Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atrial Antifibrillatory Effects of Structurally Distinct IKur Blockers 3-[(Dimethylamino)methyl]-6-methoxy-2-methyl-4-phenylisoquinolin-1(2H)-one and 2-Phenyl-1,1-dipyridin-3-yl-2-pyrrolidin-1-yl-ethanol in Dogs with Underlying Heart Failure

Drug discovery efforts have focused recently on atrial-selective targets, including the Kv1.5 channel, which underlies the ultrarapid delayed rectifier current, IKur, to develop novel treatments for atrial fibrillation (AF). Two structurally distinct compounds, a triarylethanolamine TAEA and an isoquinolinone 3-[(dimethylamino)-methyl]-6-methoxy-2-methyl-4-phenylisoquinolin-1(2H)-one (ISQ-1), blocked IKur in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing human Kv1.5 with IC50 values of 238 and 324 nM, respectively. In anesthetized dogs, i.v. infusions of TAEA and ISQ-1 elicited comparable 16% increases in atrial refractory period, with no effect on ventricular refractory period or QTc interval. Plasma concentrations at end infusion for TAEA and ISQ-1 were 58.5 ± 23.6 and 330.3 ± 43.5 nM, respectively. The abilities of TAEA and ISQ-1 to terminate AF, with comparison to the rapidly activating component of delayed rectifier potassium current blocker (+)-N-[1′-(6-cyano-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2(R)-naphthalenyl)-3,4-dihydro-4(R)-hydroxyspiro(2H-1-benzopyran-2,4′-piperidin)-6-yl]methanesulfonamide] monohydrochloride (MK-499) and the class IC 1-[2-[2-hydroxy-3-(propylamino)-propoxy]phenyl]-3-phenyl-1-propanone (propafenone), were assessed in conscious dogs with heart failure and inducible AF (entry criterion). All test agents administered in i.v. bolus regimens terminated AF in at least half of animals tested; conversely no agent was universally effective. MK-499, ISQ-1, TAEA, and propafenone terminated AF in five of six, four of seven, four of six, and five of six animals at plasma concentrations of 32.6 ± 18.7, 817 ± 274, 714 ± 622, and 816 ± 240 nM, respectively. Directed cardiac electrophysiologic studies in anesthetized dogs using i.v. bolus (consistent with AF studies) plus infusion regimens with TAEA and ISQ-1 demonstrated significant increases in atrial refractory period (12–15%), A-H and P-A intervals, but no effects on ventricular refractory period, H-V, and HEG intervals. The demonstration of AF termination with TAEA and ISQ-1 in the dog heart failure model extends the profile of antiarrhythmic efficacy of Kv1.5 blockade.
Addressing the problem of obesity and associated cardiometabolic risk in black South African women – time for action!

ABSTRACT The PhD thesis of Gradidge, entitled ‘Factors associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome in an ageing cohort of black women living in Soweto, Johannesburg (Study of Women in and Entering Endocrine Transition [SWEET])’, attempts to understand the determinants of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a population of urban-dwelling black South African women. A conceptual framework is presented, which positions obesity as the central risk factor for MetS, and includes the possible influence of socioeconomic status, lifestyle behaviours and body size perceptions, as key determinants of obesity. This commentary focuses on the two main findings of Gradidge’s thesis, namely, (i) physical activity and sedentary behaviour, and (ii) body composition and adiponectin, as risk factors for obesity and MetS in black South African women. Despite a high prevalence of obesity (48%), Gradidge showed that 75% of the women taking part in the study were meeting WHO guidelines on physical activity. This commentary suggests that the relationship between physical activity and cardiometabolic risk may be confounded by socioeconomic status. Alternatively, the intensity, and not necessarily the volume, of activity, as well as high rates of sedentary behaviour are posited as important determinants of obesity and MetS in black South African women. Accordingly, this commentary questions the veracity of the WHO guidelines on physical activity in developing countries, where most women meet the guidelines but have very poor cardiorespiratory fitness, are obese and are at high risk of MetS. Gradidge also showed that the most consistent and significant correlate of MetS in this cohort of middle-aged women was low serum levels of adiponectin. This commentary highlights various lifestyle interventions that have been shown to increase adiponectin levels. Finally, the importance of immediate action to address the problem of obesity and MetS is emphasised.
Metabolic Engineering and Characterization of phaC1 and phaC2 Genes from Pseudomonas putida KCTC1639 for Overproduction of Medium‐Chain‐Length Polyhydroxyalkanoate

