Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum fatty acid profile in celiac disease patients before and after a gluten-free diet

Objective. Celiac disease (CD) is characterized by villous atrophy with crypt hyperplasia and inflammation of the small intestinal mucosa leading to disturbed epithelial transport. In untreated CD, fat malabsorption can occur. The aim of this study was to investigate the profile of serum fatty acids in newly detected CD before and after treatment with a gluten-free diet. Material and methods. Serum samples were obtained from 50 adults with active CD showing small-bowel mucosal villous atrophy, from the same patients in remission after treatment with a gluten-free diet, and from 59 controls. Serum fatty acids were analyzed by capillary gas-liquid chromatography. Results. Especially the proportions of arachidonic acid (20:4 n-6) and the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids of the n-3 family docosapentaenoic acid (22:5 n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6 n-3) were decreased in subjects with active CD. Serum levels of these fatty acids increased during remission, but still remained significantly lower than control values. Levels of unsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids were generally increased in subjects with CD compared with those in controls. Conclusions. In patients with CD, determination of serum fatty acid composition can be considered if the dietary history or symptoms suggest an inadequate supply of long-chain fatty acids.
Social Fear Conditioning Paradigm in Virtual Reality: Social vs. Electrical Aversive Conditioning

In a previous study we could show that social fear can be induced and extinguished using virtual reality (VR). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the belongingness effect in an operant social fear conditioning (SFC) paradigm which consisted of an acquisition and an extinction phase. Forty-three participants used a joystick to approach different virtual male agents that served as conditioned stimuli. Participants were randomly allocated to one of two experimental conditions. In the electroshock condition, the unconditioned stimulus (US) used during acquisition was an electric stimulation. In the social threat condition, the US consisted of an offense: a spit in the face, mimicked by a sound and a weak air blast to the participant’s neck combined with an insult. In both groups the US was presented when participants were close to the agent (75% contingency for CS+). Outcome variables included subjective, psychophysiological and behavioral data. As expected, fear and contingency ratings increased significantly during acquisition and the differentiation between CS+ and CS- vanished during extinction. Furthermore, a clear difference in skin conductance between CS+ and CS- at the beginning of the acquisition indicated that SFC had been successful. However, a fast habituation to the US was found toward the end of the acquisition phase for the physiological response. Furthermore, participants showed avoidance behavior toward CS+ in both conditions. The results show that social fear can successfully be induced and extinguished in VR in a human sample. Thus, our paradigm can help to gain insight into learning and unlearning of social fear. Regarding the belongingness effect, the social threat condition benefits from a better differentiation between the aversive and the non-aversive stimuli. As next step we suggest comparing social-phobic patients to healthy controls in order to investigate possible differences in discrimination learning and to foster the development of more efficient treatments for social phobia.
Information Elicitation sans Verification

The recent advent of human computation — employing groups of non-experts to solve problems — has motivated study of a question in mechanism design: How do we elicit useful information when we are unable to verify reports? Existing methods, such as peer prediction and Bayesian truth serum, require assumptions either on the mechanism's knowledge about the participants or on the information structure of participants for eliciting private information from the participants. Meanwhile, however, there are simple mechanisms in practice such as the ESP Game that seem to require no such assumptions, yet have achieved great empirical success. We attack this paradox from two directions. First, we provide a broad formalization of the problem of information elicitation without verification and show that, without assumptions on designer knowledge or participants' information, there do not exist mechanisms that can truthfully elicit the private information of the participants for this setting. Second, we define and analyze the output agreement class of mechanisms, an extremely broad but simple mechanism in which players are rewarded based on the metric distance between their reports. Output agreement makes no assumptions on designer knowledge or participants' information and thus cannot be " truthful ". We resolve the paradox by showing that it is useful: It elicits the correct answer according to the common knowledge among the players. We conclude with an analysis of the assumptions and results of various popular mechanisms for information elicitation without verification.
Arabidopsis ROOT INITIATION DEFECTIVE1, a DEAH-Box RNA Helicase Involved in Pre-mRNA Splicing, Is Essential for Plant Development[W]

