological studies suggest that neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) are more responsive to excitation in sedentary versus physically active animals. We hypothesized that enhanced functional responses in the RVLM may be due, in part, to changes in the structure of RVLM neurons that control sympathetic activity. We used retrograde tracing and immunohistochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) to identify bulbospinal catecholaminergic (C1) neurons in sedentary and active rats after chronic voluntary wheel‐running exercise. We then digitally reconstructed their cell bodies and dendrites at different rostrocaudal levels. The dendritic arbors of spinally projecting TH neurons from sedentary rats were more branched than those of physically active rats (P < 0.05). In sedentary rats, dendritic branching was greater in more rostral versus more caudal bulbospinal C1 neurons, whereas, in physically active rats, dendritic branching was consistent throughout the RVLM. In contrast, cell body size and the number of primary dendrites did not differ between active and inactive animals. We suggest that these structural changes provide an anatomical underpinning for the functional differences observed in our in vivo studies. These inactivity‐related structural and functional changes may enhance the overall sensitivity of RVLM neurons to excitatory stimuli and contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in sedentary individuals. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:499–513, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.