Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differentially Expressed miRNAs in Acute Wound Healing of the Skin

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to compare expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) from scar and normal skin areas in patients who suffered acute injuries in the skin.A total of 9 patients with acute injuries in the skin who received surgical treatment from December 2012 to March 2013 were included in this pilot study. Specimens from the hypertrophic scar and normal skin areas were obtained from the same patient during surgery. To screen for differentially expressed miRNAs, we applied 3 statistical methods, namely the traditional t test, the false discovery rate (FDR), and a novel sure independence screening procedure based on the distance correlation (DC-SIS). We examined the functional trends and metabolic and regulatory pathways for the target genes of the identified miRNAs, and explored interaction of these miRNAs in the implication of scar healing using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis.DC-SIS identified 18 differentially expressed miRNAs, 4 of which (miR-149, miR-203a, miR-222, miR-122) were also identified by FDR. The target genes of the 4 miRNAs exhibit a variety of biological functions, and are involved in various pathways such as mitogen-activated protein kinase, Wnt signaling, and focal adhesion. We identified 1 network in which 14 out of the 18 differentially expressed miRNAs were involved. Many of the miRNAs in the network target genes were involved in cell proliferation and apoptosis.In this pilot study, we identified several miRNAs exhibiting differential expression in patients who suffered acute injuries in the skin. Further studies on these miRNAs are needed to validate our findings and explore their roles in the wound healing process of the skin.
Using Ratings and Response Latencies to Evaluate the Consistency of Immediate Aesthetic Perceptions of Web Pages

Using explicit (subjective evaluations) and implicit (response latency) measures, this study replicated and extended the findings by Fernandes et al (2003), who found that immediate aesthetic impressions of web pages are remarkably consistent. Forty participants evaluated 50 web pages in two phases. The degree to which web pages were regarded, on average, as attractive after a very short exposure of 0.5 sec. was highly correlated with attractiveness ratings after an exposure of 10 seconds. Extreme attractiveness evaluations (both positive and negative) were faster than moderate evaluations, providing convergent evidence to the hypothesis of immediate impression. Overall, the results provide direct evidence in support of the premise that aesthetic impression of the IT artifacts are formed quickly. Indirectly, the results suggest that visual aesthetics can play an important role in users' evaluations of the IT artifact.
Almost Hadamard Matrices: General Theory and Examples

We develop a general theory of almost Hadamard matrices. These are by definition the matrices H ∈ MN (R) having the property that U = H= √ N is orthogonal, and is a local maximum of the 1-norm on O(N ). Our study includes a detailed discussion of the circulant case (Hij = j−i) and of the two-entry case (Hij ∈ {x;y}), with the construction of several families of examples, and some 1-norm computations.
Establishment of Human Neural Progenitor Cells from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Diverse Tissue Origins

Human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) have previously been generated from limited numbers of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) clones. Here, 21 hiPSC clones derived from human dermal fibroblasts, cord blood cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were differentiated using two neural induction methods, an embryoid body (EB) formation-based method and an EB formation method using dual SMAD inhibitors (dSMADi). Our results showed that expandable hNPCs could be generated from hiPSC clones with diverse somatic tissue origins. The established hNPCs exhibited a mid/hindbrain-type neural identity and uniform expression of neural progenitor genes.
IS/IT Investment Evaluation and Benefits Realization Issues in Australia

Information systems/information technology represents substantial financial investment for many organizations. It has been shown that IS/IT investments in many organizations are huge and increasing rapidly every year and yet there is still a lack of understanding of the impact of the proper IS/IT investment evaluation processes and practices in these organizations. Thus, a survey and an in-depth case study of these practices and processes in two large governmental departments with several major IS/IT projects was conducted. The key issues presented here in some detail are of interest to practitioners concerned with making decisions about project investment and realizing benefits, as well as researchers. ACM Classification: H.0 (Information Systems – General)
Activation of the subventricular zone in multiple sclerosis: Evidence for early glial progenitors

In multiple sclerosis (MS), oligodendrocyte and myelin destruction lead to demyelination with subsequent axonal loss. Experimental demyelination in rodents has highlighted the activation of the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the involvement of progenitor cells expressing the polysialylated form of neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) in the repair process. In this article, we studied the distribution of early PSA-NCAM+ progenitors in the SVZ and MS lesions in human postmortem brains. Compared with controls, MS SVZ showed a 2- to 3-fold increase in cell density and proliferation, which correlated with enhanced numbers of PSA-NCAM+ and glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive (GFAP+) cells. PSA-NCAM+ progenitors mainly were Sox9+, and a few expressed Sox10 and Olig2, markers of oligodendroglial specification. PSA-NCAM+ progenitors expressing Sox10 and Olig2 also were detected in demyelinated MS lesions. In active and chronic active lesions, the number of PSA-NCAM+ progenitors was 8-fold higher compared with chronic silent lesions, shadow plaques, and normal-appearing white matter. In active and chronic active lesions, PSA-NCAM+ progenitors were more frequent in periventricular lesions (30–50%) than in lesions remote from the ventricular wall. These data indicate that, as in rodents, activation of gliogenesis in the SVZ occurs in MS and suggest the mobilization of SVZ-derived early glial progenitors to periventricular lesions, where they could give rise to oligodendrocyte precursors. These early glial progenitors could be a potential target for therapeutic strategies designed to promote myelin repair in MS.
CR extension for Lp CR functions on a quadric submanifold of Cn

