Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Madagascar corals reveal a multidecadal signature of rainfall and river runoff since 1708

Abstract. Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST) influence rainfall variability on multidecadal and interdecadal timescales in concert with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Rainfall variations in locations such as Australia and North America are therefore linked to phase changes in the PDO. Furthermore, studies have suggested teleconnections exist between the western Indian Ocean and Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV), similar to those observed on interannual timescales related to the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, as instrumental records of rainfall are too short and sparse to confidently assess multidecadal climatic teleconnections, here we present four coral climate archives from Madagascar spanning up to the past 300 yr (1708–2008) to assess such decadal variability. Using spectral luminescence scanning to reconstruct past changes in river runoff, we identify significant multidecadal and interdecadal frequencies in the coral records, which before 1900 are coherent with Asian-based PDO reconstructions. This multidecadal relationship with the Asian-based PDO reconstructions points to an unidentified teleconnection mechanism that affects Madagascar rainfall/runoff, most likely triggered by multidecadal changes in North Pacific SST, influencing the Asian Monsoon circulation. In the 20th century we decouple human deforestation effects from rainfall-induced soil erosion by pairing luminescence with coral geochemistry. Positive PDO phases are associated with increased Indian Ocean temperatures and runoff/rainfall in eastern Madagascar, while precipitation in southern Africa and eastern Australia declines. Consequently, the negative PDO phase that started in 1998 may contribute to reduced rainfall over eastern Madagascar and increased precipitation in southern Africa and eastern Australia. We conclude that multidecadal rainfall variability in Madagascar and the western Indian Ocean needs to be taken into account when considering water resource management under a future warming climate.
Dietary carbohydrate composition is associated with polycystic ovary syndrome: a case–control study

BACKGROUND The present study aimed to investigate the association between dietary carbohydrate components and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in Iran. METHODS In this case-control study, the diagnosis of PCOS was made based on the Rotterdam criteria in hospital clinics. Dietary assessments were performed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. In total, 281 women with incident PCOS and 472 age-matched controls were assessed. Participants were interviewed through the clinics in Tehran, Iran, from February 2012 until March 2014. Average dietary glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) were calculated using GI of Iranian Foods Table and international tables of GI and GL values. We also assessed total dietary carbohydrate, refined grains, whole grains and fibre intakes. RESULTS Participation rates were 97.5% among cases and 96.3% among controls. Mean (SD) dietary GI values among the controls and cases were 51.8 (4.7) and 59.7 (5.9) (P = 0.02) and GL values were 155.34 (35.2) and 173.6 (39.1) (P < 0.001), respectively. The multivariate adjusted odds ratio (OR) comparing the highest tertile of dietary GI and GL with the lowest tertile were 2.18 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.29-3.81; P-test for trend = 0.012] and 2.39 (95% CI = 1.23-3.01; P-test for trend = 0.001), respectively, with a significant trend. Fibre intake was inversely associated with PCOS (OR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.49-0.91; P-test for trend = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS The findings of the present study suggest that high dietary GI and GL and low fibre intake are significantly associated with PCOS.
A prognosis and impact factor analysis of DC-CIK cell therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing postoperative TACE

ABSTRACT Dendritic cell-cytokine-induced killer (DC-CIK) cell therapy has been experimentally implemented for enhancing anti-tumoral immunity in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (POTACE). We performed a retrospective study to evaluate the clinical efficacies of DC-CIK cell therapy and its correlations with several immune factors of the primary tumors. The overall survival time of HCC patients with HBV infection in the study group (POTACE plus DC-CIK cell therapy) was significantly longer than that of the control group (POTACE alone). The expression level of PD-L1 but not the tumor-infiltrated CD8 and CD4 T cells in the tumor tissues showed significant negative correlations with relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), which was also an independent prognostic factor for the five-years' suvival of patients with HCC receiving POTACE treatment. Furthermore, our study validated that PD-L1 expression was significantly inversely correlated with the survival time of HCC patients receiving POTACE plus DC-CIK cell therapy treatment. More importantly, DC-CIK cell therapy provided the best clinical benefits to HCC patients with the low PD-L1 expression receiving POTACE, which indicate that PD-L1 expression level can serve as a pivotal predictor for the therapeutic efficacy of DC-CIK cell therapy for HCC patients receiving POTACE treatment.
Cardiovascular effects of caffeine and stress in regular coffee drinkers.

