Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early effects of tumor necrosis factor inhibition on bone homeostasis after soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor use

Background/Aims Our aim was to assess whether short-term treatment with soluble tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor affects circulating markers of bone metabolism in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods Thirty-three active RA patients, treated with oral disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and glucocorticoids for > 6 months, were administered etanercept for 12 weeks. Serum levels of bone metabolism markers were compared among patients treated with DMARDs at baseline and after etanercept treatment, normal controls and naive RA patients not previously treated with DMARDs (both age- and gender-matched). Results Bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSALP) and serum c-telopeptide (CTX)-1 levels were lower in RA patients treated with DMARDs than in DMARD-naive RA patients. After 12 weeks of etanercept treatment, serum CTX-1 and sclerostin levels increased. In patients whose DAS28 improved, the sclerostin level increased from 1.67 ± 2.12 pg/mL at baseline to 2.51 ± 3.03 pg/mL, which was statistically significant (p = 0.021). Increases in sclerostin levels after etanercept treatment were positively correlated with those of serum CTX-1 (r = 0.775), as were those of BSALP (r = 0.755). Conclusions RA patients treated with DMARDs showed depressed bone metabolism compared to naive RA patients. Increases in serum CTX-1 and sclerostin levels after short-term etanercept treatment suggest reconstitution of bone metabolism homeostasis.
The Role of Visual Complexity in Affective Reactions to Webpages: Subjective, Eye Movement, and Cardiovascular Responses

In this study, we tested whether the visual complexity (VC) of webpages influences viewer's affective reactions. In a laboratory experiment, 48 students viewed 36 webpages varying in VC while subjective feelings, behavioral, and cardiovascular responses were recorded. Less complex webpages were associated with more positive affect, decreased eye movements (specifically in the first few seconds of viewing), a triphasic heart rate response, and increased finger pulse amplitude. Results suggest that affective responses to webpage viewing differ as a function of VC and that webpage displaying could be made adaptive to the user's emotions.
Asymptotically Minimax Robust Hypothesis Testing

The design of asymptotically minimax robust hypothesis testing is formalized for the Bayesian and Neyman-Pearson tests of Type I and II. The uncertainty classes based on the KL-divergence, αdivergence, symmetrized α-divergence, total variation distance, as well as the band model, moment classes and p-point classes are considered. It is shown with a counterexample that minimax robust tests do not always exist. Implications between single sample-, all-sampleand asymptotic minimax robustness are derived. Existence and uniqueness of asymptotically minimax robust tests are proven using Sion’s minimax theorem and the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker multipliers. The least favorable distributions and the corresponding robust likelihood ratio functions are derived in parametric forms, which can then be determined by solving a system of equations. The proposed theory proves that Dabak’s design does not produce any asymptotically minimax robust test. A generalization of the theory to multiple-, decentralizedand sequential hypothesis testing is discussed. The derivations are evaluated, examplified and applied to spectrum sensing.
GENE FLOW AND SPECIES DELIMITATION: A CASE STUDY OF TWO PINE SPECIES WITH OVERLAPPING DISTRIBUTIONS IN SOUTHEAST CHINA

Species delimitation detected by molecular markers is complicated by introgression and incomplete lineage sorting between species. Recent modeling suggests that fixed genetic differences between species are highly related to rates of intraspecific gene flow. However, it remains unclear whether such differences are due to high levels of intraspecific gene flow overriding the spread of introgressed alleles or favoring rapid lineage sorting between species. In pines, chloroplast (cp) and mitochondrial (mt) DNAs are normally paternally and maternally inherited, respectively, and thus their relative rates of intraspecific gene flow are expected to be high and low, respectively. In this study, we used two pine species with overlapping geographical distributions in southeast China, P. massoniana and P. hwangshanensis, as a model system to examine the association between organelle gene flow and variation within and between species. We found that cpDNA variation across these two pine species is more species specific than mtDNA variation and almost delimits taxonomic boundaries. The shared mt/cp DNA genetic variation between species shows no bias in regard to parapatric versus allopatric species’ distributions. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that high intraspecific gene flow has accelerated cpDNA lineage sorting between these two pine species.
Decorin Transfection Induces Proteomic and Phenotypic Modulation in Breast Cancer Cells 8701-BC