We consider the space, CR(M), consisting of CR functions which also lie in L(M) on a quadric submanifold M of C of codimension at least one. For 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞, we prove that each element in CR(M) extends uniquely to an H function on the interior of the convex hull of M . As part of the proof, we establish a semi-global version of the CR approximation theorem of Baouendi and Treves for submanifolds which are graphs and whose graphing functions have polynomial growth.
McMonnies questionnaire: enhancing screening for dry eye syndromes with Rasch analysis.

PURPOSE To determine, by using Rasch analysis, whether the McMonnies questionnaire possesses the properties of a measure and whether screening for dry eye syndromes (DESs) can be enhanced by using different scoring approaches. METHODS The questionnaire was self-administered by 43 female Sjögren syndrome patients (>45 years) recruited from a specialized rheumatology clinic and 140 age-matched control subjects. Data were scaled by using Rasch analysis and were assessed for response category behavior and ability to reliably discriminate between severity of the participant's dry eye symptoms (i.e., person separation reliability; minimum acceptable value, 0.80). Standard summary statistics of screening performance were calculated for raw and Rasch-scaled scores from receiver-operating characteristic analysis including area under the curve (AUC). Best predictors (i.e., questions) from a discriminant analysis were used to calculate a discriminant function for both Rasch-scaled and raw scores. RESULTS Response categories were not used as intended, necessitating a collapse of categories. Person separation reliability was inadequate (0.75). A Rasch-scaled discriminant cutoff score of -2.29 logits from seven items provided an AUC of 0.99 with 95% sensitivity. However, discriminant raw score from modification in the scoring of a question (e.g., use of medications), used as one rather than multiple questions, provided an AUC (0.97) that was not significantly different (z = 1.11, P = 0.27), with 98% sensitivity, and required only two questions. CONCLUSIONS In this population, the McMonnies questionnaire does not function as a measure. However, various scoring methods can be used to efficiently screen for DES.
UNITY IS STRENGTH: UNDERSTANDING USERS' GROUP BUYING BEHAVIOR IN TAIWAN FROM A COLLECTIVISM PERSPECTIVE

This study proposes a theoretical model from a collectivism perspective to examine the factors affecting buyers’ motivation to engage in auctions through online group-buying websites. The model was tested using the data collected from 218 buyers participating in a Taiwan online group-buying website. The results show that the intention to participate in online group-buying auctions significantly affected group-buying behavior, while conformity, attitude, and collective efficacy had significant influences on the intention to participate in online group-buying auctions. The results also indicate that trust in websites, trust in auction initiators, and trust in buyers are the antecedents of attitudes toward online group-buying auctions. Implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The Effects of Helicobacter pylori Eradication on Proteinuria in Patients with Primary Glomerulonephritis

Background. Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome. In most cases it is idiopathic, while it may also be secondary to many diseases. In this study, prevalence of H. pylori infection and the effects of H. pylori eradication on proteinuria levels were investigated. Methods. Thirty five patients with MN (19 male), 12 patients with IgA nephropathy (4 male) and 12 patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) (8 male) were studied. The presence of H. pylori antigen was investigated in renal tissues obtained by biopsy, and the effects of H. pylori eradication on proteinuria levels were investigated. Results. Immunohistochemistry with H. pylori antigen revealed no positive staining in the glomeruli of all patients. 19 patients (54%) with MN, 10 (83%) with IgA nephropathy and 4 (33%) with FSGS were positive for H. pylori stool antigen test (P = 0.045). Patients with H. pylori infection were administered eradication therapy (lansoprazole, 30 mg twice daily, plus amoxicillin, 0.75 g twice daily, plus clarithromycin, 250 mg twice daily, for 14 days). Before the eradication therapy the mean proteinuria of patients with MN, IgA nephropathy and FSGS were 2.42 ± 3.24 g/day, 2.12 ± 1.63 g/day and 1.80 ± 1.32 g/day, respectively. Three months after eradication, baseline proteinuria levels of patients with MN significantly decreased to 1.26 ± 1.73 g/day (P = 0.031). In all three groups there were no significant differences with regard to serum creatinine, albumin and C-reactive protein levels before and after eradication therapy. Conclusions. The eradication of H. pylori infection may be effective to reduce proteinuria in patients with MN, while spontaneous remission of MN could not be excluded in this patient cohort. This trial is registered with NCT00983034.
Factors affecting the Adoption and Meaningful Use of Social Media: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