The effects of caffeine on cardiovascular activity at rest and in response to psychological stress were studied in a group of 30 healthy males who were regular coffee drinkers to replicate caffeine-stress interactions found previously in caffeine-naive subjects. Measures of heart rate, blood pressure, and forearm blood flow were recorded at rest and during the performance of a stressful mental task in two separate sessions. Caffeine (250 mg) or placebo was administered double-blind in a within-subject design. Relative to placebo, caffeine had a pressor effect at rest which persisted during stress and recovery such that blood pressure during stress was higher if caffeine had been consumed. Caffeine also magnified the forearm blood flow and forearm vascular resistance responses to stress, suggestive of a synergistic interaction of caffeine and stress. Analysis of individual difference variables suggested that caffeine effects on the forearm vascular variables were greatest in subjects who were Type B and had a positive family history of hypertension. Results suggest that regular caffeine use does not necessarily lead to tolerance for caffeine-stress interactions and that certain characteristics may be associated with greater sensitivity to caffeine's effects.
Physical Activity After Stroke Is Associated With Increased Interhemispheric Connectivity of the Dorsal Attention Network

Background. Attention is frequently impaired after stroke, and its impairment is associated with poor quality of life. Physical activity benefits attention in healthy populations and has also been associated with recovery after brain injury. Objective. We investigated the relationship between objectively measured daily physical activity, attention network connectivity, and attention task performance after stroke. We hypothesized that increased daily physical activity would be associated with improved attention network function. Methods. Stroke patients (n = 62; mean age = 67 years, SD = 12.6 years) and healthy controls (n = 27; mean age = 68 years, SD = 6 years) underwent cognitive testing and 7 minutes of functional magnetic resonance imaging in the resting-state. Patients were tested 3 months after ischemic stroke. Physical activity was monitored with an electronic armband worn for 7 days. Dorsal and ventral attention network function was examined using seed-based connectivity analyses. Results. Greater daily physical activity was associated with increased interhemispheric connectivity of the superior parietal lobule in the dorsal attention network (DAN; P < .05, false discovery rate corrected). This relationship was not explained by stroke lesion volume. Importantly, stronger connectivity in this region was related to faster reaction time in 3 attention tasks, as revealed by robust linear regression. The relationship remained after adjusting for age, gray matter volume, and white matter hyperintensity load. Conclusions. Daily physical activity was associated with increased resting interhemispheric connectivity of the DAN. Increased connectivity was associated with faster attention performance, suggesting a cognitive correlate to increased network connectivity. Attentional modulation by physical activity represents a key focus for intervention studies.
Non‐Hodgkin lymphoma in South East Asia: An analysis of the histopathology, clinical features, and survival from Thailand

Systemic reports on the descriptive epidemiology of non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) from Southeast Asia are scarce. A nationwide multi‐institutional registry was conducted to compare the histopathology, clinical features, and survival of Thai adult patients with NHL using large registries, especially those from Far East Asia (FEA). Using a web‐based registry system, 13 major medical centers from the 4 geographic regions of Thailand prospectively collected, from 2007 to 2014, the diagnostic pathology, according to the World Health Organization classification, 2008, clinical features and survival of 4056 patients who were newly diagnosed with NHL. The median age of the patients was 56 years (range, 16‐99 years). The male‐to‐female ratio was 1.3:1. From the total of 4056 patients, T/NK‐cell lymphoma (TNKCL) accounted for 12.6% of cases, and 5.1% had human immunodeficiency virus–associated lymphoma. The four leading histological subtypes were diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (58.1%); follicular lymphoma (5.6%); extranodal mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (5.2%); and peripheral T‐cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (4.0%). With a median follow‐up duration of 46.1 months, the median overall survival of B‐cell NHL was significantly longer than that of patients with TNKCL (76.5 vs 28.8 months, P = .0001). Compared to FEA, the Thai registry had an approximately one‐half lower relative frequency of TNKCL; the prevalence of extranodal mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma was much lower than in Korea, and the frequency of extranodal TNKCL, nasal type, was strikingly low compared to China. It is concluded that while the median age of Thai patients with NHL was approximately a decade younger than for Caucasians, the long‐term survival rates for most histological subtypes were comparable. While the histological distribution generally complied with the characteristic Asian features, some differences from FEA were observed.
“In situ” XPS studies of laser-induced surface nitridation and oxidation of tantalum

This work studies the nitridation of Ta by laser irradiation by means of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The study has been carried out under “in situ” conditions by controlling the nitrogen partial pressure, the presence of traces of oxygen, and the irradiance of the laser. It is found that a thin layer of Ta_2O_5 is directly obtained when irradiating in the presence of oxygen, while a Ta_3N_5 surface compound and some minor contributions of nonstoichiometric phases are formed in the presence of nitrogen. For O_2:N_2 mixtures at 0.1 Pa, preferential nitride formation occurs up to a ratio of 1:4, while Ta_2O_5 starts to be predominant for ratios above this value. The air stability of the tantalum nitride layer formed by laser irradiation and the surface topography of the irradiated metal are also studied. The possible factors determining this behavior are discussed.
Factors influencing students' satisfaction in using wireless internet in higher education: Cross-validation of TSM

