Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Urbanization-Induced Cultivated Land Loss on Ecosystem Services in the North China Plain

Since the implementation of market oriented economic reform in 1978, China has been on the track of rapid urbanization. The unprecedented urbanization in China has resulted in substantial cultivated land loss and rapid expansion of urban areas. The cultivated land loss due to urbanization not only threatens food security in China, but has also led to ecological system degradation to which close attention should be paid. Therefore, we examined the effects of the conversion from cultivated to urban areas on the ecosystem service in the North China Plain on the basis of a net primary productivity based ecosystem service model (NESM) and a buffer comparison method. Cultivated land loss due to urbanization in the North China Plain led to a total loss of ecosystem service value of 34.66% during the period 1988–2008. Urban expansion significantly decreased the ecosystem service function of water conservation (–124.03%), nutrient cycling (–31.91%), gas regulation (−7.18%), and organic production (–7.18%), while it improved the soil conservation function (2.40%). Land use change accounted for 57.40% of the changes in ecosystem service and had a major influence on the changes in nutrient cycling and water conservation. However, climate change mainly determined the changes in gas regulation, organic production, and soil conservation.
Impact of Prior Knowledge and Teaching Strategies on Learning by Teaching

We investigate cognitive factors that are predictive of learning gains when students learn to solve equations by teaching a synthetic peer, called SimStudent. Previous empirical studies showed that prior knowledge is strongly predictive of post-test scores. However, in a recent study in the Philippines that replicated our previous study in the USA, there were students with low priorknowledge who tutored their SimStudent better than other equally low prior students. In this paper, we analyze both process data (tutoring interactions) and outcome data (test scores) to understand what makes learning by teaching more effective. The results imply a presence of individual behavioral differences beyond the difference in the prior knowledge that might have affected SimStudent’s learning, which in turn had non-trivial influence on tutor learning.
CLINICAL IMPACT OF THE FUNGICIDAL ACTIVITY OF CASPOFUNGIN ADMINISTERED ALONE OR IN COMBINATION IN CRITICALLY ILL PATIENTS WITH SEVERE ABDOMINAL CANDIDIASIS REFRACTORY TO CONVENTIONAL ANTIFUNGAL DRUGS: CASE STUDIES AND CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE PROBLEM

Abstract We discuss two cases of abdominal candidiasis in critically ill patients with multiple organ failure and sepsis. Microbiological and clinical courses remained unresponsive to apparently appropriate antifungal therapy with azole or polyene derivatives. Both microbiological and clinical outcomes dramatically improved after starting caspofungin therapy. Lack of cross-resistance, lack of toxicity and potent fungicidal activity make caspofungin a very attractive drug in life threatening abdominal candidiasis. The optimal treatment of life threatening candidiasis remains a controversial issue. Because of recent advances in the field, we propose a critical review of the problem of refractory candidiasis.
Pharmaceutical Microencapsulation Technology for Development of Controlled Release Drug Delivery systems

This article demonstrated development of controlled release system of an NSAID drug, Diclofenac sodium employing different ratios of Ethyl cellulose. Diclofenac sodium and ethyl cellulose in different proportions were processed by microencapsulation based on phase separation technique to formulate microcapsules. The prepared microcapsules were then compressed into tablets to obtain controlled release oral formulations. In-vitro evaluation was performed by dissolution test of each preparation was conducted in 900 ml of phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.2 maintained at 37 ± 0.5 °C and stirred at 50 rpm. At pre- determined time intervals (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20 and 24 hrs). The drug concentration in the collected samples was determined by UV spectrophotometer at 276 nm. The physical characteristics of diclofenac sodium microcapsules were according to accepted range. These were off-white, free flowing and spherical in shape. The release profile of diclofenac sodium from microcapsules was found to be directly proportional to the proportion of ethylcellulose and coat thickness. The in-vitro release pattern showed that with ratio of 1:1 and 1:2 (drug: polymer), the percentage release of drug at first hour was 16.91 and 11.52 %, respectively as compared to 1:3 which is only 6.87 % with in this time. The release mechanism followed higuchi model for its release pattern. Tablet Formulation (F2) of present study was found comparable in release profile the marketed brand Phlogin-SR, microcapsules showed an extended release beyond 24 h. Further, a good correlation was found between drug release and proportion of ethylcellulose in the microcapsules. Microencapsulation based on coacervation found as good technique to control release of diclofenac sodium for making the controlled release formulations. Keywords—Diclofenac sodium, Microencapsulation technology, Ethylcellulose, In-Vitro Release Profile
Is there a mcgurk effect for tongue reading?

