Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PPAR-α Agonist Fenofibrate Decreased RANTES Levels in Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Hypertriglyceridemia

Background Regulated upon activation, normal T cells expressed and secreted (RANTES) is associated with inflammation and atherosclerosis. We investigated the effect of fenofibrate, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) agonist, on RANTES in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with hypertriglyceridemia. Material/Methods This study evaluated cross-sectional and interventional studies of 25 T2DM patients with hypertriglyceridemia (group A) and 32 controls (group B). Group A was treated with fenofibrate (200 mg/day) for 8 weeks. Serum RANTES and clinical characteristics were examined. Results Serum RANTES was significantly higher in group A compared with group B (59.04±16.74 vs. 38.57±12.98 ng/ml, P<0.001) and correlated with triglycerides (TG) (r=0.535, P<0.001), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (r=0.485, P<0.001), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (r=0.485, P<0.001), homocysteine (Hcy) (r=0.520, P<0.001), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (r=0.701, P<0.001). In multiple regression analysis after controlling for confounders, increased hsCRP levels (β=7.430, P<0.001) and T2DM with hypertriglyceridemia (β=11.496, P=0.002) were independently related to high serum RANTES levels. After 8 weeks of fenofibrate treatment, serum RANTES significantly decreased in group A compared with baseline (52.75±17.41 vs. 59.04±16.74 ng/ml, P=0.018). Conclusions Fenofibrate decreased serum RANTES levels in T2DM patients with hypertriglyceridemia, indicating that PPAR-α agonists may play an important role in inhibiting inflammatory responses.
Emerging Targets for Stimulation-Refractory Movement Disorders

Deep brain stimulation has proven an effective addition to the optimized medical management of some primary movement disorders. Sustained symptomatic improvement has been demonstrated for Parkinson's disease, forms of dystonia, and essential tremor. However, despite dramatic improvements in the tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and dyski- nesias of Parkinson's disease, DBS of the STN and GPi have provided inconsistent relief of gate abnormalities and freez- ing. Similarly, DBS of the Vim has proven effective for distal tremors resulting from a variety of etiologies, but has lim- ited efficacy for tremors with proximal spread. Accumulating clinical, neurophysiologic, and neuroanatomic evidence supports the pedunculopontine nucleus as a modulator of postural control and gait initiation. Further, both historical and contemporary preclinical and clinical data support the zona incerta and prelemniscal radiations as targets within the greater subthalamic area for tremor containing proximal spread. On the basis of these observations, there is considerable interest in PPN DBS for control of gate abnormalities in PD, and in ZI and PRL DBS as a means for modulation of pro- nounced tremor with axial involvement. The clinical evidence for consideration of the PPN and ZI/PRL as alternate stimulation targets for treatment of refractory movement disorder manifestations is reviewed.
Comprehensive evaluation of poly(I:C) induced inflammatory response in an airway epithelial model

Respiratory viruses invade the upper airway of the lung, triggering a potent immune response that often exacerbates preexisting conditions such as asthma and COPD. Poly(I:C) is a synthetic analog of viral dsRNA that induces the characteristic inflammatory response associated with viral infection, such as loss of epithelial integrity, and increased production of mucus and inflammatory cytokines. Here, we explore the mechanistic responses to poly(I:C) in a well‐defined primary normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) model that recapitulates in vivo functions and responses. We developed functional and quantifiable methods to evaluate the physiology of our model in both healthy and inflamed states. Through gene and protein expression, we validated the differentiation state and population of essential cell subtypes (i.e., ciliated, goblet, club, and basal cells) as compared to the human lung. Assays for total mucus production, cytokine secretion, and barrier function were used to evaluate in vitro physiology and response to viral insult. Cells were treated apically with poly(I:C) and evaluated 48 h after induction. Results revealed a dose‐dependent increase in goblet cell differentiation, as well as, an increase in mucus production relative to controls. There was also a dose‐dependent increase in secretion of IL‐6, IL‐8, TNF‐α, and RANTES. Epithelial barrier function, as measured by TEER, was maintained at 1501 ± 355 Ω*cm² postdifferentiation, but dropped significantly when challenged with poly(I:C). This study provides first steps toward a well‐characterized model with defined functional methods for understanding dsRNA stimulated inflammatory responses in a physiologically relevant manner.
Effect of Silica Alumina Ratio and Thermal Treatment of Beta Zeolites on the Adsorption of Toluene from Aqueous Solutions