Purpose In this age of exponential knowledge growth, where wireless internet is playing a dominant role, the concerned authorities of higher education have to ensure that this tool remains within the reach of the students. However, there has been as yet little research indicating its success in China. This paper aims to examine factors that influence students’ satisfaction (SAT) in using wireless internet in higher education for the purpose of learning. The second aim of this study is to identify if gender has a moderating effect on students’ SAT in using wireless internet in higher education. Design/methodology/approach Data from a total of 283 students from five colleges of a comprehensive public university in China (Foreign Language Studies, Business, Education, Biology and Chemistry, and Mathematics and Engineering) were collected for this study. The reliability and validity of the measurement scale were established through a Rasch model using Winsteps version 3.94. The technology satisfaction model (TSM) was validated applying structural equation modelling (SEM) using AMOS to test the causal relationships among the constructs. Findings The results of this study revealed that students’ SAT was directly influenced by perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use of wireless internet. Besides, students’ perceived ease of use (PEU) and usefulness were directly affected by their computer self-efficacy. On the other hand, students’ computer self-efficacy had an indirect effect on their SAT mediated by ease of use and perceived usefulness, respectively. The findings also discovered that gender did exert effect as a moderating variable towards students’ SAT in using wireless internet in higher education. Practical implications The TSM was shown to be a useful model to measure students’ SAT in using wireless internet in a different culture. Originality/value To achieve this aim, a TSM on the potential factors contributing to student SAT was developed from the literature and validated in this study. Whereas, the TSM has been developed and validated in Malaysia.
Can there be learning potential in Parkinson’s disease? A comparison with healthy older adults

ABSTRACT Patients with Parkinson’s disease may show certain cognitive impairments, although it is unclear how these deficits can affect their learning potential. The study aims to use the testing-the-limits technique to compare the potential for cognitive plasticity in a group of Patients with Parkinson’s disease (N = 33) and a group of healthy older adults (N = 33). Sixty-six participants performed verbal learning test to analyze the learning potential. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant main effects of time, group, and the interaction. There is a lower learning potential in subjects with Parkinson’s disease; however, those still maintain a certain capacity for learning and, therefore, for cognitive plasticity.
Influence of authoritarianism, vagal tone and mental fatigue on obedience to authority

ABSTRACT Recent research suggests that obedience in the Milgram paradigm is underpinned by stress vulnerability and inhibitory control over pain sharing. Because self-regulatory fatigue (SRF) induction is a suited method to investigate the influence of inhibitory control on behaviour, participants (n = 99) were randomly assigned to a High vs. Low self-regulatory condition. Heart rate variability (HRV, a biomarker of stress vulnerability) was collected during 5-min baseline and continuously during the experimental procedure. Prior to the experiment, participants completed an online survey assessing right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), a well-known predictor of obedience. Using the Immersive Video Milgram Obedience Experiment, we found (i) that lower resting HRV predicted higher destructive obedience, (ii) that low self-regulatory inhibition (induced by fatigue) reduced destructive obedience, (iii) that the well-established influence of RWA on destructive obedience was suppressed in the presence of SRF. Implications for future directions in obedience research are discussed.
Drip and Ship Versus Direct to Comprehensive Stroke Center: Conditional Probability Modeling

The outcome of ischemic stroke is related to the volume of brain that is infarcted, and the volume of infarction is directly related to the time to reperfusion.1 In an anterior circulation, large-vessel ischemic stroke 1.9 million neurons are lost every minute.2 Treatment efficacy is dependent on time to treatment initiation. Acute ischemic stroke is treated medically with the administration of intravenous alteplase. Recent results of several randomized trials established the efficacy of endovascular treatment in ischemic stroke.3–8 The facilities and expertise needed for endovascular procedures are only available at endovascular capable centers (ECCs), which are typically tertiary care hospitals. Medical treatment with alteplase is more widely available. This creates 2 options for prehospital destination decision-making for suspected stroke: (1) transport the patient directly to the nearest ECC to receive alteplase and, if appropriate, immediate endovascular therapy even though this might mean bypassing a closer non-ECC (nECC; mothership model); or (2) transport the patient to the nearest nECC to receive alteplase and then transfer the patient to the nearest ECC for endovascular therapy (drip and ship model). There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these options, and it is currently unknown which of these options will lead to the highest probability of good outcome for the patient. The RACECAT trial in Barcelona, Spain, is planned to directly address this question (NCT02795962). Herein, we propose a methodology for addressing this problem using statistical probability modeling and suggest a candidate model for evaluation. ### Assumptions We make several assumptions in the development of the prediction models (Table I in the online-only Data Supplement). First, these models apply when there is uncertainty on which transport and treatment decision to choose. Second, the nECC is the closest treatment center to the location of stroke occurrence. If an ECC is the …
A “Patch” to the NYU Emergency Department Visit Algorithm