Previous studies on tongue reading, i.e., speech perception ofdegraded audio supported by animations of tongue movementshave indicated that the support is weak initially and that subjectsneed training to learn to interpret the movements. Thispaper investigates if the learning is of the animation templatesas such or if subjects learn to retrieve articulatory knowledgethat they already have. Matching and conflicting animationsof tongue movements were presented randomly together withthe auditory speech signal at three different levels of noise in aconsonant identification test. The average recognition rate overthe three noise levels was significantly higher for the matchedaudiovisual condition than for the conflicting and the auditoryonly. Audiovisual integration effects were also found for conflictingstimuli. However, the visual modality is given much lessweight in the perception than for a normal face view, and intersubjectdifferences in the use of visual information are large.
Effects of Cumulative Context and Guessing Methods On Estimates of Transition Probability in Speech

This study investigated the effects of cumulative context and of various guessing methods on transition probability estimates derived from the same speech materials. Transition probability estimates obtained from the single-guess and continuous-guessing methods were highly correlated and yielded similar distributions of scores for both isolated and cumulative context material. Forward and backward guessing methods yielded uncorrelated sets of predictability scores, the distributions of which were significantly different. Cloze procedure predictability scores were highly correlated with forward guessing and combined forward-backward guessing results, but were significantly higher in magnitude. Implications of the effects of procedural differences for future investigations are discussed.
Abundance and distribution of small infauna in mangroves of Missionary Bay, north Queensland, Australia.

To assess the occurrence, spatial distribution and species composition of small infauna on a mangrove shore, core samples were taken along a transect in Missionary Bay at Hinchinbrook Island, north-east Australia. Three sites were arranged within the mangrove forest and one site was located in an adjacent mudflat. The sites were surveyed four times between November 1988 and October 1989. Based on the records from all samples and sites, 39 taxa were identified. Diversity (H') ranged from 1.18 to 2.38. Overall, total abundances of small infauna (retained on a 0.25 mm sieve) reached a mean value of 5,477 ind.m-2, with little variation throughout the transect or over time. Species numbers and diversity were higher in the mudflat than at the mangrove sites. The taxonomic composition changed between the mangrove forest and the mudflat: Oligochaeta were more abundant in mangrove sediments, whereas Polychaeta dominated in the mudflat. Of the polychaetes, Capitellidae were almost restricted to the mangrove sites, Sabellidae were recorded frequently at all sites, and Sigambra parva and Myriochele sp. were confined to the mudflat and the mangrove fringe. These species accounted also for dissimilarities between sites. Multivariate analyses showed a distinct assemblage at the mudflat compared to the mangrove sites. This survey showed that small infauna is an abundant component of mangrove sediments, which has been previously underestimated.
Fine-Grained Complexity and Conditional Hardness for Sparse Graphs