Two PHA synthase phaC1 and phaC2 genes cloned from the new strain Pseudomonas putida KCTC1639 were metabolically engineered for the overproduction of medium‐chain‐length polyhydroxyalkanoate (mcl‐PHA). The overexpressed phaC1 and phaC2 genes in P. putida KCTC1639 were compared in terms of the biosynthesis of mcl‐PHA, fatty acid assimilation, distribution of 3‐hydroxylacyl monomer units, granular morphology, and thermophysical properties of the accumulated mcl‐PHA. The biosynthesis of mcl‐PHA was enhanced only by the overexpressed phaC1 gene up to 2.86‐fold, in contrast, the phaC2 gene did not activate the biosynthesis of mcl‐PHA. The overexpressed phaC1 gene tended to form enlarged, high molecular weight, and lower crystalline mcl‐PHA granules, whereas the amplified phaC2 gene induced the fragmentation of mcl‐PHA into a few small‐sized granules. The transformant P. putida KCTC1639 overexpressing the phaC1 gene encoding PHA synthase I was cultivated by pH‐stat fed‐batch cultivation, and the concentration and content of mcl‐PHA increased up to 8.91 g L−1 and 70.5%, respectively.
Does Posting Facebook Status Updates Increase or Decrease Loneliness? An Online Social Networking Experiment

Online social networking is a pervasive but empirically understudied phenomenon. Strong public opinions on its consequences exist but are backed up by little empirical evidence and almost no causally conclusive, experimental research. The current study tested the psychological effects of posting status updates on Facebook using an experimental design. For 1 week, participants in the experimental condition were asked to post more than they usually do, whereas participants in the control condition received no instructions. Participants added a lab “Research Profile” as a Facebook friend allowing for the objective documentation of protocol compliance, participants’ status updates, and friends’ responses. Results revealed (1) that the experimentally induced increase in status updating activity reduced loneliness, (2) that the decrease in loneliness was due to participants feeling more connected to their friends on a daily basis, and (3) that the effect of posting on loneliness was independent of direct social feedback (i.e., responses) by friends.
Does Renal Dysfunction Predict Mortality After Acute Stroke?: A 7-Year Follow-Up Study

Background and Purpose— The purpose of this study was to investigate renal function as a long-term predictor of mortality in patients hospitalized for acute stroke. Methods— This was a cohort study done in a Scottish tertiary teaching hospital. Participants included 2042 (993 male) unselected consecutive stroke patients (mean age, 73 years) admitted to hospital within 48 hours of stroke between1988 and 1994. Follow-up was up to 7 years. Main outcome measure was all-cause mortality. Results— The total number of deaths at the end of follow-up was 1026. Most subjects (1512) had creatinine <124 &mgr;mol/L. The mean calculated creatinine clearance was 54.8 mL/min (SD, 23 mL/min). Renal function indexes were analyzed by quartiles with Cox proportional-hazards model. Stroke survivors had higher calculated creatinine clearance and lower serum creatinine, urea, and ratios of urea to creatinine. Calculated creatinine clearance ≥51.27 mL/min significantly predicted better long-term survival in these stroke patients even after adjustment for confounders (age, neurological score, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, smoking, and diuretic use). Similarly, creatinine ≥119 &mgr;mol/L “relative risk (RR), 1.59; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.32 to 1.92”, urea 6.8 to 8.9 mmol/L (RR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.65) or ≥9 mmol/L (RR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.42 to 2.13), and ratio of urea to creatinine ≥0.08573 mmol/&mgr;mol (RR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.50) remained significant predictors of mortality after adjustment for confounders. Conclusions— After acute stroke, patients with reduced admission calculated creatinine clearance, raised serum creatinine and urea concentrations (even within conventional reference intervals), and raised ratio of urea to creatinine had a higher mortality risk. This finding may be used to stratify risk and target interventions, eg, the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.
Systematic Analysis of Output Agreement Games: Effects of Gaming Environment, Social Interaction, and Feedback

We report results from a human computation study that tests the extent to which output agreement games are better than traditional methods in terms of increasing quality of labels and motivation of voluntary workers on a task with a gold standard. We built an output agreement game that let workers recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turks label the semantic textual similarity of 20 sentence pairs. To compare and test the effects of the major components of the game, we created interfaces that had different combinations of a gaming environment (G), social interaction (S), and feedback (F). Our results show that the main reason that an output agreement game can collect more high-quality labels is the gaming environment (scoring system, leaderboard, etc). On the other hand, a worker is much more motivated to voluntarily do the task if he or she can do it with another worker (i.e., with social interaction). Our analysis provides human computation researchers important insight on understanding how and why the method of Game with a Purpose (GWAP) can generate high-quality outcomes and motivate more voluntary
Análise Comparativa do Desempenho Contábil- Financeiro de Empresas com Boas Práticas de Governança Corporativa no Brasil COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF COMPANIES WITH GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES IN BRAZIL

