Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved Housing Accessibility for Older People in Sweden and Germany: Short Term Costs and Long-Term Gains

The physical housing environment is important to facilitate activities of daily living (ADL) for older people. A hindering environment may lead to ADL dependence and thus increase the need for home services, which is individually restricting and a growing societal burden. This study presents simulations of policy changes with regard to housing accessibility that estimates the potential impact specifically on instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), usage of home services, and related costs. The models integrate empirical data to test the hypothesis that a policy providing funding to remove the five most severe environmental barriers in the homes of older people who are at risk of developing dependence in I-ADL, can maintain independence and reduce the need for home services. In addition to official statistics from state agencies in Sweden and Germany, we utilized published results from the ENABLE-AGE and other scientific studies to generate the simulations. The simulations predicted that new policies that remove potentially hindering housing features would improve I-ADL performance among older people and reduce the need for home services. Our findings suggest that a policy change can contribute to positive effects with regard to I-ADL independence among older people and to a reduction of societal burden.
Ultrasensitive Norovirus Detection Using DNA Aptasensor Technology

DNA aptamers were developed against murine norovirus (MNV) using SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment). Nine rounds of SELEX led to the discovery of AG3, a promising aptamer with very high affinity for MNV as well as for lab-synthesized capsids of a common human norovirus (HuNoV) outbreak strain (GII.3). Using fluorescence anisotropy, AG3 was found to bind with MNV with affinity in the low picomolar range. The aptamer could cross-react with HuNoV though it was selected against MNV. As compared to a non-specific DNA control sequence, the norovirus-binding affinity of AG3 was about a million-fold higher. In further tests, the aptamer also showed nearly a million-fold higher affinity for the noroviruses than for the feline calicivirus (FCV), a virus similar in size and structure to noroviruses. AG3 was incorporated into a simple electrochemical sensor using a gold nanoparticle-modified screen-printed carbon electrode (GNPs-SPCE). The aptasensor could detect MNV with a limit of detection of approximately 180 virus particles, for possible on-site applications. The lead aptamer candidate and the aptasensor platform show promise for the rapid detection and identification of noroviruses in environmental and clinical samples.
Network Anomalies Detection Using Statistical Technique : A Chi- Square approach

Intrusion Detection System is used to detect suspicious activities is one form of defense. However, the sheer size of the network logs makes human log analysis intractable. Furthermore, traditional intrusion detection methods based on pattern matching techniques cannot cope with the need for faster speed to manually update those patterns. Anomaly detection is used as a part of the intrusion detection system, which in turn use certain data mining techniques. Data mining techniques can be applied to the network data to detect possible intrusions. The foremost step in application of data mining techniques is the selection of appropriate features from the data. This paper aims to build an Intrusion Detection System that can detect known and unknown intrusion automatically. Under a data mining framework, the IDS are trained with statistical algorithm, named Chi-Square statistics. This study shows the plan, implementation and the analyze of these threats by using a Chi-Square statistic technique, in order to prevent these attacks and to make a Network Intrusion detection system (NIDS). This proposed model is used to detect anomaly-based network to see how effective this statistical technique in detecting intrusions.
Neuromonitoring in Thyroid Surgery: Prospective Evaluation of Intraoperative Electrophysiological Responses for the Prediction of Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injury