The adsorption of toluene from aqueous solutions onto hydrophobic zeolites was studied by combining chromatographic, thermal and structural techniques. Three beta zeolites (notated BEAs, since they belong to BEA framework type), with different SiO2/Al2O3 ratios (i.e., 25, 38 and 360), before and after calcination, were tested as adsorbents of toluene from aqueous media. This was performed by measuring the adsorbed quantities of toluene onto zeolites in a wide concentration range of solute. The adsorption data were fitted with isotherms whose models are based on surface heterogeneity of the adsorbent, according to the defective structure of beta zeolites. The thermal treatment considerably increases the adsorption of toluene, in the low concentration range, on all BEAs, probably due to surface and structural modifications induced by calcination. Among the calcined BEAs, the most hydrophobic zeolite (i.e., that with SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 360) showed the highest binding constant, probably due to its high affinity for an organophilic solute such as toluene. The high sorption capacity was confirmed by thermogravimetric analyses on BEAs, before and after saturation with toluene.
A novel strain sensor based on the campaniform sensillum of insects

The functional design of the campaniform sensillum was modelled as a hole in a plate using two– and three–dimensional finite–element modelling. Different shapes of opening in a fibrous composite plate amplify differently the global strains imposed on the plate, and different configurations of reinforcement also have an effect. In this paper, the main objective is to study the strain and displacement fields associated with circular or elliptical openings in laminated plates in order to investigate their potential for integrated strain sensors. Since we are therefore primarily interested with the detection of displacement, the detailed stress concentration levels associated with these openings are not of primary concern. However, strain energy density levels associated with different hole and fibre configurations have been used to assess the relative likely strength reduction effect of the openings. To compare the relative strain amplification effect of drilled and formed holes of the same size in loaded plates, we have used the relative change in length of diameters (circular) or semi–axes (elliptical) in directions parallel and normal to the load. Various techniques which could sense this deformation were investigated, in particular, the coupling mechanism of a campaniform sensillum of Calliphora vicina. This mechanism was resolved into discrete components: a cap surrounded by a collar, a joint membrane and an annulus–shaped socket septum with a spongy compliant zone. The coupling mechanism is a mechanical linkage which transforms the stimulus into two deformations in different directions: monoaxial transverse compression of the dendritic tip and vertical displacement of the cap. The mechanism is insensitive to change of the material properties of the socket septum, the cuticular cap and the spongy cuticle. The joint membrane may serve as a gap filler. The material properties of the collar have a substantial influence on the coupling mechanism's output. A 30% change of stiffness of the collar causes 45% change in the output of the coupling mechanism. The collar may be able to tune the sensitivity of the sensillum by changing its elastic properties.
Risk models and scores for type 2 diabetes: systematic review

Objective To evaluate current risk models and scores for type 2 diabetes and inform selection and implementation of these in practice. Design Systematic review using standard (quantitative) and realist (mainly qualitative) methodology. Inclusion criteria Papers in any language describing the development or external validation, or both, of models and scores to predict the risk of an adult developing type 2 diabetes. Data sources Medline, PreMedline, Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched. Included studies were citation tracked in Google Scholar to identify follow-on studies of usability or impact. Data extraction Data were extracted on statistical properties of models, details of internal or external validation, and use of risk scores beyond the studies that developed them. Quantitative data were tabulated to compare model components and statistical properties. Qualitative data were analysed thematically to identify mechanisms by which use of the risk model or score might improve patient outcomes. Results 8864 titles were scanned, 115 full text papers considered, and 43 papers included in the final sample. These described the prospective development or validation, or both, of 145 risk prediction models and scores, 94 of which were studied in detail here. They had been tested on 6.88 million participants followed for up to 28 years. Heterogeneity of primary studies precluded meta-analysis. Some but not all risk models or scores had robust statistical properties (for example, good discrimination and calibration) and had been externally validated on a different population. Genetic markers added nothing to models over clinical and sociodemographic factors. Most authors described their score as “simple” or “easily implemented,” although few were specific about the intended users and under what circumstances. Ten mechanisms were identified by which measuring diabetes risk might improve outcomes. Follow-on studies that applied a risk score as part of an intervention aimed at reducing actual risk in people were sparse. Conclusion Much work has been done to develop diabetes risk models and scores, but most are rarely used because they require tests not routinely available or they were developed without a specific user or clear use in mind. Encouragingly, recent research has begun to tackle usability and the impact of diabetes risk scores. Two promising areas for further research are interventions that prompt lay people to check their own diabetes risk and use of risk scores on population datasets to identify high risk “hotspots” for targeted public health interventions.
THE EFFECT OF HAPPINESS COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TRAINING ON SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AND ACADEMIC STRESS