Decorin is a prototype member of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan family widely distributed in the extracellular matrices of many connective tissues, where it has been shown to play multiple important roles in the matrix assembly process, as well as in some cellular activities. A major interest for decorin function concerns its role in tumorigenesis, as growth-inhibitor of different neoplastic cells, and potential antimetastatic agent. The aim of our research was to investigate wide-ranged effects of transgenic decorin on breast cancer cells. To this purpose we utilized the well-characterized 8701-BC cell line, isolated from a ductal infiltrating carcinoma of the breast, and two derived decorin-transfected clones, respectively, synthesizing full decorin proteoglycan or its protein core. The responses to the ectopic decorin production were examined by studying morphological changes, cell proliferation rates, and proteome modulation. The results revealed new important antioncogenic potentialities, likely exerted by decorin through a variety of distinct biochemical pathways. Major effects included the downregulation of several potential breast cancer biomarkers, the reduction of membrane ruffling, and the increase of cell-cell adhesiveness. These results disclose original aspects related to the reversion of malignant traits of a prototype of breast cancer cells induced by decorin. They also raise additional interest for the postulated clinical application of decorin.
Exploring the Impact of an Online Diversity Course for the Professional Development of Faculty and Staff

In the context of shifting demographics and broad social change efforts, it is critical that faculty and staff at all institutional levels have the awareness, knowledge, and skills to work effectively with diverse coworkers, students, and other constituents. However, access to such educational opportunities may be hindered by the fact that faculty and staff tend to have limited availability for professional development during the regular work day and may not have the resources or incentive to pursue diversity training outside of their busy work schedules. Therefore, some universities are looking towards online platforms as a way to increase accessibility for a wider audience. In order to better understand the potential effectiveness and limitations of an online platform for diversity education, this chapter explores the impact of an online diversity course developed as a professional development program for faculty and staff at the University of the Midwest (UM).
Population screening for barrett esophagus: a prospective randomized pilot study.

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility of unsedated transnasal endoscopy (uTNE) and video capsule endoscopy (VCE) as alternatives to sedated endoscopy (sEGD) as screening tools for Barrett esophagus (BE) and to obtain preliminary estimates of participation rates for sEGD, uTNE, and VCE when used for community BE screening in a population cohort. PATIENTS AND METHODS From February 1, 2009, to May 31, 2010, patients from Olmsted County, Minnesota, who were older than 50 years and had no history of known BE were randomized (stratified by age, sex, reflux symptoms noted in a validated questionnaire) into 3 groups for esophageal evaluation with sEGD, uTNE, or VCE. Participation rates and safety profiles were estimated. RESULTS We contacted 127 patients to recruit 20 for each procedure arm (60 total). The probability of participation was 38% (95% confidence interval [CI], 26%-51%) for sEGD, 50% (95% CI, 35%-65%) for uTNE, and 59% (95% CI, 42%-74%) for VCE. Both uTNE and VCE were well tolerated without adverse effects. BE was identified in 3 patients and esophagitis in 8. CONCLUSION Unsedated techniques may be acceptable, feasible, and safe alternatives to sEGD to screen for BE in the community. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00943280.
The incidence and pattern of copollinator diversification in dioecious and monoecious figs

Differences in breeding system are associated with correlated ecological and morphological changes in plants. In Ficus, dioecy and monoecy are strongly associated with different suites of traits (tree height, population density, fruiting frequency, pollinator dispersal ecology). Although approximately 30% of fig species are pollinated by multiple species of fig‐pollinating wasps, it has been suggested that copollinators are rare in dioecious figs. Here, we test whether there is a connection between the fig breeding system and copollinator incidence and diversification by conducting a meta‐analysis of molecular data from pollinators of 119 fig species that includes new data from 15 Asian fig species. We find that the incidence of copollinators is not significantly different between monoecious and dioecious Ficus. Surprisingly, while all copollinators in dioecious figs are sister taxa, only 32.1% in monoecious figs are sister taxa. We present hypotheses to explain those patterns and discuss their consequences on the evolution of this mutualism.
The neural correlates of recollection: Hippocampal activation declines as episodic memory fades

Memories for certain events tend to linger in rich, vivid detail, and retrieval of these memories includes a sense of re‐experiencing the details of the event. Most events, however, are not retained in any detailed way for more than a few days. According to one theory, the hippocampus plays a specific role in supporting episodic retrieval, that is, the re‐experiencing of an event as part of one's personal past. This theory predicts that as episodic memories fade over time and are reduced to feelings of familiarity, activity in the hippocampus should no longer be associated with retrieval. We used high‐resolution functional imaging to explore neural activity in medial temporal lobe subregions while participants performed a recognition task at both a short (10‐min) and long (1‐week) study‐test delay. For each recognized item, subjects made “Remember/Know” judgments, allowing us to distinguish between items that were consistently episodic across the two tests and items that were initially episodic, but later became merely familiar. Our results demonstrate that activity in the subiculum is specifically associated with episodic recollection. Overall, recollected items were associated with higher activity in the subiculum than other items. For transiently recollected items, there was a decrease in subicular activity across the 1‐week delay as memory faded from recollection to familiarity, whereas consistently recollected items were associated with enhanced subicular activity at both delays. These results provide evidence of a link between subicular activation and recollective experience. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Moral and Ethical Decision Making in Canadian Forces Operations