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar comparativamente o desempenho contabil-financeiro de empresas com boas praticas de governanca corporativa e outras sem esta caracteristica, atraves da aplicacao da Analise Envoltoria de Dados (DEA) as informacoes do setor de distribuicao de energia eletrica no Brasil no periodo de 2005-2007. Para tanto, utiliza-se de informacoes sobre lucratividade, margem de lucro, giro do ativo, liquidez, endividamento e imobilizacao obtidas na base Melhores e Maiores da Exame-FIPECAFI. Em linhas gerais, a comparacao entre o desempenho medio destes dois grupos, utilizando o teste nao parametrico de Mann-Whitney, ao nivel de significância de 5 %, mostra que para o ano de 2005 e para o desempenho medio no periodo de analise pode-se concluir que as empresas com boas praticas de governanca corporativa tem desempenho contabil-financeiro estatisticamente superior. Porem, em relacao a 2006 e 2007 o desempenho dos dois grupos e estatisticamente igual ao nivel de 5 %. Isso suporta apenas parcialmente as indicacoes de superioridade de desempenho apresentadas na literatura de governanca corporativa.
Risk factors for atrial fibrillation and their population burden in postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study

Objective Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in women. Large studies evaluating key AF risk factors in older women are lacking. We aimed to identify risk factors for AF in postmenopausal women and measure population burden of modifiable risk factors. Design Prospective observational study. Setting The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study. Patients 93 676 postmenopausal women were followed for an average of 9.8 years for cardiovascular outcomes. After exclusion of women with prevalent AF or incomplete data, 8252 of the remaining 81 892 women developed incident AF. Main outcome measures Incident AF was identified by WHI-ascertained hospitalisation records and diagnosis codes from Medicare claims. Multivariate Cox hazard regression analysis identified independent risk factors for incident AF. Results Age, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, myocardial infarction and heart failure were independently associated with incident AF. Hypertension and overweight status accounted for 28.3% and 12.1%, respectively, of the population attributable risk. Hispanic and African–American participants had lower rates of incident AF (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.70 and HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.65, respectively) than Caucasians. Conclusions Caucasian ethnicity, traditional cardiovascular risk factors and peripheral arterial disease were independently associated with higher rates of incident AF in postmenopausal women. Hypertension and overweight status accounted for a large proportion of population attributable risk. Measuring burden of modifiable AF risk factors in older women may help target interventions.
The 20th-Year Anniversary of Critical Race Theory in Education

Purpose: Though the first published application of critical race theory (CRT) to education occurred 20 years ago, implications of CRT for educational leadership did not occur until López conducted a CRT analysis of the politics of education literature in 2003. No publications explicitly identify the implications of CRT for leadership practice. Given the gap in the literature, the research question that anchors this article asks, “How can CRT inform educational leadership to eliminate racism? ” Research Method: To address the research question, I conducted a literature analysis of CRT in educational leadership, identified the CRT tenets that guided each publication, and derived six primary, interrelated CRT tenets from this analysis. I also extracted from the publications explicit and implicit implications for leadership practice as these implications related directly to each of the six CRT tenets. Findings/Implications: I describe each of the CRT tenets and explain how each can inform educational leadership practice. To close the article, I propose a CRT Inventory for Leading to Eliminate Racism. The Inventory suggests questions to guide leadership practice for each of the CRT tenets. I also offer implications for future research.
Plasma Levels of Enterolactone and Percentage Mammographic Density among Postmenopausal Women

Aims: Certain phytoestrogens, such as lignans, may protect against developing breast cancer. Enterolactone is a lignan metabolite produced by the intestinal flora from dietary precursors such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Enterolactone has been shown to have weak estrogenic and antiestrogenic properties. We decided to examine the association between plasma levels of enterolactone and mammographic density, a biomarker for breast cancer risk. Methods: We included data from postmenopausal women ages 55 and older who participated in a cross-sectional mammogram study in Tromsø, Norway. Mammograms, plasma enterolactone measurements, as well as information on anthropometric and hormonal/reproduction factors were available on 616 women. We assessed mammographic density using a previously validated computer-assisted method. We estimated correlation coefficients and conducted multiple regression analyses. Results: Mean mammographic density increased slightly across quartiles of enterolactone; the women in the highest quartile had, on average, 3.1% (absolute difference) higher percentage mammographic density compared with the lowest quartile (Ptrend < 0.01). After adjustment for age, body mass index, number of full-term pregnancies, age at first birth, and use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, the mean difference in density was reduced to 2.0% (Ptrend = 0.05). Results were similar when restricted to the 454 current hormone nonusers. The fully adjusted statistical model explained 28.3% of the total variability in mammographic percentage density, with body mass index contributing 18.2% and enterolactone only 0.9%. Conclusion: In our study, higher levels of enterolactone were associated with slightly higher percentage mammographic density. Our results suggest that if higher enterolactone levels reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in postmenopausal women, then this effect is not through lowering mammographic density.
Chk1 Haploinsufficiency Results in Anemia and Defective Erythropoiesis