We consider the fine-grained complexity of sparse graph problems that currently have $\tilde{O}(mn)$ time algorithms, where m is the number of edges and n is the number of vertices in the input graph. This class includes several important path problems on both directed and undirected graphs, including APSP, MWC (minimum weight cycle), and Eccentricities, which is the problem of computing, for each vertex in the graph, the length of a longest shortest path starting at that vertex. We introduce the notion of a sparse reduction which preserves the sparsity of graphs, and we present near linear-time sparse reductions between various pairs of graph problems in the $\tilde{O}(mn)$ class. Surprisingly, very few of the known nontrivial reductions between problems in the $\tilde{O}(mn)$ class are sparse reductions. In the directed case, our results give a partial order on a large collection of problems in the $\tilde{O}(mn)$ class (along with some equivalences). In the undirected case we give two nontrivial sparse reductions: from MWC to APSP, and from unweighted ANSC (all nodes shortest cycles) to APSP. The latter reduction also gives an improved algorithm for ANSC (for dense graphs). We propose the MWC Conjecture, a new conditional hardness conjecture that the weight of a minimum weight cycle in a directed graph cannot be computed in time polynomially smaller than mn. Our sparse reductions for directed path problems in the $\tilde{O}(mn)$ class establish that several problems in this class, including 2-SiSP (second simple shortest path), Radius, and Eccentricities, are MWCC hard. We also identify Eccentricities as a key problem in the $\tilde{O}(mn)$ class which is simultaneously MWCC-hard, SETH-hard and k-DSH-hard, where SETH is the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis, and k-DSH is the hypothesis that a dominating set of size k cannot be computed in time polynomially smaller than n^k.
Word Representations: A Simple and General Method for Semi-Supervised Learning

If we take an existing supervised NLP system, a simple and general way to improve accuracy is to use unsupervised word representations as extra word features. We evaluate Brown clusters, Collobert and Weston (2008) embeddings, and HLBL (Mnih & Hinton, 2009) embeddings of words on both NER and chunking. We use near state-of-the-art supervised baselines, and find that each of the three word representations improves the accuracy of these baselines. We find further improvements by combining different word representations. You can download our word features, for off-the-shelf use in existing NLP systems, as well as our code, here: http://metaoptimize.com/projects/wordreprs/
RNA surveillance is required for endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is an intracellular stress-signaling pathway that counteracts the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Because defects in ER protein folding are associated with many pathological states, including metabolic, neurologic, genetic, and inflammatory diseases, it is important to understand how the UPR maintains ER protein-folding homeostasis. All metazoans have conserved the fundamental UPR transducers IRE1, ATF6, and PERK. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the UPR is required to prevent larval lethality and intestinal degeneration. Although ire-1-null worms are viable, they are particularly sensitive to ER stress. To identify genes that are required for development of ire-1-null worms, we performed a comprehensive RNA interference screen to find 10 genes that exhibit synthetic growth and intestinal defects with the ire-1(v33) mutant but not with atf-6(tm1153) or pek-1(ok275) mutants. The expression of two of these genes, exos-3 and F48E8.6, was induced by ER stress, and their knockdown in a wild-type strain caused ER stress. Because these genes encode subunits of the exosome complex that functions in mRNA surveillance, we analyzed other gene products required for nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Our results demonstrate that defects in smg-1, smg-4, and smg-6 in C. elegans and SMG6 in mammalian cells cause ER stress and sensitize to the lethal effects of ER stress. Although ER stress did not activate mRNA surveillance complex assembly, ER stress did induce SMG6 expression, and NMD regulators were constitutively localized to the ER. Importantly, the findings demonstrate a unique and fundamental interaction where NMD-mediated mRNA quality control is required to prevent ER stress.
Higher concentrations of serum transferrin receptor in children than in adults.