Objective:We evaluated the ability of neuromonitoring to predict postoperative outcome in patients undergoing thyroid surgery for different indications. Summary Background Data:Neuromonitoring has been advocated to reduce the risk of vocal cord palsy and to predict postoperative vocal cord function. Methods:Three hundred twenty-eight patients (502 nerves at risk) were studied prospectively at a single center. Neuromonitoring was performed with the Neurosign 100® device by transligamental placement of the recording electrode into the vocalis muscles. Cumulative distribution of stimulation thresholds was determined by stepwise decreases in current (1 mA to 0.05 mA) for both the vagus and the recurrent nerve. Patients were grouped according to surgical risk (benign and malignant disease, reoperation for benign and for malignant disease). Results:If the electrophysiological response was correlated to postoperative vocal cord function, the sensitivity of neuromonitoring was modest (86% in surgery for benign disease) to low (25% in reoperation for malignant disease); the positive predictive value was modest (overall rate 62%) but acceptable (87%) if corrected for technical problems. Specificity and negative predictive values were high (ie, overall >95%). Stimulation thresholds were not augmented in 11 patients, in whom postoperative palsy developed despite normal intraoperative recordings. Similarly, an electrical field response was elicited in 14 of 21 patients with preoperative vocal cord palsy. Electromyographic recordings did not reveal an abnormal amplitude or a decline in nerve conduction velocity. Conclusions:Neuromonitoring is useful for identifying the recurrent laryngeal nerve, in particular if the anatomic situation is complicated by prior surgery, large tissue masses, aberrant nerve course. However, neuromonitoring does not reliably predict postoperative outcome.
A proposal for consolidated intentional modeling language

Intentional modeling (IM) focuses on intentions and motivations of software systems rather than behaviours. KAOS ("Knowledge Acquisition in autOmated Systems"), and i* ("Distributed Intentionality") are the two popular IM languages used in requirement engineering. Each of these languages are defined as a collection of intentional elements, and intentional properties. However, these intentional elements are fragmented across IM languages, and thus limited in supporting detailed requirement analysis. Our proposed solution is to combine these two languages into a consolidated modeling language using a Model Based Software Engineering (MBSE) language integration technique, in EMF-Ecore, and develop a graphical tool for the new modeling language. The graphical tool is applied on a case study to show that it supports detailed requirement analysis. The rationale behind this paper is to provide the Software Engineering Community with a richer but less cumbersome intentional modeling language that can support detailed requirement analysis, this can reduce the cost associated with incomplete requirement analysis during software development.
Preloss grief in family caregivers during end‐of‐life cancer care: A nationwide population‐based cohort study

Severe grief symptoms in family caregivers during end‐of‐life cancer trajectories are associated with complicated grief and depression after the loss. Nevertheless, severe grief symptoms during end‐of‐life caregiving in caregivers to cancer patients have been scarcely studied. We aimed to explore associations between severe preloss grief symptoms in caregivers and modifiable factors such as depressive symptoms, caregiver burden, preparedness for death, and end‐of‐life communication.
The Agony of Ambivalence and Ways to Resolve It: Introducing the MAID Model

People are generally averse toward conflict between beliefs and/or feelings underlying their attitudes—that is, attitudinal ambivalence. This review integrates literature on attitudinal ambivalence with theories on decision making and coping strategies to gain a better understanding of when and how people deal with feelings of ambivalence. First it shows that ambivalence is experienced as being particularly unpleasant when the ambivalent attitude holder is confronted with the necessity to make a choice concerning the ambivalent attitude object; then, incongruent evaluative components of the attitude become accessible, and feelings of uncertainty about the potential outcomes arise, which may involve the anticipation of aversive emotions. Several coping strategies are employed when ambivalence is experienced as unpleasant. Emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies are discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of the MAID (model of ambivalence-induced discomfort), which aims to describe the consequences of ambivalence.
Neural cell adhesion molecule ablation in mice causes hippocampal dysplasia and loss of septal cholinergic neurons