Background Erythropoiesis is a highly regulated and well-characterized developmental process responsible for providing the oxygen transport system of the body. However, few of the mechanisms involved in this process have been elucidated. Checkpoint Kinase 1 (Chk1) is best known for its role in the cell cycle and DNA damage pathways, and it has been shown to play a part in several pathways which when disrupted can lead to anemia. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we show that haploinsufficiency of Chk1 results in 30% of mice developing anemia within the first year of life. The anemic Chk1+/− mice exhibit distorted spleen and bone marrow architecture, and abnormal erythroid progenitors. Furthermore, Chk1+/− erythroid progenitors exhibit an increase in spontaneous DNA damage foci and improper contractile actin ring formation resulting in aberrant enucleation during erythropoiesis. A decrease in Chk1 RNA has also been observed in patients with refractory anemia with excess blasts, further supporting a role for Chk1 in clinical anemia. Conclusions/Significance Clinical trials of Chk1 inhibitors are currently underway to treat cancer, and thus it will be important to track the effects of these drugs on red blood cell development over an extended period. Our results support a role for Chk1 in maintaining the balance between erythroid progenitors and enucleated erythroid cells during differentiation. We show disruptions in Chk1 levels can lead to anemia.
How Much Are Your Neighbors Interfering with Your WiFi Delay?

Previous studies have shown the WiFi, as the dominant last hop access to Internet, has become the weakest link in the round-trip network delay. Therefore it is critical to understand and minimize the WiFi interference in order to reduce the WiFi hop delay. For the first time in the literature, this paper defines an intuitive and accurate metric to quantify the impact of interference on each actual packet. For each packet traveling through the access point, it measures the percentage of MAC layer delay wasted due to neighbor APs' interference. This metric is defined based on a packet's various (measured or inferred) timestamps and can be measured with a small kernel modification on a commodity AP with little overhead. Our 29-AP two- month measurement results in the wild show that this metric is a strong indicator of interference's impact on WiFi hop delay. Using this metric as input, distributed channel selection on individual APs reduces the median WiFi hop delay by up to 5X. Collaborative optimization on multiple APs reduces the overall WiFi hop delay by 5X compared to the default channel.
Effect of sintering temperature on optical properties and microstructure of translucent zirconia prepared by high-pressure spark plasma sintering

Abstract Aiming to characterize the effect of sintering temperature on transparency of zirconia, we have evaluated the optical properties and microstructure of translucent cubic zirconia prepared by high-pressure spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1000–1200 ○C. Color centers (oxygen vacancies with trapped electrons) and residual pores were primary defects in the samples. In SPS samples, the total forward transmittance and in-line transmittance are mainly affected by color centers with a limited contribution from residual pores; in contrast, the changes in reflectance are only related to the porosity. The amounts of color centers and residual pores increase with sintering temperature that reduces the total forward and in-line transmittance of the as-sintered zirconia. Annealing in oxidizing atmosphere improves the total forward and in-line transmittance. During the annealing, the concentration of color centers decreases but the porosity increases.
A Theory of Addiction

We construct an inÞnite horizon consumption model and use it to deÞne and analyze addiction. Consumption is compulsive if it differs from what the individual would have chosen had commitment been available. A good is addictive if its consumption leads to more compulsive consumption of the same good in the future. We analyze two types of drug policies. A policy is prohibitive if it decreases the maximally feasible drug consumption. We show that prohibitive policies make agents better off and if they are not binding lead to higher drug demand. A price policy is one that increases the opportunity cost of drug consumption without changing the maximally feasible drug consumption. We show that price policies make the agent worse-off and decrease drug demand if the drug is a normal good.  This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.
Quality of Life of People Living with HIV/AIDS in the Ho Municipality, Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study

Quality of life (QoL) is an important component in the evaluation of the wellbeing of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). This study was aimed at evaluating the QoL of PLHIV attending the antiretroviral clinics in the Ho municipality. A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2017 to April 2017 involving 158 purposively selected HIV-positive patients who were attending the antiretroviral clinics both in the Volta Regional Hospital and Ho Municipal Hospital. An Interviewer administered standard questionnaire (WHOQOL-HIV Bref) was used to collect information on sociodemography, medical history, and the quality of life (QoL) of the respondents. Among these 158 HIV-positive respondents, 126 (79.75) and 14 (8.86) presented with excellent and good overall QoL, respectively, whilst 18 (11.39) had their life negatively affected by HIV/AIDS. Religious/personal beliefs (19.62%) were the most affected QoL component, followed by the physical (15.82%) and level of independence (15.19%) domains. Patients' occupation, perception of health, sexual activity, and state of the disease were associated with poor overall QoL. In general, being an HIV-infected man, symptomatic patient, not being sexually active, or being ART naïve was also associated with poorer QoL in several HIV/AIDS QoL domains.