This article investigates the developmental roles of a pre-mRNA splicing factor by analyzing ROOT INITIATION DEFECTIVE1 (RID1), a DEAH-box RNA helicase. The results show that the requirement for RID1 is not constitutive, but changes dynamically throughout development, suggesting that robust levels of pre-mRNA splicing are critical for several specific aspects of plant development. Pre-mRNA splicing is a critical process in gene expression in eukaryotic cells. A multitude of proteins are known to be involved in pre-mRNA splicing in plants; however, the physiological roles of only some of these have been examined. Here, we investigated the developmental roles of a pre-mRNA splicing factor by analyzing root initiation defective1-1 (rid1-1), an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant previously shown to have severe defects in hypocotyl dedifferentiation and de novo meristem formation in tissue culture under high-temperature conditions. Phenotypic analysis in planta indicated that RID1 is differentially required during development and has roles in processes such as meristem maintenance, leaf morphogenesis, and root morphogenesis. RID1 was identified as encoding a DEAH-box RNA helicase implicated in pre-mRNA splicing. Transient expression analysis using intron-containing reporter genes showed that pre-mRNA splicing efficiency was affected by the rid1 mutation, which supported the presumed function of RID1 in pre-mRNA splicing. Our results collectively suggest that robust levels of pre-mRNA splicing are critical for several specific aspects of plant development.
Adaptive Subcarrier Allocation in Synchronous Reverse Links of a Multicarrier CDMA System with Time and Frequency Spreading

Multicarrier code-division multiple access (CDMA) with time and frequency spreading has been recently considered as a candidate for fourth-generation (4G) wireless systems. This signaling scheme simultaneously utilizes code spreading in the time and frequency domains to simultaneously improve frequency diversity and minimize multiuser access interference. As a result, it is capable of outperforming multicarrier CDMA systems that employ 1-D spreading. In this paper, a novel adaptive subcarrier allocation algorithm is developed for multicarrier CDMA with time and frequency spreading to improve the overall bit error rate (BER) performance for all spreading configurations. This algorithm assigns users to subcarrier groups that provide favorable fading characteristics while simultaneously reducing the amount of interference caused to other users. The proposed algorithm is shown to provide a performance improvement, ranging from 1.5 dB with 2times16 (time times frequency) and spreading to 7 dB with 16times2 (time times frequency) spreading. The algorithm is also shown to maintain or improve the BER floor for each spreading configuration. It is concluded that at higher and lower levels of Eb/No, a higher frequency- and time-domain spreading should be, respectively, employed to improve BER performance. Furthermore, the Eb/No threshold level to switch between time and frequency spreading for the analyzed system is found to be 2.5 dB.
Functional classification of interferon‐stimulated genes identified using microarrays

Interferons (IFNs) are a family of multifunctional cytokines thatactivate transcription of subsets of genes. The gene products inducedby IFNs are responsible for IFN antiviral, antiproliferative, andimmunomodulatory properties. To obtain a more comprehensive list and abetter understanding of the genes regulated by IFNs, we compiled datafrom many experiments, using two different microarray formats. Thecombined data sets identified >300 IFN‐stimulated genes (ISGs). Toprovide new insight into IFN‐induced cellular phenotypes, we assignedthese ISGs to functional categories. The data are accessible on the World Wide Web at http://www.lerner. ccf.org/labs/williams, including functional categories and individual genes listed in asearchable database. The entries are linked to GenBank and Unigenesequence information and other resources. The goal is to eventuallycompile a comprehensive list of all ISGs. Recognition of the functionsof the ISGs and their specific roles in the biological effects of IFNsis leading to a greater appreciation of the many facets of theseintriguing and essential cytokines. This review focuses on thefunctions of the ISGs identified by analyzing the microarray data andfocuses particularly on new insights into the protein kinaseRNA‐regulated (PRKR) protein, which have been made possible with theavailability of PRKR‐null mice.
Multifocal Electroretinogram Findings after Intravitreal Bevacizumab Injection in Choroidal Neovascularization of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose To evaluate the changes in multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) after intravitreal bevacizumab injection in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods Twenty-one eyes with choroidal neovascularization secondary to AMD were studied before and after intravitreal bevacizumab injection for best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), OCT, and mfERG. Results The BCVA improved, while central macular thickness and total macular volume in OCT decreased after intravitreal bevacizumab injection (p = 0.03, 0.01, and 0.01, respectively). In mfERG, the amplitude of P1, and implicit time of P1 and N1 indicated a statistically significant improvement of retinal response after intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Conclusions There is a potential role for mfERG in evaluating the effect on retinal function of intravitreal bevacizumab injection.
Hyperbent Functions, Kloosterman Sums, and Dickson Polynomials