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is implicated in nervous system development and plasticity. In humans, abnormal NCAM expression has been linked to the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders accompanied by cognitive dysfunctions. Impaired cognition is also observed in NCAM‐deficient (NCAM−/−) mice. Considering the importance of the septal cholinergic nuclei and the hippocampus for cognition, we performed quantitative morphological analyses of these areas in young and adult (2 and 13 months old, respectively) NCAM−/− mice and wild‐type (NCAM+/+) littermates. In young mice, we found lower numbers of septal cholinergic neurons in NCAM−/− than in NCAM+/+ mice. Despite deficient numbers of neurons, total lengths of cholinergic axons and choline acetyltransferase protein levels in the hippocampus of NCAM−/− mice were normal. The hippocampus of NCAM−/− mice was atrophic, notably in the CA3 subfield and the dentate gyrus (DG). The atrophy appeared to have different primary causes in the two subfields: loss of pyramidal cells in CA3 and reduced branching and volume of granule cell dendrites in the DG. The frequency of dendritic spines on dentate granule cells in NCAM−/− mice was normal. Numbers of parvalbumin‐positive (PV+) interneurons were reduced in NCAM−/− mice in proportion to subfield volume loss, and the ratios of principal cells to PV+ interneurons were similar to those of NCAM+/+ mice. None of the observed abnormalities was exaggerated or alleviated in adult NCAM−/− mice. Our observations indicate that NCAM ablation causes structural abnormalities in the hippocampus and the forebrain cholinergic system in adult mice, which may contribute to impaired cognition in NCAM−/− mice. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:2475–2492, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ecolocation: a sequence based technique for RF localization in wireless sensor networks

In this paper we present a novel sequence-based RF localization algorithm called Ecolocation. Our algorithm determines the location of unknown nodes by examining the ordered sequence of received signal strength (RSS) measurements taken at multiple reference nodes. We employ a constraint-based approach that provides for robust location decoding even in the presence of random RSS fluctuations due to multi-path fading and shadowing. Through extensive systematic simulations, and a representative set of real mote experiments, we show that over a wide range of settings Ecolocation performs better than other state of the art approaches in terms of localization accuracy and precision.
MSH3-Deficiency Initiates EMAST without Oncogenic Transformation of Human Colon Epithelial Cells

Background/Aim Elevated microsatellite instability at selected tetranucleotide repeats (EMAST) is a genetic signature in certain cases of sporadic colorectal cancer and has been linked to MSH3-deficiency. It is currently controversial whether EMAST is associated with oncogenic properties in humans, specifically as cancer development in Msh3-deficient mice is not enhanced. However, a mutator phenotype is different between species as the genetic positions of repetitive sequences are not conserved. Here we studied the molecular effects of human MSH3-deficiency. Methods HCT116 and HCT116+chr3 (both MSH3-deficient) and primary human colon epithelial cells (HCEC, MSH3-wildtype) were stably transfected with an EGFP-based reporter plasmid for the detection of frameshift mutations within an [AAAG]17 repeat. MSH3 was silenced by shRNA and changes in protein expression were analyzed by shotgun proteomics. Colony forming assay was used to determine oncogenic transformation and double strand breaks (DSBs) were assessed by Comet assay. Results Despite differential MLH1 expression, both HCT116 and HCT116+chr3 cells displayed comparable high mutation rates (about 4×10−4) at [AAAG]17 repeats. Silencing of MSH3 in HCECs leads to a remarkable increased frameshift mutations in [AAAG]17 repeats whereas [CA]13 repeats were less affected. Upon MSH3-silencing, significant changes in the expression of 202 proteins were detected. Pathway analysis revealed overexpression of proteins involved in double strand break repair (MRE11 and RAD50), apoptosis, L1 recycling, and repression of proteins involved in metabolism, tRNA aminoacylation, and gene expression. MSH3-silencing did not induce oncogenic transformation and DSBs increased 2-fold. Conclusions MSH3-deficiency in human colon epithelial cells results in EMAST, formation of DSBs and significant changes of the proteome but lacks oncogenic transformation. Thus, MSH3-deficiency alone is unlikely to drive human colon carcinogenesis.
Learning opposites using neural networks

