Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining offline and online classifiers for life-long learning

One of the greatest challenges of life-long learning architectures is how to efficiently and reliably cope with the stability-plasticity dilemma. We propose an extension of a flexible system combining a static offline classifier and an incremental online classifier that is well suited for life-long learning scenarios. The pre-trained offline classifier preserves ground knowledge that should be respected during training, while the online classifier enables learning of new or specific information encountered during use. The combination is realised by a dynamic classifier selection strategy based on confidences of both ingredients. We report exemplary results of this architecture for the case of learning vector quantization (LVQ) for several data sets, thereby including an extensive comparison to alternative state of the art algorithms for incremental learning such as incremental generalised LVQ and the support vector machine.
Osteoprotegerin in serum as a novel marker of bone metastatic spread in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequent carcinoma in men and is often complicated by skeletal metastasis (1). Because bone scintigraphy, the standard method of monitoring metastatic bone involvement, is expensive, lacks specificity, and is not particularly suitable for the follow-up of patients, various metabolic bone markers have been studied as indicators for bone metastasis in PCa patients (2)(3). Markers that reflect osteoblast proliferation, e.g., skeletal alkaline phosphatase (sALP), are reportedly useful, which is consistent with the osteoblastic reactions seen in the skeletal metastases (4). The balance between osteoblastic and osteoclastic activity in bone is essentially influenced by osteoclastogenesis. The latter is regulated by three proteins: receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (RANK), which is expressed on osteoclast precursor cells; its ligand (RANKL), which is expressed on the surface of preosteoblastic and stromal cells; and osteoprotegerin (5)(6). The interaction of RANKL with RANK stimulates the differentiation of osteoclasts, whereas osteoprotegerin blocks this process by functioning as a decoy receptor for RANKL. This novel cytokine system appears to play an important role in the establishment of bone metastases in PCa patients (7). Osteoprotegerin has recently been found to be overexpressed in bone metastases of these patients (8). This overexpression could indirectly favor osteoblastic reactions by inhibiting osteoclastogenesis and might explain the bone lesions typically seen PCa patients. Because tissue overexpression of proteins often is reflected in blood, osteoprotegerin could be a potential serum marker for diagnosis of bone metastasis. Using a recently introduced novel osteoprotegerin assay, we performed the present study to evaluate the diagnostic validity of osteoprotegerin as a potential bone metastasis marker in PCa in comparison with sALP and cross-linked N-telopeptides of type I collagen (NTx), which represent osteoblastic and osteoclastic markers, respectively. The study included 36 male controls (mean age, 51.4 years) with no …
The prevalence of Amblyopia in a young Population

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of amblyopia and its determinants in Iranian students above 18 years. Methods: In this university-based cross-sectional study, multi-stage cluster sampling was used to select participants. After selecting the students, visual acuity, objective, and subjective refraction were measured and the best-corrected visual acuity was determined. Results: We evaluated 1462 individuals with a mean age of 22.8 ± 3.1 years in this study, of whom 73% were female. The prevalence of amblyopia was 2.19% (95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.43, 2.93]), of which 6.2% was strabismic, 71.8% was refractive (isometropic and anisometropic), and 22.0% was mix (strabismic and anisometropic). No difference was observed in the prevalence of amblyopia between boys and girls (p value = 0.315). The prevalence of amblyopia was 3.93%, 1.71%, 3.79%, and 0% in the age group 18–20, 21–25, 26–30, and above 30 years, respectively (p value = 0.071). Conclusion: The results of this study, as the first study investigating the prevalence of amblyopia in Iranian adults, showed a rather higher prevalence of amblyopia in Iranian university students compared to other studies on adults in other countries. Moreover, similar to some other studies, refractive amblyopia had a higher prevalence than other types.
Qianliening capsule treats benign prostatic hyperplasia via suppression of the EGF/STAT3 signaling pathway

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a pathological overgrowth of the human prostate. It may cause increased resistance to urine flow through the urethra and occasionally kidney damage, bladder stones and urinary tract infections, and therefore affect the quality of life. Qianliening capsule (QC) is a traditional Chinese formula that has been used clinically in China to treat BPH for a number of years. However, the mechanism of its anti-BPH effect remains largely unknown. We evaluated the therapeutic effect of QC in a rat model of BPH, established by the injection of testosterone following castration, and investigated the underlying molecular mechanism of action. We observed that QC treatment significantly and dose-dependently decreased the prostatic volume (PV) and prostatic index (PI; P<0.05 or P<0.01), and ameliorated the histological damage of the prostate tissue in the BPH rats. In addition, treatment with QC inhibited the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), as well as the expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), cyclin D1 and Bcl-2. Our results suggest that suppression of the EGF/STAT3 pathway may be one of the mechanisms by which QC treats BPH.
Broadening Exposure, Questioning Opinions, and Reading Patterns with Reflext: a Computational Support for Frame Reflection