This paper is devoted to the study of hyperbent functions in n variables, i.e., bent functions which are bent up to a change of primitive roots in the finite field GF(2n). Our main purpose is to obtain an explicit trace representation for some classes of hyperbent functions. We first exhibit an infinite class of monomial functions which is not hyperbent. This result indicates that Kloosterman sums on F2 m cannot be zero at some points. For functions with multiple trace terms, we express their spectra by means of Dickson polynomials. We then introduce a new tool to describe these hyperbent functions. The effectiveness of this new method can be seen from the characterization of a new class of binomial hyperbent functions.
Nuclear organization in human sperm: preliminary evidence for altered sex chromosome centromere position in infertile males.

BACKGROUND Many genetic defects with a chromosomal basis affect male reproduction via a range of different mechanisms. Chromosome position is a well-known marker of nuclear organization, and alterations in standard patterns can lead to disease phenotypes such as cancer, laminopathies and epilepsy. It has been demonstrated that normal mammalian sperm adopt a pattern with the centromeres aligning towards the nuclear centre. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that altered chromosome position in the sperm head is associated with male infertility. METHODS The average nuclear positions of fluorescence in-situ hybridization signals for three centromeric probes (for chromosomes X, Y and 18) were compared in normoozoospermic men and in men with compromised semen parameters. RESULTS In controls, the centromeres of chromosomes X, Y and 18 all occupied a central nuclear location. In infertile men the sex chromosomes appeared more likely to be distributed in a pattern not distinguishable from a random model. CONCLUSIONS Our findings cast doubt on the reliability of centromeric probes for aneuploidy screening. The analysis of chromosome position in sperm heads should be further investigated for the screening of infertile men.
Fast and Frugal Heuristics Are Plausible Models of Cognition: Reply To

(2008) conjectured that fast and frugal heuristics need an automatic frequency counter for ordering cues. In fact, only a few heuristics order cues, and these orderings can arise from evolutionary, social, or individual learning, none of which requires automatic frequency counting. The idea that cue validities cannot be computed because memory does not encode missing information is misinformed; it implies that measures of co-occurrence are incomputable and would invalidate most theories of cue learning. They also questioned the recognition heuristic's psychological plausibility on the basis of their belief that it has not been implemented in a memory model, although it actually has been implemented in ACT-R (L. J. Schooler & R. Hertwig, 2005). On the positive side, M. R. Dougherty et al. discovered a new mechanism for a less-is-more effect. The authors of the present article specify minimal criteria for psychological plausibility, describe some genuine challenges in the study of heuristics, and conclude that fast and frugal heuristics are psychologically plausible: They use limited search and are tractable and robust. The program of fast and frugal heuristics centers on three questions. The first concerns the adaptive toolbox: What heu-ristics do organisms use? Answering this involves identifying heuristics, their building blocks, and the evolved capacities that these exploit. The second concerns ecological rationality: What are the environmental structures in which a given heuristic works well or poorly, and how do people adapt heuristics to these structures? The third question concerns applications: How can the study of ecological rationality inform the design of heuristics and environments to improve decision making? For example, ecologically rational design has been used to improve coronary care unit allocations (Green & Mehr, 1997), first-line antibiotic prescription in children (Fischer et al., 2002), and risk, they did not deal with our subsequent research. Their critique concerns the search rule of Take The Best (TTB)––its stopping rule and decision rule are not discussed–– and the recognition heuristic, but they inappropriately generalized to all fast and frugal heuristics. To the extent that other heuristics are mentioned at all, the authors passed over or dismissed them. 1 Although Dougherty et al. acknowledged the concept of an adaptive toolbox, they also presented our program 1 For instance, Dougherty et al. (2008) wrote that the Minimalist heu-ristic, which does not order cues by validity but searches in random order, is " particularly problematic, in the sense that randomness cannot be empirically validated " …
Dietary profile of urban adult population in South India in the context of chronic disease epidemiology (CURES – 68)

