Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibiting Fibronectin Attenuates Fibrosis and Improves Cardiac Function in a Model of Heart Failure

Background: Fibronectin (FN) polymerization is necessary for collagen matrix deposition and is a key contributor to increased abundance of cardiac myofibroblasts (MFs) after cardiac injury. We hypothesized that interfering with FN polymerization or its genetic ablation in fibroblasts would attenuate MF and fibrosis and improve cardiac function after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Methods: Mouse and human MFs were used to assess the impact of the FN polymerization inhibitor (pUR4) in attenuating pathological cellular features such as proliferation, migration, extracellular matrix deposition, and associated mechanisms. To evaluate the therapeutic potential of inhibiting FN polymerization in vivo, wild-type mice received daily intraperitoneal injections of either pUR4 or control peptide (III-11C) immediately after cardiac surgery for 7 consecutive days. Mice were analyzed 7 days after I/R to assess MF markers and inflammatory cell infiltration or 4 weeks after I/R to evaluate long-term effects of FN inhibition on cardiac function and fibrosis. Furthermore, inducible, fibroblast-restricted, FN gene–ablated (Tcf21MerCreMer;Fnflox) mice were used to evaluate cell specificity of FN expression and polymerization in the heart. Results: pUR4 administration on activated MFs reduced FN and collagen deposition into the extracellular matrix and attenuated cell proliferation, likely mediated through decreased c-myc signaling. pUR4 also ameliorated fibroblast migration accompanied by increased &bgr;1 integrin internalization and reduced levels of phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase protein. In vivo, daily administration of pUR4 for 7 days after I/R significantly reduced MF markers and neutrophil infiltration. This treatment regimen also significantly attenuated myocardial dysfunction, pathological cardiac remodeling, and fibrosis up to 4 weeks after I/R. Last, inducible ablation of FN in fibroblasts after I/R resulted in significant functional cardioprotection with reduced hypertrophy and fibrosis. The addition of pUR4 to the FN-ablated mice did not confer further cardioprotection, suggesting that the salutary effects of inhibiting FN polymerization may be mediated largely through effects on FN secreted from the cardiac fibroblast lineage. Conclusions: Inhibiting FN polymerization or cardiac fibroblast gene expression attenuates pathological properties of MFs in vitro and ameliorates adverse cardiac remodeling and fibrosis in an in vivo model of heart failure. Interfering with FN polymerization may be a new therapeutic strategy for treating cardiac fibrosis and heart failure.
Radiation Recall Dermatitis in Patients Treated with Sorafenib

Introduction Radiation recall dermatitis (RRD) is a phenomenon that occurs in previously irradiated areas shortly after administration of a chemotherapeutic agent. As the use of sorafenib expands, the incidence of radiation recall dermatitis induced by sorafenib will likely increase. Here, we report on a patient who developed RRD and describe his clinical characteristics along with a review of the literature. Case Presentation Our patient was treated with palliative radiation therapy (RT) to a painful metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma lesion in the right forearm. He completed his radiation course with grade 1 dermatitis, which had resolved by the time he was started on sorafenib 400 mg twice daily 7 days afterwards. On the 21st day after RT, he presented with desquamation and erythema in the previously irradiated area of the right forearm, consistent with RRD. The sorafenib was discontinued and his symptoms subsequently resolved with conservative topical management. Conclusions Although the pathophysiologic mechanism of sorafenib-related radiation recall dermatitis remains to be investigated, practitioners should be aware of its presence and management in order to improve clinical outcomes.
The effectiveness of a group self‐management education course for adults with poorly controlled epilepsy, SMILE (UK): A randomized controlled trial

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions affecting about 1% of adults. Up to 40% of people with epilepsy (PWE) report recurring seizures while on medication. And optimal functioning requires good self‐management. Our objective was to evaluate a group self‐management education courses for people with epilepsy and drug‐resistant seizures by means of a multicenter, pragmatic, parallel group, randomized controlled trial.
A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Family Mediation With and Without Motivational Interviewing

Family mediation is a widely used approach to assist separated parents to resolve conflicts about parenting arrangements for their children, yet frequently parents undertaking mediation do not reach a mutually agreeable resolution. In Australia, where the current study was conducted, separated parents must attempt family mediation before they can seek to appear in the family court for custody issues. We compared mediation enhanced with motivational interviewing (MI) with mediation as usual (MAU) in a randomized controlled trial. One hundred and seventy-seven separated-parent dyads were recruited from a community-based telephone mediation service, and randomized to receive MI or MAU. Outcome of mediation was classified as no agreement, partial agreement on some of the areas in dispute, and full agreement. We assessed parental psychological distress, emotional attachment to former partner by the coparent, child adjustment, and coparental conflict before and after the mediation, and at 3-month follow-up. MI had double the rate of full agreements of MAU (33% vs. 16%), and a lower rate of no agreement than MAU parents (33% vs. 42%). Psychological distress, coparental conflict and attachment to the former partner declined from pre- to postmediation in both conditions, but child adjustment was unchanged. There was no difference between MAU and MI on any of these outcomes. MI enhanced achievement of agreements but did not enhance other outcomes. Conducting the study in a busy community mediation service created some challenges that compromised implementation of the study which might influence the reliability of findings. However, the possibility that MI enhances agreement in mediation warrants further investigation.
Inequality of Opportunity in Brazil