M. Gholamali Lavasani, L. Rastgoo, A. Azarniad, T. Ahmadi :هلاقم تفایرد 31 / 31 / 3131 :هلاقم شریذپ 33 / 13 / 3131 هدیکچ فده : رد هویش هب یماکداش شزومآ همانرب رثا رضاح شهوژپ یلیصحت سرتسا و یدمآراکدوخ نازیم رب سیادروف یراتفر یتخانش مود هیاپ رتخد نازومآ شناد نارهت رهش ناتسریبد رارق یسررب دروم تفرگ . :شور همین شهوژپ حرط شیپ اب یبرجت سپ و نومزآ اب هارمه نومزآ لماش هنومن . دوب هاوگ هورگ 62 شناد زا رفن مود هیاپ رتخد نازومآ هورگ یاضعا . دوب نارهت رهش ناتسریبد هب اه نشسرپ هلیسو هما دروفسکآ یماکداش ( 9191 راکدوخ سایقم ،) سکودام و ررش یدمآ ( 9196 ( واکلا یلیصحت سرتسا همانشسرپ و ) 6001 زا دعب و لبق ) 90 هداد . دنتفرگ رارق شجنس دروم یهورگ شزومآ هسلج اب اه نومزآ و سنایراووک لیلحت زا هدافتسا t هیزجت دروم هتسباو لیلحتو . تفرگ رارق هتفای :اه جیاتن همانرب شزومآ هک داد ناشن شهوژپ زا لصاح هویش هب یماکداش نیگنایم ،دوب هتسناوت سیادروف یراتفر یتخانش ی شناد یدمآراکدوخ تارمن هورگ اب هسیاقم رد ار شیامزآ هورگ نازومآ هسیاقم رد یلیصحت سرتسا رد ار اهنآ تارمن نیگنایم و شیازفا ،هاوگ شناد اب نومزآ جیاتن ساسارب . دهد شهاک ،هاوگ هورگ نازومآ t نیب ،هتسباو من نیگنایم ـ ر مآراکدوخ تا ـ یصحت سرتسا و ید ـ یل سپ تشذگ زا سپ شیامزآ هورگ یریگیپ و نومزآ 3 ،شزومآ زا هتفه ینعم توافت . دشن هدهاشم یراد هجیتن :یریگ شیازفا نمض سیادروف یماکداش همانرب شزومآ شناد یماکداش ساسحا و یمومع یدمآراکدوخ شیازفا رب نازومآ هب طوبرم سرتسا شهاک تیلاعف ینعم ریثأت یلیصحت یاه . دراد یراد
Evaluation of Cross-Cultural Higher Education Learning

Changing roles of contemporary higher education has increased the challenges of assessing higher learning from the assessment point of view despite the plethora of available standardized instruments. Existing instruments require modifications in order to accommodate the context of the study as well as to suit the institutional objectives, philosophy and program structure hence adjudging that the best instrument are those most consistent with what the institution or program values. This paper elucidated the issues needed to be addressed before a valid and reliable measurement of learning quality is attained for a multicultural and developing nation.
An Evaluation on Feature Selection for Text Clustering