ABSTRACT Vast amounts of political coverage are generated daily online. Some tools have been developed to help keep track of what is being said, but fewer efforts focus on how things are being said, i.e., how issues are framed. This article presents a study of Reflext, an interactive visualization tool that leverages computational linguistic analysis to support reflection on the framing of political issues. This system was deployed in a field study, during which the tool was used by regular readers of political news coverage during the 2012 U.S. election campaign. The results describe the tool's support for a variety of activities related to frame reflection, how users integrated tool use with their existing reading practices, and broader issues in how participants interpreted the computational analysis and visualization. These findings contribute to our understanding of how algorithmically based interactive systems might mediate both the practical experiences of and situated interpretation of framing in political content.
The C lostridium difficile cell wall protein CwpV confers phase‐variable phage resistance

Bacteriophages are present in virtually all ecosystems, and bacteria have developed multiple antiphage strategies to counter their attacks. Clostridium difficile is an important pathogen causing severe intestinal infections in humans and animals. Here we show that the conserved cell‐surface protein CwpV provides antiphage protection in C. difficile. This protein, for which the expression is phase‐variable, is classified into five types, each differing in their repeat‐containing C‐terminal domain. When expressed constitutively from a plasmid or the chromosome of locked ‘ON’ cells of C. difficile R20291, CwpV conferred antiphage protection. Differences in the level of phage protection were observed depending on the phage morphological group, siphophages being the most sensitive with efficiency of plaquing (EOP) values of < 5 × 10−7 for phages ϕCD38‐2, ϕCD111 and ϕCD146. Protection against the myophages ϕMMP01 and ϕCD52 was weaker, with EOP values between 9.0 × 10−3 and 1.1 × 10−1. The C‐terminal domain of CwpV carries the antiphage activity and its deletion, or part of it, significantly reduced the antiphage protection. CwpV does not affect phage adsorption, but phage DNA replication is prevented, suggesting a mechanism reminiscent of superinfection exclusion systems normally encoded on prophages. CwpV thus represents a novel ubiquitous host‐encoded and phase‐variable antiphage system in C. difficile.
Isoflavones and PPAR Signaling: A Critical Target in Cardiovascular, Metastatic, and Metabolic Disease

Isoflavone intake through foods and dietary supplements has both health advocates and critics. The latter come from a concern about the estrogenic effects of isoflavones in certain species. However, careful removal of isoflavones and other estrogens from the diet of rodents leads to the metabolic syndrome. These results suggest that isoflavones have other mechanisms of action, potentially those involving regulation of fatty acid metabolism via the nuclear receptors PPARα and PPARγ. The goal of this paper was to examine the evidence for isoflavone/PPAR signaling and to identify diseases in which such signaling would have an important impact. It is therefore of note that investigators using a chemical structure approach to discover PPAR ligands identified isoflavones as the best structures in the library of compounds that they tested. Future studies will involve careful identification of the underlying mechanisms whereby isoflavones have their action via PPAR signaling.
Aging Americans: Family Factors and Satisfaction with Life and Aging

Successful aging has been explored and defined in research as a particularly desirous state of being as one approaches older age. Operational definitions of successful aging often include measures of physical health, internal and external resources, proactivity levels, and wellbeing. Additional research on later life has included the study of family and support factors on the aging experience. In light of these topics, the current research sought to explore successful aging within a family context by comparing family demographics to older Americans’ satisfaction with life and aging. This inquiry was conducted using a secondary data analysis design on the public government data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) in the year 2014 (N = 18,747). The HRS data is part of a longitudinal household survey of Americans over the age of 50 that began in 1992 in an effort to gain knowledge about health and retirement among older Americans. The overarching research question for this project was: Based on the Health and Retirement Study data in 2014, what are the effects of family factors on older Americans’ satisfaction with life and aging? Inferential statistics (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, ANOVA, and multiple regression) found significant but moderate to weak relationships between individual family factors and satisfaction with life and aging scores. While the current study provided insight into the connections between family factors and older Americans’ life and aging satisfaction, there are still many factors not studied here that could more strongly relate and/or predict successful aging in older Americans.
Protein translocation into dendrites : implication of glia-derived angiotensins in noradrenergic brainstem neurons