Many research works have successfully extended algorithms such as evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement agents and neural networks using “opposition-based learning” (OBL). Two types of the “opposites” have been defined in the literature, namely type-I and type-II. The former are linear in nature and applicable to the variable space, hence easy to calculate. On the other hand, type-II opposites capture the “oppositeness” in the output space. In fact, type-I opposites are considered a special case of type-II opposites where inputs and outputs have a linear relationship. However, in many real-world problems, inputs and outputs do in fact exhibit a nonlinear relationship. Therefore, type-II opposites are expected to be better in capturing the sense of “opposition” in terms of the input-output relation. In the absence of any knowledge about the problem at hand, there seems to be no intuitive way to calculate the type-II opposites. In this paper, we introduce an approach to learn type-II opposites from the given inputs and their outputs using the artificial neural networks (ANNs). We first perform opposition mining on the sample data, and then use the mined data to learn the relationship between input x and its opposite x̌. We have validated our algorithm using various benchmark functions to compare it against an evolving fuzzy inference approach that has been recently introduced. The results show the better performance of a neural approach to learn the opposites. This will create new possibilities for integrating oppositional schemes within existing algorithms promising a potential increase in convergence speed and/or accuracy.
The Prevalence of Distress and Depression among Women in Rural Sichuan Province

Background In this paper, we report findings regarding the prevalence of expressed distress and depressive conditions among women living in a rural region of Sichuan Province. As well, we know of no data among women in rural China that examine whether “depression,” as categorically defined in classifications such as the DSM, adequately captures the expressed distress and symptomatic complaints of women in rural China. Methods A multistage sampling method was employed to recruit the target population. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure distress symptoms, and MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was employed to determine the prevalence of diagnosable depression and other disorders. Results Among 1898 rural women, 12.4% (236) scored ≥16 on the CES-D, indicative of distress, and a subset of 7.7% (146) had scores ≥21, highly suggestive of a clinically significant disorder. We found that 49.8% women with ≥16 CES-D score were identified as showing features consistent with a current major depressive episode (MDE) vs. 1.9% in a sample of randomly selected women with <16 CES-D score. Among respondents, 30 of 84 (35.7%) scoring 16–20 and 83 of 143 (58.0%) scoring ≥21 reported symptoms consistent with MDE. 25.1% of women with a positive CES-D score did not describe symptoms consistent with any DSM-IV disorder. Conclusions We found a higher portion of women reporting significant distress than previously described. Among them, there was a clear gradient, such that 41.7% of women with moderate distress did not have a psychiatric diagnosis, and even among those with more severe symptoms, 15.4% did not manifest a DSM-specific psychiatric condition.
Sex hormones modulate the synthesis of basic fibroblast growth factor in human endometrial adenocarcinoma cells: Implications for the neovascularization of normal and neoplastic endometrium

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has been demonstrated to exert an angiogenic activity in vivo. Here, the ability of bFGF to stimulate plasminogen activator (PA) production in bovine capillary endothelial cells was used as an assay for the presence of bFGF‐like molecules in the extracts of the human endometrial adenocarcinoma AN3CA, HEC‐1‐A, and HEC‐1‐B cell lines. The identity of the PA‐stimulating activity with bFGF was confirmed by its high affinity for heparin and by its cross‐reactivity with antibodies to human placental bFGF. Western blot analysis and immunoprecipitation experiments showed that, in the extracts of the three cell lines, these antibodies recognize a protein with an apparent molecular weight of ∼ 17,000 daltons. 17β‐Estradiol stimulates the synthesis of this bFGF‐like molecule in all the endometrial cell lines tested. This stimulation can be abolished by treating the cells with progesterone. These data demonstrate the capacity of sex hormones to regulate bFGF synthesis in tumor endometrial cells, and they suggest that bFGF may play a role in the vascularization of the endometrial adenocarcinoma as well as of the normal endometrium.
Cognitive contributions to differences in learning after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury

Introduction: Deficits in learning and memory are commonly observed after traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, the mechanisms underlying such deficits are poorly understood. This study examines the contribution of other cognitive processes in verbal learning after moderate to severe TBI. Adults with TBI who have verbal learning deficits were predicted to perform worse on executive measures than adults who are able to learn. Method: Participants were 51 community-dwelling adult volunteers (age 18–59) with moderate to severe TBI. Injury severity was determined by Glasgow Coma Scale score ≤12 and corroborating information from medical records. Group membership (TBI-learners or TBI-nonlearners) was determined by a learning criterion of perfect recall on 2 consecutive trials within 15 trials on the open-trial Selective Reminding Test. All participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Group differences were examined using independent-samples t tests, and logistic regression was used to determine significant predictors of learning ability. Results: The TBI-learner group performed better than the TBI-nonlearner group most consistently on tasks of executive control and working memory. Results of a logistic regression showed that working memory capacity was the most significant predictor of learning ability after TBI. Conclusions: Working memory significantly influences the ability to learn verbal information after TBI. The documented relationship between working memory and learning will guide the development of more efficacious treatments to rehabilitate learning and memory deficits after TBI.
Use of protein trans‐splicing to produce active and segmentally 2H, 15N labeled mannuronan C5‐epimerase AlgE4

Alginate epimerases are large multidomain proteins capable of epimerising C5 on β‐D‐mannuronic acid (M) turning it into α‐L‐guluronic acid (G) in a polymeric alginate. Azotobacter vinelandii secretes a family of seven epimerases, each of which is capable of producing alginates with characteristic G distribution patterns. All seven epimerases consist of two types of modules, denoted A and R, in varying numbers. Attempts to study these enzymes with solution‐state NMR are hampered by their size—the smallest epimerase, AlgE4, consisting of one A‐ and one R‐module, is 58 kDa, resulting in heavy signal overlap impairing the interpretation of NMR spectra. Thus we obtained segmentally 2H, 15N labeled AlgE4 isotopomeres (A‐[2H, 15N]‐R and [2H, 15N]‐A‐R) by protein trans‐splicing using the naturally split intein of Nostoc punctiforme. The NMR spectra of native AlgE4 and the ligated versions coincide well proving the conservation of protein structure. The activity of the ligated AlgE4 was verified by two different enzyme activity assays, demonstrating that ligated AlgE4 displays the same catalytic activity as wild‐type AlgE4.
Intrinsic determinants of firing pattern in Purkinje cells of the turtle cerebellum in vitro.

1. The intrinsic response properties of turtle Purkinje cells and the underlying conductances have been investigated with intradendritic and intrasomatic recordings in a slice preparation. 2. The active generation site for fast Na+ spikes was confined to the soma and for slow Ca2+ spikes to the dendrites. The configuration and generation of Ca2+ spikes was more affected by the level of extracellular K+ than were Na+ spikes. 3. Sodium spikes had a lower threshold than Ca2+ spikes at all recording sites. Sodium spike firing was abruptly initiated during depolarizing current pulses and the spike frequency increased from an early minimum to a higher steady‐state level over a period of seconds or until the occurrence of Ca2+ spikes. Calcium spikes were always delayed by at least 100 ms from the onset of a depolarizing current pulse from rest. 4. The abrupt onset of Na+ spike firing was due to a tetrodotoxin‐sensitive plateau potential. The phase of accelerating firing frequency and the delayed occurrence of Ca2+ spikes was due to a transient hyperpolarization activated by depolarization from rest or from more negative membrane potentials. The transient hyperpolarization was inactivated by depolarized holding potentials and was most probably generate by a rapidly inactivating K+ channel. 5. It is concluded that turtle Purkinje cells display the basic firing properties and underlying conductances known from Purkinje cells of other vertebrates. In turtle Purkinje cells Ca2+ spikes are actively generated in spiny dendrites and it is suggested that spiny dendrites rather than branch points are ‘hot spots’. 6. The transient hyperpolarization, not previously described in Purkinje cells, seems particularly important for regulating Ca2+‐dependent excitability.