Feature selection methods have been successfully applied to text categorization but seldom applied to text clustering due to the unavailability of class label information. In this paper, we first give empirical evidence that feature selection methods can improve the efficiency and performance of text clustering algorithm. Then we propose a new feature selection method called "Term Contribution (TC)" and perform a comparative study on a variety of feature selection methods for text clustering, including Document Frequency (DF), Term Strength (TS), Entropy-based (En), Information Gain (IG) and χ2 statistic (CHI). Finally, we propose an "Iterative Feature Selection (IF)" method that addresses the unavailability of label problem by utilizing effective supervised feature selection method to iteratively select features and perform clustering. Detailed experimental results on Web Directory data are provided in the paper.
Induction of causal chains

The current study examined one way in which people learn complex causal relations from covariation. When participants were presented with covariation information between X and Y and covariation information between Y and Z only, they were willing to infer a causal relationship between X and Z, although it is not warranted by the evidence. Furthermore, the perceived strength of the terminal relationship was tied to the perceived strength of the intermediate relationships, as manipulated through the order of evidence. These results imply that people do not follow normative, contigency-based theories, but instead carry out a hypothesis-testing process and combine piecemeal relationships into an overarching causal induction.
Agrarian Structure and Endogenous Financial System Development

The development of the financial system is shown, both historically and in contemporary data, to be adversely affected by inequality in the distribution of land. To accommodate these empirical findings, a theory is developed that highlights the incentives of landowners to oppose competition in the financial sector. The theory provides an explanation for the co-incident development of the financial sector and overall economy.
Mitigating NBTI in the physical register file through stress prediction

Degradation of transistor parameter values due to Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) has emerged as a major reliability problem in current and future transistor generations. NBTI Aging of SRAM cell leads to a lower noise margin, thereby increasing the failure rate. The physical register file, which consists of an array of SRAM cells, can suffer from data loss, leading to system failure. In this paper, we explore a novel approach by investigating NBTI stress and mitigation at the instruction granularity. While a wide range of NBTI stress exists in different registers, the stress induced by specific instructions is highly predictable. Using such a prediction mechanism, we propose an NBTI tolerant power efficient physical register file design. Our approach improves the noise margin in a register file by 20%, 32%, and 125% for the 45nm, 32nm, and 22nm technology nodes, respectively. Overall, we observe 14.8% power saving and a 19.8% area penalty in the register file.
An empirical study investigating the role of child-mother attachment security in predicting children's responses to the arrival of a sibling

This article reviews the current literature concerning the role of child-mother attachment security and parent-child interaction in relation to children's responses to the arrival of a sibling. After an introduction to the area, 9 articles are reviewed in detail in terms of the following criteria: rationale for the research design and procedure main findings and relevance to the wider literature. The majority of the studies reviewed found significant increases in behavioural problems in target children in response to the birth of a sibling and several found changes to child-mother attachment security status and interaction over the transition. The overall findings of the review are discussed in terms of their relevance to the wider literature and suggestions for the direction of future research are given.
β‐GPA treatment leads to elevated basal metabolic rate and enhanced hypoxic exercise tolerance in mice

Treatments that increase basal metabolic rate (BMR) and enhance exercise capacity may be useful therapeutic approaches for treating conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and associated circulatory problems. β‐guanidinopropionic acid (β‐GPA) supplementation decreases high‐energy phosphate concentrations, such as ATP and phosphocreatine (PCr) resulting in an energetic challenge that is similar to both exercise programs and hypoxic conditions. In this study, we administered β‐GPA to mice for 2 or 6 weeks, and investigated the effect on muscle energetic status, body and muscle mass, muscle capillarity, BMR, and normoxic and hypoxic exercise tolerance (NET and HET, respectively). Relative [PCr] and PCr/ATP ratios significantly decreased during both treatment times in the β‐GPA fed mice compared to control mice. Body mass, muscle mass, and muscle fiber size significantly decreased after β‐GPA treatment, whereas muscle capillarity and BMR were significantly increased in β‐GPA fed mice. NET significantly decreased in the 2‐week treatment, but was not significantly different in the 6‐week treatment. HET significantly decreased in 2‐week treatment, but in contrast to NET, significantly increased in the 6‐week‐treated mice compared to control mice. We conclude that β‐GPA induces a cellular energetic response in skeletal muscle similar to that of chronic environmental hypoxia, and this energetic perturbation leads to elevated BMR and increased hypoxic exercise capacity in the absence of hypoxic acclimation.
Tackling the Big Data 4 vs for anomaly detection