Noradrenaline (NA) released by dendrites of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons controls LC neuron activity, and hence, NA released from noradrenergic fibers in terminal fields. NA synthesis is dependent on tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), whose dendritic presence is controlled precisely in LC neurons during postnatal development. However, the mechanisms controlling specifically dendritic sorting of TH without affecting its axonal transport remained to be elucidated. Here, by using transgenic rats with astrocyte-directed depletion of angiotensinogen, we show that dendritic but not axonal TH protein sorting is initiated after weaning by cerebral angiotensins in LC neurons, but not in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra (SN). Cerebral angiotensins trigger dendritic translocation of TH protein by stimulating phosphorylation of the myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate (MARCKS), known to facilitate macromolecule export from the soma. Protein trafficking within either axons or dendrites of LC neurons is thus controlled by specialized mechanisms, some having a glial origin.
Goodwin or Kalecki in Demand? Functional Income Distribution and Aggregate Demand in the Short Run

In a seminal paper on Marxian business cycle theory, Goodwin (1967) presented a model which assumed that a higher wage share leads to lower investment and thus a general economic slowdown. In contrast Kalecki (1971) was arguing that a higher wage share would have an expansionary effect because the consumption propensity out of wage income is higher than that out of profit income. Based on a general model that allows for wage-led as well as profit-led demand regimes, this paper estimates the effects of a change in the wage share on aggregate private domestic demand with quarterly data for 12 OECD countries. JEL classification: E11, E12, E20, E22, E25
Short Message Service for Healthy Living

PREFACE This research has been performed as graduation research for the master Content and Knowledge Engineering at Utrecht University. The topic directly appealed to me as I am interested in new technologies and have been connected with health care solutions since my bachelor graduation project which was performed at a local hospital. I enjoy investigating new research areas and the different disciplines of the research made the research challenging and interesting. Thanks go out to both my supervisors Rogier van Eijk and Robbert-Jan Beun for guiding me through the process and by providing help when it was needed. I would like to specially thank Rogier van Eijk for connecting me to the project and providing a global outline of the research approach. I would also like to thank all participants who participated in this research and provided valuable information to the design of the service. Special thanks go out to the administrator of exoft.net who provided access to the server during the 10 months of the studies. Lastly, I would like to thanks family and friends who have supported me during the course of the research and attended the final presentation of the research. Abstract Noyons 3308723 [3] ABSTRACT The physical inactivity of individuals is a burden to public health concerns. Changing the lifestyle of individuals into a more physically active lifestyle is beneficial for both public concerns as for the perceived quality of life and well-being of individuals. By applying persuasive self-supporting systems the lifestyle of individuals can gradually be changed into a more physically active lifestyle. This research investigated the dimensions of health behaviour change and created a short message service that was aimed to persuade people to take health exercises into their daily lives. Two three-week test runs were performed to acquire relevant user feedback and to evaluate the effectiveness of the persuasive design. The created short message service was evaluated to be successful in generating short-term changes, but lasting change was only measured at highly motivated users. Improvements are suggested on interaction engagement, relationship building, and to extend the scope of the created behaviour change model. Longer testing periods could lastly provide a more accurate view on the quality of the created relationship and whether real change is achieved by the service.
Is Sodium Oxybate a Safe and Effective Treatment for Patients with Fibromyalgia

Objective: The objective of this systematic review is to determine whether or not Sodium Oxybate is a safe and effective treatment of pain and sleep-related symptoms of fibromyalgia. Study design: Review of three English language primary randomized controlled trials published between 2003-2010. Data Sources: Randomized, controlled clinical trials comparing Sodium Oxybate to a placebo group were found using PubMed and Cochrane database. Outcome Measured: Disease improvement and adverse effects (nausea). Disease improvement was measure using Disease the Tender point index (TPI) (rated 0-4), subjective daily assessments of pain /fatigue, PVAS score (0= no pain, 100= worst possible pain), FVAS score (0= no fatigue, 100= worst possible fatigue), Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) (rated 1100), The Jenkins Scale for sleep (JSS) (rated 1-20), a quality-of-life questionnaire (SF-36) (rated 1-100), Patient Global Impression of Change (PGI-C), Tender Point Count (TPC) (rated: 0-18), Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGI-S), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) (rated: 1-24), and Functional Outcome of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ) (rated: 5-20). Adverse effects (nausea) were measured using incidence of cases reported. Results: Three randomized controlled trials were included in this review. The higher dose of Soidum Oxybate (6.0g/day) was shown to be more effective than the lower dose (4.5g/day) at relieving fibromyalgia symptoms. Although the higher dose of Sodium Oxybate was more effective, nausea was more commonly experiences in this group than the group given the lower daily dose. Conclusion: The results of the randomized controlled trials reviewed demonstrated that Sodium Oxybate 6.0 g/day was more effective than the 4.5g/day dosage at improving fibromyalgia symptoms. However due the adverse effect of nausea 4.5g/day is a safe starting dose for patients. The relatively low incidence of nausea encourages its use in fibromyalgia. Further studies should be done regarding the titration from doses 4.5g/day to 6.0g/day to see if the adverse effect of nausea has a lower incidence.
Decreased Cardiac Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Its Receptors in Insulin-Resistant and Diabetic States: A Possible Explanation for Impaired Collateral Formation in Cardiac Tissue