Abstract Objective Few dietary surveys have been done with reference to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, in India, which is considered to be the diabetes capital of the world. We report on the dietary intake of urban adults living in Chennai, South India. Design A population-based cross-sectional study. Setting A representative population of urban Chennai in southern India. Subjects The study population comprised 2042 individuals aged ≥20 years selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study (CURES). Dietary intake was measured using a validated and previously published interviewer-administered semi-quantitative meal-based FFQ. Results The mean daily energy intake was 10 393 (sd 2347) kJ (male: 10953 (sd 2364) kJ v. female: 9832 (sd 233) kJ). Carbohydrates were the major source of energy (64 %), followed by fat (24 %) and protein (12 %). Refined cereals contributed to the bulk of the energy (45·8 %), followed by visible fats and oils (12·4 %) and pulses and legumes (7·8 %). However, energy supply from sugar and sweetened beverages was within the recommended levels. Intake of micronutrient-rich foods, such as fruit and vegetable consumption (265 g/d), and fish and seafoods (20 g/d), was far below the FAO/WHO recommendation. Dairy and meat products intake was within the national recommended intake. Conclusions The diet of this urban South Indian population consists mainly of refined cereals with low intake of fish, fruit and vegetables, and all of these could possibly contribute to the risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes in this population.
Neuroadaptive Variable Speed Control of Wind Turbine With Wind Speed Estimation

It is difficult to measure the wind speed accurately in short term. This reveals challenges for wind turbine control, especially for maximum power point tracking with adaptive control strategies. In this paper, a genetic algorithm based support vector machine model is adopted to estimate the wind speed, using physically measurable signals, such as the electrical power, pitch angle, and rotor speed, while the desired rotor speed can be obtained accordingly. Further, by combining the radial basis function neural networks with adaptive algorithms, a novel virtual parameter based neuroadaptive controller is developed to accommodate the system uncertain and external disturbances. The effectiveness and performances of the proposed method are validated and demonstrated with FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) and Simulink.
Generation of CD2+CD8+ NK Cells from c-kit+ Bone Marrow Cells in Porcine

Natural killer (NK) cells provide one of the initial barriers of cellular host defense against pathogens, in particular intracellular pathogens. Because bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), lymphoid protenitors, can give rise to NK cells, NK ontogeny has been considered to be exclusively lymphoid. Here, we show that porcine c-kit+ bone marrow cells (c-kit+ BM cells) develop into NK cells in vitro in the presence of various cytokines [interleukin (IL)-2, IL-7, IL-15, IL-21, stem cell factor (SCF), and fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 ligand (FLT3L)]. Adding hydrocortisone (HDC) and stromal cells greatly increases the frequency of c-kit+ BM cells that give rise to CD2+CD8+ NK cells. Also, intracellular levels of perforin, granzyme B, and NKG2D were determined by RT-PCR and western blotting analysis. It was found that of perforin, granzyme B, and NKG2D levels significantly were increased in cytokine-stimulated c-kit+ BM cells than those of controls. And, we compared the ability of the cytotoxicity of CD2+CD8+ NK cells differentiated by cytokines from c-kit+ BM cells against K562 target cells for 28 days. Cytokines-induced NK cells as effector cells were incubated with K562 cells as target in a ratio of 100:1 for 4 h once a week. In results, CD2+CD8+ NK cells induced by cytokines and stromal cells showed a significantly increased cytotoxicity 21 days later. Whereas, our results indicated that c-kit+ BM cells not pretreated with cytokines have lower levels of cytotoxicity. Taken together, this study suggests that cytokines-induced NK cells from porcine c-kit+ BM cells may be used as adoptive transfer therapy if the known obstacles to xenografting (e.g. immune and non-immune problems) were overcome in the future.
Mechanical, hydration, and durability modifications provided to mortar made with crushed sand and blended cements