This paper proposes a method to decompose earnings inequality into a component due to unequal opportunities and a residual term. Drawing on the distinction between ‘circumstance’ and ‘effort’ variables in John Roemer’s work on equality of opportunity, we associate inequality of opportunities with the inequality attributable to circumstances which lie beyond the control of the individual – such as her family background, her race and the region where she was born. We interpret the decomposition as establishing a lower bound on the contribution of opportunities to earnings inequality. We further decompose the effect of opportunities into a direct effect on earnings and an indirect component which works through the “effort” variables. The decomposition is applied to the distributions of male and female earnings in Brazil, in 1996. While the residual term is large, observed circumstances nevertheless account for around a quarter of the value of the Theil index. Parental education is by far the most important circumstance affecting earnings, dwarfing the effects of race and place of birth.
Morbidity Parameters Associated with Gastrointestinal Tract Nematodes in Sheep in Dabat District, Northwest Ethiopia

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections of sheep and their interaction with selected morbidity parameters were studied in smallholder farms. 120 faecal samples were collected and examined using faecal flotation to determine nematode infection in sheep. Thus, the study demonstrated overall prevalence of 57.5% GIN infections, while the mean faecal egg count (FEC) was 517.5 EPG. The severity of GIN infection was determined based on EPG as a mild infection (EPG <500), 55.1%, moderate infection (EPG = 500–1500), 30.4%, and heavy infection (EPG >1500), 14.6%. Five genera of nematodes were identified using coproculture: Haemonchus (33.3%), Trichostrongylus (26.7%), Bunostomum (20%), Oesophagostomum (13.3%), and Cooperia (6.7%). A significant difference was observed in the mean FEC among the FC (P < 0.001), FAMACHA© score (P < 0.01), and the BCS of the animals (P < 0.001). FEC was positively correlated with the FAMACHA© score (FS), while FC and BCS were negatively correlated. Thus, FAMACHA© chart can suggest well the severity of nematode infections and can serve as a suitable on-farm tool to identify nematode-infected sheep and gives a guide to identify sheep that need to be treated with an anthelmintic.
Medium-chain TAG improve energy metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis in the liver of intra-uterine growth-retarded and normal-birth-weight weanling piglets

Abstract We previously reported that medium-chain TAG (MCT) could alleviate hepatic oxidative damage in weanling piglets with intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR). There is a relationship between oxidative status and energy metabolism, a process involved in substrate availability and glucose flux. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of IUGR and MCT on hepatic energy metabolism and mitochondrial function in weanling piglets. Twenty-four IUGR piglets and twenty-four normal-birth-weight (NBW) piglets were fed a diet of either soyabean oil (SO) or MCT from 21 d of postnatal age to 49 d of postnatal age. Then, the piglets’ biochemical parameters and gene expressions related to energy metabolism and mitochondrial function were determined (n 4). Compared with NBW, IUGR decreased the ATP contents and succinate oxidation rates in the liver of piglets, and reduced hepatic mitochondrial citrate synthase (CS) activity (P<0·05). IUGR piglets exhibited reductions in hepatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) contents and gene expressions related to mitochondrial biogenesis compared with NBW piglets (P<0·05). The MCT diet increased plasma ghrelin concentration and hepatic CS and succinate dehydrogenase activities, but decreased hepatic pyruvate kinase activity compared with the SO diet (P<0·05). The MCT-fed piglets showed improved mtDNA contents and PPARγ coactivator-1α expression in the liver (P<0·05). The MCT diet alleviated decreased mRNA abundance of the hepatic PPARα induced by IUGR (P<0·05). It can therefore be postulated that MCT may have beneficial effects in improving energy metabolism and mitochondrial function in weanling piglets.
Examining drivers of trading volume in European markets