Background—Inadequate angiogenic response to ischemia in the myocardium of diabetic patients could result in poor collateral formation. Yet, excessive neovascularization in the retina causes proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the major angiogenic factor expressed in response to hypoxia, we have characterized expression of VEGF and its receptors in retina, renal glomeruli, aorta, and myocardium in insulin-resistant and diabetic states. Methods and Results—The expression of mRNA and protein for VEGF and its receptors, VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2, in the myocardium was decreased significantly by 40% to 70% in both diabetic and insulin-resistant nondiabetic rats. Twofold reductions in VEGF and VEGF-R2 were observed in ventricles from diabetic patients compared with nondiabetic donors. In contrast, expression of VEGF and its receptors were increased 2-fold in retina and glomeruli from diabetic or insulin-resistant rats. Insulin treatment of diabetic rats normalized changes in both cardiac and microvascular tissues. Insulin increased VEGF mRNA expression in cultured rat neonatal cardiac myocytes. Conclusions—The results documented for the first time that differential regulation of VEGF and its receptors exist between microvascular and cardiac tissues, which can be regulated by insulin. These results provide a potential explanation for concomitant capillary leakage and neovascularization in the retina and inadequate collateral formation in the myocardium of insulin-resistant and diabetic patients.
Highlighting the features of whole-class interactions in a participatory early childhood environment

ABSTRACT The present study investigates the features of teacher-children interaction during whole-class activities within an early childhood community, in which children’s active participation is supported. The theoretical basis of the study is shaped by sociocultural approaches, which consider learning as a process of social co-construction of meanings, accomplished through children’s participation in meaningful and authentic interactions where their agency is deliberately fostered by adults. By implementing a three-level framework of analysis, two whole-class activities were analyzed. The research findings identified how the control of the activities was shared between the teacher and the children, how the children’s engagement was accomplished and what features it had as well as how their bodily movements contributed to the realization of meaning, sharing of thinking and extension of interaction. New insights on whole-class interaction are provided, which broaden our knowledge in the field of participatory pedagogy, while implications for future research are highlighted.
The Effect of Gold Nanoparticle Size in the Cellular Uptake

Nowadays, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) received a great deal of attention for biomedical applications especially in diagnostic imaging and therapeutics. In this study, we elucidate on how size of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) affect cellular uptake. The size dependence of AuNPs cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cells was tested by using the WST-1 assay. The sizes of AuNPs tested were 13 nm, 50 nm, and 70 nm. The toxicity of AuNPs in MCF-7 cell lines was quantified by determining the IC50 values in WST-1 assays. The IC50 values (inhibitory concentrations that affected 50% growth inhibition) of 13 nm AuNPs is higher than 50 nm and 70 nm AuNPs. Mean that, 13 nm AuNPs is less toxic to MCF-7 cells. This cytotoxicity results generally agree with those obtained in the study of cellular uptake by Inverted Microscope and EFTEM. Morphological observation of MCF-7 after being treated with 13 nm, 50 nm, and 70 nm AuNPs, were looking unhealthy and dying out of the populace, the observed cells were more reduced and dying as treatment with 50 nm and 70 nm AuNPs. Cells detachment, clumping, shrunken, and dispersed cells in the culture medium and floating cells were also observed. The observed morphological changes increase in 50 nm and 70 nm AuNPs than in 13 nm AuNPs, which is less toxic to MCF-7 cells. The presented morphological analysis has also established that 13 nm AuNPs showed less toxic to MCF-7 cells. The presented results clearly indicate that the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of AuNPs depend on the size of the nanoparticles.