BACKGROUND The serum transferrin receptor (TfR) concentration in adults is suggested to provide a sensitive measure of iron depletion and together with the serum ferritin concentration to indicate the entire range of iron status, from iron deficiency to iron overload. However, little is known about TfR concentrations in children. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to compare serum TfR and ferritin concentrations and their ratios in children and adults and look for correlations between TfR concentrations and other measures of iron status. DESIGN Our study groups were healthy 1-y-old infants (n = 36), 11-12-y-old prepubertal boys (n = 35), and 20-39-y-old men (n = 40). RESULTS TfR concentrations were higher in infants (x; 95% reference interval: 7.8 mg/L; 4.5, 11.1) than in prepubertal boys (7.0 mg/L; 4.7, 9.2) and higher in prepubertal boys than in men (5.8 mg/L; 3.1, 8.5). Geometric mean TfR-ferritin ratios were higher in infants (316; 95% reference interval: 94, 1059) than in prepubertal boys (219; 78, 614) and higher in prepubertal boys than in men (72; 23, 223). By multiple linear regression analysis, the best predictors of TfR concentration were serum iron (P = 0.004) and log serum ferritin (P < 0.0001), both being inverse correlations (R2 = 0.32). Mean corpuscular volume, blood hemoglobin, transferrin iron saturation, transferrin, and even age seemed to not have an influence on the TfR concentration and erythropoiesis was not a determinant of TfR concentration. CONCLUSIONS Low serum ferritin and iron concentrations, even within the normal physiologic range, result in high TfR concentrations. The lower the iron stores, the stronger the influence of ferritin on TfR. A high TfR concentration in children, especially in infants, is a response to physiologically low iron stores. Age-specific reference concentrations for TfR are needed.
Association of Coexisting Diabetes and Depression With Mortality After Myocardial Infarction

OBJECTIVE Diabetes and depression are both linked to an increased mortality risk after myocardial infarction (MI). Population-based studies suggest that having both diabetes and depression results in an increased mortality risk, beyond that of having diabetes or depression alone. The purpose of this study was to examine the joint association of diabetes and depression with mortality in MI patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data were derived from two multicenter cohort studies in the Netherlands, comprising 2,704 patients who were hospitalized for MI. Depression, defined as a Beck Depression Inventory score ≥10, and diabetes were assessed during hospitalization. Mortality data were retrieved for 2,525 patients (93%). RESULTS During an average follow-up of 6.2 years, 439 patients died. The mortality rate was 14% (226 of 1,673) in patients without diabetes and depression, 23% (49 of 210) in patients with diabetes only, 22% (118 of 544) in patients with depression only, and 47% (46 of 98) in patients with both diabetes and depression. After adjustment for age, sex, smoking, hypertension, left ventricular ejection fraction, prior MI, and Killip class, hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 1.38 (95% CI 1.00–1.90) for patients with diabetes only, 1.39 (1.10–1.76) for patients with depression only, and as much as 2.90 (2.07–4.07) for patients with both diabetes and depression. CONCLUSIONS We observed an increased mortality risk in post-MI patients with both diabetes and depression, beyond the association with mortality of diabetes and depression alone.
Efficient Coupling of Routing and Location-based Service for VANETs

The high node mobility in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) leads to frequent topology changes and link breaks. Geographic routing protocols are more suitable for these networks where the use of position-to-position paradigm to forward data. We need to know the destination position usually given by an external service denoted as a location-based service. However, geographic routing protocols and location-based services are often implemented separately and are not gathered. In this paper, we discuss a coupling mechanism of geographic routing protocols and hierarchical location-based services. We have implemented this mechanism under the NS-2 simulator. We have shown the reduction of the location-based service overhead. In the meantime, the packet delivery ratio and the average end-to-end delay have been improved.
Effects of a Multi-Component Behavioral Intervention (MCI) for Insomnia on Depressive and Insomnia Symptoms in Individuals with High and Low Depression

Insomnia and depression are prevalent and co-occurring conditions that are associated with significant impairment of life. Previous research indicates that cognitive-behavioral interventions for insomnia (CBT-I) can improve both insomnia and depressive symptoms. The aim of the authors in this study was to determine whether a multi-component behavioral intervention (MCI) improved both insomnia and depressive symptoms in persons presenting with insomnia and high levels of depression. The sample consisted of 321 individuals with insomnia who participated in a trial of insomnia treatments; 106 participants had high levels of depression (score ≥ 16 on CES-D) at baseline. Participants either received the MCI or a control treatment (sleep education and hygiene booklet). At post-test, participants with high and low levels of depressive symptoms showed significant improvement in insomnia symptoms. Those with high depression also had significant reductions in depressive symptoms. It can be concluded that for individuals with depression and insomnia, CBT-I is a viable intervention for managing depressive symptoms, which complements other approaches for treating depression.
The Neurovascular Protective Effects of Huperzine A on D-Galactose-Induced Inflammatory Damage in the Rat Hippocampus