This work aims to evaluate the characteristics of crushed sand (CS), resulting from limestone quarries, when it replaces natural sand (NS) in mortar, and to identify its performances with three types of cement and three W/C ratio. It is concluded that CS has a great effect on mortar properties; it accelerates the hydration of cement grains leading to a shorter setting time, increases the flexural and compressive strengths, generates more hydration heat, and improves the mortar durability. The properties of CS mortar can be predicted as simple relationships of those of NS with an acceptable correlation coefficient.
Structure Modification of an Active Azo-Compound as a Route to New Antimicrobial Compounds

Some novel (phenyl-diazenyl)phenols 3a–g were designed and synthesized to be evaluated for their antimicrobial activity. A previously synthesized molecule, active against bacteria and fungi, was used as lead for modifications and optimization of the structure, by introduction/removal or displacement of hydroxyl groups on the azobenzene rings. The aim of this work was to evaluate the consequent changes of the antimicrobial activity and to validate the hypothesis that, for these compounds, a plausible mechanism could involve an interaction with protein receptors, rather than an interaction with membrane. All newly synthesized compounds were analyzed by 1H-NMR, DSC thermal analysis and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The in vitro minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of each compound was determined against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and Candida albicans. Compounds 3b and 3g showed the highest activity against S. aureus and C. albicans, with remarkable MIC values of 10 µg/mL and 3 µg/mL, respectively. Structure-activity relationship studies were capable to rationalize the effect of different substitutions on the phenyl ring of the azobenzene on antimicrobial activity.
Growth, Nutrition, and Cytokine Response of Breast-fed Infants and Infants Fed Formula With Added Bovine Osteopontin

Objectives: Breast milk contains a high concentration of osteopontin (OPN), a protein having multiple functions. In contrast, infant formula is low in OPN. A randomized clinical trial was performed to evaluate effects of adding a highly enriched bovine OPN fraction to formula, and infants whose mothers had already decided not to breast-feed were recruited. They were fed regular formula (F0) or the same formula with bovine OPN at 65 (F65) or 130 (F130) mg/L (50% and 100% of human milk level, respectively) from 1 to 6 months of age and were compared with a reference group of breast-fed (BF) infants. Methods: Morbidity was recorded daily and 3-day dietary records collected monthly. Anthropometry was assessed monthly, and blood samples were taken at 1, 4, and 6 months of age. Hematology and iron status, serum cytokines, plasma amino acids, and blood urea nitrogen were analyzed. Results: Formulas were well tolerated and there were no significant differences in formula intake or growth among the formula-fed groups. The F130 group had significantly lower plasma threonine than the F0 and F65 groups, and significantly lower plasma branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) than the F0 group and, thus, was closer to BF infants. Plasma TNF-&agr; was higher in formula-fed infants than in BF infants. Among the formula-fed groups, the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-&agr; was significantly lower in the F65 and F130 groups than in the F0 group, suggesting that OPN downregulates inflammatory cytokines and thus affects immune function. Conclusions: Addition of OPN to infant formula changes amino acid metabolism and cytokine responses of FF infants and makes them more similar to BF infants. The lower prevalence of pyrexia in the F130 infants than in F0 infants suggests that adding OPN may confer health benefits.