As the number of university students using social media increases, the interest in assessing the adoption of social media applications and the factors encouraging it whether inside or outside classrooms has also risen. Nevertheless, evaluating the educational outcomes of integrating social media in the university teaching has not been researched sufficiently. Therefore, this study aims at exploring these educational outcomes and assessing a research model of antecedents and the cost of social media use. It also determines the factors of implementing social networking media for e-learning in the United Arab Emirates higher education institutions utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) which stresses the Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness along with the Behavior Intention to use social networking media. The quantitative response of 408 university students embedding social media in their teaching methods was analyzed. To predict an Emirati student’s behavioral intention to use social networking media for e-learning, a partial least squares (PLS) analysis points out that Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness are important factors. Accordingly, the proposed model in this study illustrates the ways social media educational use positively influences efficient performances in the classroom.
Association between Caregiver Quality of Life and the Care Provided to Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease: Systematic Review

We reviewed the literature to examine whether an association exists between the quality of life (QoL) of primary informal Alzheimer's disease (AD) caregivers and the level and quality of care that these caregivers provide to their loved ones with AD. We obtained studies focusing on the care that these caregivers provide for their family members with AD. Our outcome of interest was level or quality of care and the independent variable was caregiver QoL. We extracted data in tabular form and used a narrative synthesis approach to describe our findings. Only one relevant study was included in the review. Overall, the evidence was equivocal regarding the associations between caregiver QoL and the level/quality of care in AD.
Microbiological and clinical characteristics of diabetic foot infections in northern India.

INTRODUCTION India has the largest diabetic population of 50.8 million that could reach an epidemic proportion by 2030. Diabetic foot infection is one of the dreaded complications of diabetes. Only a few studies that focus on patterns of diabetic foot infection in our region, where diabetic foot care is inadequate, are available. This study evaluated microbial and clinical characteristics of diabetic foot infections that will be helpful in taking appropriate measures for their management. METHODOLOGY In this prospective study conducted during 2008-2009, sixty-two diabetic foot patients underwent detailed history, clinical examination, and laboratory investigations including parameters of systemic infections. Microbial culture and sensitivity were performed at the time of presentation. RESULTS Among 62 cases, 43.5% had mono-microbial infection, 35.5% had poly-microbial infections, and 21% had sterile culture. Among 82 bacteria isolated, 68% were Gram negative and 32% were Gram positive. Leukocyte counts were higher (16928±9642 versus 14593±6687 cells/mm(3)) and haemoglobin (7.9±2.4 versus 9.2±2.2 mg/dl) lower in poly-microbial compared to mono-microbial infections. Haemoglobin counts were lower and leukocyte counts higher in Gram-negative compared to Gram-positive infections. Patients with sterile cultures also had clinical evidence of persistent infection. Escherichia coli were the most common isolate and piperacillin/tazobactam showed highest sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Gram-negative bacteria were most prevalent in diabetic foot infection. It is not uncommon to have culture reports negative despite clinical evidence of infection. This study suggests that piperacillin/tazobactam should be the treatment of choice on an empirical basis prior to a definitive bacteriological study and in cases with negative culture reports.
Is Bone Mineral Composition Disrupted by Organochlorines in East Greenland Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus)?

We analyzed bone mineral density (BMD) in skulls of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) (n = 139) from East Greenland sampled during 1892–2002. Our primary goal was to detect possible changes in bone mineral content (osteopenia) due to elevated exposure to organochlorine [polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites, chlordanes (CHLs), dieldrin, hexacyclohexanes, hexachlorobenzene] and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) compounds. To ensure that the BMD value in skull represented the mineral status of the skeletal system in general, we compared BMD values in femur and three lumbar vertebrae with skull in a subsample. We detected highly significant correlations between BMD in skull and femur (r = 0.99; p < 0.001; n = 13) and skull and vertebrae (r = 0.97; p < 0.001; n = 8). BMD in skulls sampled in the supposed pre-organochlorine/PBDE period (1892–1932) was significantly higher than that in skulls sampled in the supposed pollution period (1966–2002) for subadult females, subadult males, and adult males (all, p < 0.05) but not adult females (p = 0.94). We found a negative correlation between organochlorines and skull BMD for the sum of PCBs (∑PCB; p < 0.04) and ∑CHL (p < 0.03) in subadults and for dieldrin (p < 0.002) and ∑DDT (p < 0.02) in adult males; indications for ∑PBDE in subadults were also found (p = 0.06). In conclusion, the strong correlative relationships suggest that disruption of the bone mineral composition in East Greenland polar bears may have been caused by organochlorine exposure.
Membrane Associated Synaptic Mineralocorticoid and Glucocorticoid Receptors Are Rapid Regulators of Dendritic Spines