This study presents an inâ€ depth exploration of market dynamics and analyses potential drivers of trading volume. The study considers established facts from the literature, such as calendar anomalies, the correlation between volume and price change, and this relation's asymmetry, while proposing a variety of time series models. The results identified some key volume predictors, such as the lagged time series volume data and historical price indicators (e.g. intraday range, intraday return, and overnight return). Moreover, the study provides empirical evidence for the priceâ€“volume relation asymmetry, finding an overall price asymmetry in over 70% of the analysed stocks, which is observed in the form of a moderate overnight asymmetry and a more salient intraday asymmetry. We conclude that volatility features, more recent data, and dayâ€ ofâ€ theâ€ week features, with a notable negative effect on Mondays and Fridays, improve the volume prediction model.
Reducing Complexity of Multiagent Systems with Symmetry Breaking: An Application to Opinion Dynamics with Polls

In this paper we investigate the possibility of reducing the complexity of a system composed of a large number of interacting agents, whose dynamics feature a symmetry breaking. We consider first order stochastic differential equations describing the behavior of the system at the particle (i.e., Lagrangian) level and we get its continuous (i.e., Eulerian) counterpart via a kinetic description. However, the resulting continuous model alone fails to describe adequately the evolution of the system, due to the loss of granularity which prevents it from reproducing the symmetry breaking of the particle system. By suitably coupling the two models we are able to reduce considerably the necessary number of particles while still keeping the symmetry breaking and some of its large-scale statistical properties. We describe such a multiscale technique in the context of opinion dynamics, where the symmetry breaking is induced by the results of some opinion polls reported by the media.
Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Efficacy of Graphene Oxide against Chronic Wound Microorganisms

ABSTRACT Chronic wounds represent an increasing problem worldwide. Graphene oxide (GO) has been reported to exhibit strong antibacterial activity toward both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The aim of this work was to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial and antibiofilm efficacy of GO against wound pathogens. Staphylococcus aureus PECHA 10, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PECHA 4, and Candida albicans X3 clinical isolates were incubated with 50 mg/liter of GO for 2 and 24 h to evaluate the antimicrobial effect. Optical and atomic force microscopy images were performed to visualize the effect of GO on microbial cells. Moreover, the antibiofilm effect of GO was tested on biofilms, both in formation and mature. Compared to the respective time controls, GO significantly reduced the S. aureus growth both at 2 and 24 h in a time-dependent way, and it displayed a bacteriostatic effect in respect to the GO t = 0; an immediate (after 2 h) slowdown of bacterial growth was detected for P. aeruginosa, whereas a tardive effect (after 24 h) was recorded for C. albicans. Atomic force microscopy images showed the complete wrapping of S. aureus and C. albicans with GO sheets, which explains its antimicrobial activity. Moreover, significant inhibition of biofilm formation and a reduction of mature biofilm were recorded for each detected microorganism. The antibacterial and antibiofilm properties of GO against chronic wound microorganisms make it an interesting candidate to incorporate into wound bandages to treat and/or prevent microbial infections.
Long-term effect of low frequency stimulation of STN on dysphagia, freezing of gait and other motor symptoms in PD

Objective To evaluate the long-term effect of 60 Hz stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) on dysphagia, freezing of gait (FOG) and other motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who have FOG at the usual 130 Hz stimulation. Methods This is a prospective, sequence randomised, crossover, double-blind study. PD patients with medication refractory FOG at 130 Hz stimulation of the STN were randomised to the sequences of 130 Hz, 60 Hz or deep brain stimulation off to assess swallowing function (videofluoroscopic evaluation and swallowing questionnaire), FOG severity (stand–walk–sit test and FOG questionnaire) and motor function (Unified PD Rating Scale, Part III motor examination (UPDRS-III)) at initial visit (V1) and follow-up visit (V2, after being on 60 Hz stimulation for an average of 14.5 months), in their usual medications on state. The frequency of aspiration events, perceived swallowing difficulty and FOG severity at 60 Hz compared with 130 Hz stimulation at V2, and their corresponding changes at V2 compared with V1 at 60 Hz were set as primary outcomes, with similar comparisons in UPDRS-III and its subscores as secondary outcomes. Results All 11 enrolled participants completed V1 and 10 completed V2. We found the benefits of 60 Hz stimulation compared with 130 Hz in reducing aspiration frequency, perceived swallowing difficulty, FOG severity, bradykinesia and overall axial and motor symptoms at V1 and persistent benefits on all of them except dysphagia at V2, with overall decreasing efficacy when comparing V2 to V1. Conclusions The 60 Hz stimulation, when compared with 130 Hz, has long-term benefits on reducing FOG, bradykinesia and overall axial and motor symptoms except dysphagia, although the overall benefits decrease with long-term use. Clinical trial registration NCT02549859; Pre-results.
Towards Seamless Tracking-Free Web: Improved Detection of Trackers via One-class Learning