In this paper, a framework for anomaly detection and forensics in Big Data is introduced. The framework tackles the Big Data 4 Vs: Variety, Veracity, Volume and Velocity. The varied nature of the data sources is treated by transforming the typically unstructured data into a highly dimensional and structured data set. To overcome both the uncertainty (low veracity) and high dimension introduced, a latent variable method, in particular Principal Component Analysis (PCA), is applied. PCA is well known to present outstanding capabilities to extract information from highly dimensional data sets. However, PCA is limited to low size, thought highly multivariate, data sets. To handle this limitation, a kernel computation of PCA is employed. This avoids computational problems due to the size (number of observations) in the data sets and allows parallelism. Also, hierarchical models are proposed if dimensionality is extreme. Finally, to handle high velocity in analyzing time series data flows, the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) approach is employed. All these steps are discussed in the paper, and the VAST 2012 mini challenge 2 is used for illustration.
High School Students' Jobs: Related and Unrelated to School

Work experience can be beneficial to high school students, especially when the work is regular and less than 20 hours/week. Previous studies have found that school-related work experience provides more learning opportunities with fewer negative consequences than jobs unrelated to school. This study analyzed responses of 22,183 seniors from 868 high schools who had been employed during the school year. In this study, contrary to previous studies, students with school-related jobs expected to get less education and were academically less able than those whose jobs were unrelated to school. Comparisons of students' self-reports of the quality of their jobs failed to confirm the hypothesis that school-related jobs were more advantageous than jobs unrelated to school. Black students were nearly twice as likely to report having school-related jobs as non-Hispanic white students. The difference in job quality may result from schools underinvesting in high-quality cooperative education, internships, and other forms of work-based learning.
A first step toward testing multiagent coordination mechanisms on multi-robot teams

Our work investigates the effectiveness of multiagent coordination mechanisms, not for groups of software agents, but rather for teams of physical robots. The long-term aims are to identify which multiagent coordination mechanisms are robust enough to work on physical robot teams, despite the inherent problems with noise and error, and to identify which of those mechanisms work best for particular types of missions. This paper takes a first step in this direction, by comparing the performance of a simple auction mechanism for task allocation to a greedy mechanism, as measured on a physical multi-robot team.
Radical Cystectomy and Lymphadenectomy to Two Patients with Pelvic Kidney: Surgical Pitfalls and Considerations

Our goal is to describe our experience in the difficulties encountered during radical cystectomy for muscle invasive bladder cancer in patients with contemporary pelvic kidney. Two patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer and contemporary pelvic kidney were subjected to radical cystectomy and extended lymphadenectomy with conversion to an ileal pouch. In both cases, lymphadenectomy was the first step after entering the true pelvis. In order to proceed to the cystoprostatectomy, careful dissection of the ectopic renal vessels and proper mobilization of the kidney were performed. In both cases, an ileal pouch was our choice. The pelvic kidney is the most common sight of renal ectopia. The etiology is the aborted ascent of the fetal kidney from its initial position in the pelvis. This is the first case series describing radical cystectomy for muscle invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder in patients with a pelvic kidney.
Representation of affect from fMRI data as a function of stimulus modality and judgment task

Education 2010-2015 Ph.D. student in Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA Major: Experimental Psychology Dissertation: Representation of affect from fMRI data as a function of stimulus modality and judgment task Advisors: Dr. Douglas H. Wedell, Dr. Svetlana V. Shinkareva 2006-2008 M.A. in Department of Psychology, Yonsei Univeristy, Seoul, Korea Major: Cognitive Engineering Psychology Master’s thesis: Interactive effects of music, text, and film on emotion and cognition 1999-2006 B.A. in Department of Liberal Arts, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea Majors: Psychology and Sociology