Unemployment is never a good situation to be in. For ~25 years the direct membrane acting, non-genomic, variety of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) have been in want of a credible function. Even the existence of a membrane MR (mMR) and membrane GR (mGR) was questioned. Recent data suggest this is changing; mMR and mGR are located in synapses and surrounding space of rapidly plastic dendritic spines (Prager et al., 2010; Komatsuzaki et al., 2012; Yoshiya et al., 2013). Emerging evidence, reviewed below, links mGR activation to rapid changes in dendritic spine size and number. These structural changes can be both experimentally induced and are also naturally induced during circadian fluctuations in corticosterone levels, and are rapidly mediated by kinase signaling. Moreover, mMR activation may reverse these changes. Previous data also links the mMR to receptor trafficking and regulation of synaptic transmission. Collectively mMR and mGR mediated rapid regulation of synaptic structure and function is central for learning and memory. In this paper we briefly summarize the history of the mMR and mGR and then update on the emerging evidence of their reported functions. Here we argue that there is enough evidence to consider these rapidly acting non-genomic membrane receptors as members of the community of fully employed receptors.
A Bayesian Mixture Model for PoS Induction Using Multiple Features

In this paper we present a fully unsupervised syntactic class induction system formulated as a Bayesian multinomial mixture model, where each word type is constrained to belong to a single class. By using a mixture model rather than a sequence model (e.g., HMM), we are able to easily add multiple kinds of features, including those at both the type level (morphology features) and token level (context and alignment features, the latter from parallel corpora). Using only context features, our system yields results comparable to state-of-the art, far better than a similar model without the one-class-per-type constraint. Using the additional features provides added benefit, and our final system outperforms the best published results on most of the 25 corpora tested.
Hydrogen peroxide is involved in the acclimation of the Mediterranean shrub, Cistus albidus L., to summer drought

This study evaluated the possible role of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the acclimation of a Mediterranean shrub, Cistus albidus L. , to summer drought growing under Mediterranean field conditions. For this purpose, changes in H2O2 concentrations and localization throughout a year were analysed. H2O2 changes in response to environmental conditions in parallel with changes in abscisic acid (ABA) and oxidative stress markers, together with lignin accumulation, xylem and sclerenchyma differentiation, and leaf area were also investigated. During the summer drought, leaf H2O2 concentrations increased 11-fold, reaching values of 10 μmol g−1 dry weight (DW). This increase occurred mainly in mesophyll cell walls, xylem vessels, and sclerenchyma cells in the differentiation stage. An increase in ABA levels preceded that of H2O2, but both peaked at the same time in conditions of prolonged stress. C. albidus plants tolerated high concentrations of H2O2 because of its localization in the apoplast of mesophyll cells, xylem vessels, and in differentiating sclerenchyma cells. The increase in ABA, and consequently of H2O2, in plants subjected to drought stress might induce a 3.5-fold increase in ascorbic acid (AA), which maintained and even decreased its oxidative status, thus protecting plants from oxidative damage. After recovery from drought following late-summer and autumn rainfall, a decrease in ABA, H2O2, and AA to their basal levels (∼60 pmol g−1 DW, ∼1 μmol g−1 DW, and ∼20 μmol g−1 DW) was observed.
Single-asperity contact mechanics with positive and negative work of adhesion: Influence of finite-range interactions and a continuum description for the squeeze-out of wetting fluids

Summary In this work, single-asperity contact mechanics is investigated for positive and negative work of adhesion Δγ. In the latter case, finite-range repulsion acts in addition to hard-wall constraints. This constitutes a continuum model for a contact immersed in a strongly wetting fluid, which can only be squeezed out in the center of the contact through a sufficiently large normal load F N. As for positive work of adhesion, two stable solutions can coexist in a finite range of normal loads. The competing solutions can be readily interpreted as contacts with either a load-bearing or a squeezed-out fluid. The possibility for coexistence and the subsequent discontinuous wetting and squeeze-out instabilities depend not only on the Tabor coefficient μT but also on the functional form of the finite-range repulsion. For example, coexistence and discontinuous wetting or squeeze-out do not occur when the repulsion decreases exponentially with distance. For positive work of adhesion, the normal displacement mainly depends on F N, Δγ, and μT but – unlike the contact area – barely on the functional form of the finite-range attraction. The results can benefit the interpretation of atomic force microscopy in liquid environments and the modeling of multi-asperity contacts.