Abstract Numerous tools have been developed to aggressively block the execution of popular JavaScript programs in Web browsers. Such blocking also affects functionality of webpages and impairs user experience. As a consequence, many privacy preserving tools that have been developed to limit online tracking, often executed via JavaScript programs, may suffer from poor performance and limited uptake. A mechanism that can isolate JavaScript programs necessary for proper functioning of the website from tracking JavaScript programs would thus be useful. Through the use of a manually labelled dataset composed of 2,612 JavaScript programs, we show how current privacy preserving tools are ineffective in finding the right balance between blocking tracking JavaScript programs and allowing functional JavaScript code. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the performance of current web privacy preserving tools in determining tracking vs. functional JavaScript programs. To improve this balance, we examine the two classes of JavaScript programs and hypothesize that tracking JavaScript programs share structural similarities that can be used to differentiate them from functional JavaScript programs. The rationale of our approach is that web developers often “borrow” and customize existing pieces of code in order to embed tracking (resp. functional) JavaScript programs into their webpages. We then propose one-class machine learning classifiers using syntactic and semantic features extracted from JavaScript programs. When trained only on samples of tracking JavaScript programs, our classifiers achieve accuracy of 99%, where the best of the privacy preserving tools achieve accuracy of 78%. The performance of our classifiers is comparable to that of traditional two-class SVM. One-class classification, where a training set of only tracking JavaScript programs is used for learning, has the advantage that it requires fewer labelled examples that can be obtained via manual inspection of public lists of well-known trackers. We further test our classifiers and several popular privacy preserving tools on a larger corpus of 4,084 websites with 135,656 JavaScript programs. The output of our best classifier on this data is between 20 to 64% different from the tools under study. We manually analyse a sample of the JavaScript programs for which our classifier is in disagreement with all other privacy preserving tools, and show that our approach is not only able to enhance user web experience by correctly classifying more functional JavaScript programs, but also discovers previously unknown tracking services.
Process Evaluation of the Implementation of the Secondary 2 Program of Project P.A.T.H.S. in the Experimental Implementation Phase

This study aimed to understand the implementation quality of the Tier 1 Program (Secondary 2 Curriculum) delivered in the Experimental Implementation Phase of the Project P.A. T.H. S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes). Observers carried out process evaluation in the form of systematic observations of curriculum units in four randomly selected schools. Results showed that the overall level of program adherence was generally high, ranging from 70 to 95%, with an average of 83.6%. The mean ratings of the program implementation quality were high, and the inter-rater reliability on these ratings across the observers was highly reliable. Despite limitations, the findings of this study suggest that the implementation quality of the Secondary 2 Program (Tier 1 Program) of the Experimental Implementation Phase was favorable, and provide supporting evidence to account for the successful and encouraging outcomes of a major positive youth development program in Hong Kong.
An Online Writer Identification System based on Beta-Elliptic Model and Fuzzy Elementary Perceptual Codes

Actually, the ability to identify the documents authors provides more chances for using these documents for various purposes. In this paper, we present a new effective biometric writer identification system from online handwriting. The system consists of the preprocessing and the segmentation of online handwriting into a sequence of Beta strokes in a first step. Then, from each Beta stroke, we extract a set of static and dynamic features using four features extraction techniques based on the Beta Elliptic model and the Fuzzy Elementary Perceptual Codes. Next, all the segments which are composed of N consecutive Beta strokes are categorized into groups and subgroups according to their position and their geometric characteristics. Finally, Deep Neural Network are used for classification. Experimental results reveal that the proposed system achieves interesting results as compared to those of the existing writer identification systems on Latin and Arabic scripts.
Phase Formation and Electrical Transport Properties of Nano-Sized SnO2 Added (Tl0.85Cr0.15)Sr2CaCu2O7-δ Superconductors

In this work, the effect of nano-sized SnO2 addition on the phase formation and electrical transport properties of (Tl0.85Cr0.15)Sr2CaCu2O7-δ (Tl-1212) superconductor was investigated. Thallium-based high temperature superconductor (HTS) with nominal starting composition (Tl0.85Cr0.15) Sr2CaCu2O7-δ was prepared using high purity oxide powders via solid state reaction method. Nano-sized SnO2 with 0.01 – 0.05 wt. % were added into Tl-1212 superconductors. The characteristic of the samples were determined by powder X-ray diffraction method (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX), electrical resistance measurements and transport critical current density measurements. Nano-sized SnO2 added (Tl0.85Cr0.15)Sr2CaCu2O7-δ showed Tc-zero between 93 and 95 K. All of the samples indicated a dominant phase of Tl-1212 with a minor phase of Tl-1201. The highest Jc (at 77 K) was shown by sample with 0.03 wt. % at 3260 mA/cm2. SnO2 has significantly enhanced the transport critical current density of Tl-1212 superconductor by acting as flux pinning centers. However, further addition of nano-sized SnO2 in Tl-1212 superconductor caused degradation in Jc. The SEM micrographs with energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX) showed that SnO2 were well distributed in all the samples.