Background: Chronic administration of <smlcap>D</smlcap>-galactose (<smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal) results in oxidative stress and chronic inflammatory aging. Age-related changes in the brain result in neurovascular damage and blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. However, little is known regarding <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced neurovascular damage, as well as the protective effects of huperzine A. Objective: The purpose of this study was to utilize a<smlcap> D</smlcap>-gal-induced rat model to investigate the activation of neurovascular inflammatory damage and apoptosis in the rat hippocampus and to understand whether huperzine A alleviates <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced neuronal and vascular inflammatory injury. Methods: Aging rats were treated with <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal (300 mg/kg s.c. for 8 weeks), were coadministered <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal and huperzine A (<smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal 300 mg/kg and huperzine A 0.1 mg/kg s.c. for 8 weeks) or served as the saline-treated control group rats (same volume of saline given subcutaneously for 8 weeks). Changes in hippocampal morphology and biomarkers of inflammatory damage were analyzed. Results: Our study revealed that chronic administration of <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal resulted in the activation of glia and vascular endothelial cells and upregulation of mRNA and protein levels of cell-associated adhesion molecules and inflammatory cytokines via nuclear factor (NF)-κB inhibitor degradation and NF-κB nuclear translocation. The inflammatory injury caused significant BBB dysfunction, decreased density of tight junctions (TJs) and apoptosis in the rat hippocampus. Coadministration of huperzine A not only markedly inhibited the <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced increase in acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, but also alleviated <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced neurovascular damage by inhibiting <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced NF-κB activation, improving cerebrovascular function and suppressing the <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced decrease in the density and protein levels of TJs and cell apoptosis. Conclusions: Our findings provided evidence that <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal induced a proinflammatory phenotype mediated by NF-κB in the rat hippocampus. Moreover, huperzine A suppressed <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced neurovascular damage and BBB dysfunction, partly by preventing NF-κB nuclear translocation. The inhibiting effect of huperzine A on AChE activity might play an important role in attenuating <smlcap>D</smlcap>-gal-induced inflammatory damage.
Recent HbA1c Values and Mortality Risk in Type 2 Diabetes. Population-Based Case-Control Study

This study aimed to evaluate mortality within 365 days of HbA1c values of <6.5% or >9.0% in participants with clinical type 2 diabetes mellitus. A matched nested case-control study was implemented, within a cohort of participants with type 2 diabetes from 2000 to 2008. Conditional logistic regression was used to model the odds ratio for mortality adjusting for comorbidity and drug utilisation. There were 97,450 participants with type 2 diabetes; 16,585 cases that died during follow up were matched to 16,585 controls. The most recent HbA1c value was <6.5% (48 mmol/mol) for 22.2% of cases and 24.2% of controls, the HbA1c was >9.0% for 9.0% of cases and 7.7% of controls. In a complete case analysis, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for mortality associated with most recent HbA1c <6.5% was 1.31 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.21,1.42). After multiple imputation of missing HbA1c values the AOR was 1.20 (CI: 1.12,1.28). The complete case analysis gave an AOR for HbA1c >9.0% of 1.51 (CI: 1.33, 1.70), in the multiple imputation analysis this was 1.29 (1.17,1.41). The risk associated with HbA1c <6.5% was age dependent. In the multiple imputation analysis the AOR was 1.53 (CI: 0.84 to 2.79) at age<55 years but 1.04 (CI: 0.92, 1.17) at age 85 years and over. In non-randomised data, values of HbA1c that are either <6.5% or >9.0% may be associated with increased mortality within one year in clinical type 2 diabetes. Relative risks may be higher at younger ages.