OBJECTIVE To document erosion in the New York University Emergency Department (ED) visit algorithm's capability to classify ED visits and to provide a "patch" to the algorithm. DATA SOURCES The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample. STUDY DESIGN We used bivariate models to assess whether the percentage of visits unclassifiable by the algorithm increased due to annual changes to ICD-9 diagnosis codes. We updated the algorithm with ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes added since 2001. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The percentage of unclassifiable visits increased from 11.2 percent in 2006 to 15.5 percent in 2012 (p < .01), because of new diagnosis codes. Our update improves the classification rate by 43 percent in 2012 (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS Our patch significantly improves the precision and usefulness of the most commonly used ED visit classification system in health services research.
A new concept of endometriosis and adenomyosis: tissue injury and repair (TIAR)

Abstract Pelvic endometriosis, deeply infiltrating endometriosis and uterine adenomyosis share a common pathophysiology and may be integrated into the physiological mechanism and new nosological concept of ‘tissue injury and repair’ (TIAR) and may, in this context, just represent the extreme of a basically physiological, estrogen-related mechanism that is pathologically exaggerated in an extremely estrogen-sensitive reproductive organ. The acronym TIAR describes a fundamental and apparently ubiquitous biological system that becomes operative in mesenchymal tissues following tissue injury and, upon activation, results in the local production of estradiol. Endometriosis and adenomyosis are caused by trauma. In the spontaneously developing disease, chronic uterine peristaltic activity or phases of hyperperistalsis induce, at the endometrial-myometrial interface near the fundo-cornual raphe, microtraumatisations, with activation of the TIAR mechanism. With ongoing traumatisations, such sites of inflammation might accumulate and the increasingly produced estrogens interfere in a paracrine fashion with ovarian control over uterine peristaltic activity, resulting in permanent hyperperistalsis and a self-perpetuation of the disease process. Overt autotraumatisation of the uterus with dislocation of fragments of basal endometrium into the peritoneal cavity and infiltration of basal endometrium into the depth of the myometrial wall ensues. In most cases of endometriosis/adenomyosis a causal event early in the reproductive period of life must be postulated, rapidly leading to archimetral hyperestrogenism and uterine hyperperistalsis. In late premenopausal adenomyosis such an event might not have occurred. However, as indicated by the high prevalence of the disease, it appears to be unavoidable that, with time, chronic normoperistalsis throughout the reproductive period of life accumulates to the same extent of microtraumatisation. With activation of the TIAR mechanism followed by chronic inflammation and infiltrative growth, endometriosis/adenomyosis of the younger woman and premenopausal adenomyosis share in principal the same pathophysiology.
Host‐induced gene silencing of a regulator of G protein signalling gene (VdRGS1) confers resistance to Verticillium wilt in cotton

Summary Verticillium wilt (VW), caused by soil‐borne fungi of the genus Verticillium, is a serious disease affecting a wide range of plants and leading to a constant and major challenge to agriculture worldwide. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is the world's most important natural textile fibre and oil crop. VW of cotton is a highly devastating vascular disease; however, few resistant germplasms have been reported in cotton. An increasing number of studies have shown that RNA interference (RNAi)‐based host‐induced gene silencing (HIGS) is an effective strategy for improving plant resistance to pathogens by silencing genes essential for the pathogenicity of these pathogens. Here, we have identified and characterized multifunctional regulators of G protein signalling (RGS) in the Verticillium dahliae virulence strain, Vd8. Of eight VdRGS genes, VdRGS1 showed the most significant increase in expression in V. dahliae after treating with the roots of cotton seedlings. Based on the phenotype detection of VdRGS1 deletion and complementation mutants, we found that VdRGS1 played crucial roles in spore production, hyphal development, microsclerotia formation and pathogenicity. Tobacco rattle virus‐mediated HIGS in cotton plants silenced VdRGS1 transcripts in invaded V. dahliae strains and enhanced broad‐spectrum resistance to cotton VW. Our data demonstrate that VdRGS1 is a conserved and essential gene for V. dahliae virulence. HIGS of VdRGS1 provides effective control against V. dahliae infection and could obtain the durable disease resistance in cotton and in other VW‐susceptible host crops by developing the stable transformants.
Towards an understanding of filled rubbers

Elastomers are used for many industrial and household applications. These synthetic rubbers are most of the time filled with nanoparticles (carbon black or more recently silica in our case) to tune their mechanical properties. The filling of the elastomer improves their mechanical properties but leads to effects which are not fully understood today like the increase of the linear stiffness until one or two magnitudes (low deformations) or a drop in elasticity (medium and high deformations) the so called Payne effect. In this thesis we study these phenomena at different length scales and attempt to relate the microstructure and the macroscopic properties. We will subsequently use several technics to determine the microscopic structure of our samples like TEM tomography or SAXS experiments, to be able to link the macroscopic properties (rheological behavior) to the microscopic structure.