Abstract : The purpose of this study was to generate first hand accounts of moral and ethical dilemmas that Canadian Forces (CF) personnel faced in operations in an effort to promote greater understanding of the personal, situational and contextual factors that comprise dilemma situations, as well as understanding the process of ethical decision making. A second goal was to elicit realistic exemplar scenarios for experimentation purposes. Fifteen currently serving and retired senior officers in the CF were interviewed from 19 May 2004 to 3 March 2005 using an unobtrusive conversational protocol. Participants were encouraged to speak freely and openly about moral and ethical dilemmas that they faced in operations, in order to document the ethical decision making process (and the factors that influence it) in operational contexts. Moral and ethical decision making was shown to be influenced by a number of factors not strongly emphasized in existing accounts of ethical decision making. These influences stemmed from the person (e.g. self-identity, values and attitudes), as well as several situational (e.g. moral intensity) and contextual factors (e.g. rules of engagement and organizational culture). Results also showed that moral and ethical decision making was not merely a linear, rational process, but a complex and multi-determined one, in which reason, emotion and intuition often worked together to determine ethical decision making. In addition, participant accounts suggested that ethical decisions are often simultaneously influenced by issues of self-identity in relation to contextual factors such as social norms and organizational culture. Participant descriptions, therefore, point out the significance of one's social role and self-identities in shaping and guiding the moral and ethical decision making process.
Perceptions of the Optimally Integrated Person as a Function of Therapists' Characteristics

The central focus of this paper was to determine whether there was a consensus for the concept of mental health. Therapists from different professional orientations in a United States sample rank ordered their views of the optimally integrated person using a 20-paragraph personality questionnaire based on Murray's need system. Although Freudians were found to be more “conservative” in certain respects than Neo-Freudians and Sullivanians, greater agreement than disagreement was generally obtained. Variation in rank order as a function of age, length of experience and sex of therapist are discussed as are differences within a Czechoslovakian sample of therapists.
Relationship among academic procrastination,learning adaptation and academic achievement in junior students

Objective To analyze the relationships among the academic procrastination,learning adaptation and academic achievement,and to provide basis for prevention and intervention on academic procrastination.Methods By random sampling method,280 students of junior school were surveyed with the Academic-Procrastination Questionnaire and the Learning-Adaptation Questionnaire.Results The junior students' academic procrastination was at a moderate level,and there were no significant differences between male and female.Students with learning disabilities had higher level of academic procrastination than normal students.Academic procrastination and its four dimensions(lack of learning plan,poor state of learning,delay of learning behavior,and done learn not enough) were strong negatively related to learning adaptation and its three dimensions(learning ability,learning method and learning attitude). Learning ability,learning method and learning attitude could significantly predict academic procrastination.Academic procrastination and its four dimensions partially mediated the relationship between learning adaptation and academic achievement.Conclusion Learning adaptation could significantly predict academic procrastination,and further influenced academic achievement through academic procrastination.
Areca nut and its role in oral submucous fibrosis

Areca nut, commonly called as betel nut or supari, is a fruit of areca catechu palm tree, which is native of South Asia and Pacific Islands. The seed or endosperm is consumed fresh, boiled or after sun drying or curing. Chewing areca nut is thought to have central nervous system stimulating effect and along with this it is known to have salivary stimulating and digestive properties. According to the traditional Ayurvedic medicine, chewing areca nut and betel leaf is a good remedy against halitosis. It is also used for its deworming property. Along with these beneficial effects of areca nut one of its most harmful effects on the human body in general and oral cavity in particular is the development of potentially malignant disorder called Oral Submucous Fibrosis. The present paper discusses in detail the effects of the components of areca nut on pathogenesis of Oral Submucous Fibrosis. Key words:Areca nut, oral submucous fibrosis, potentially malignant disorder, supari.
Towards a flexible tool for supporting data collection & analysis in personal software process (PSP)

Personal Software Process (PSP) ultimately provides software engineers an excellent framework and practice that can help them to improve the quality of their work, by analyzing their performance statistically and helping them to achieve realistic goals set by them. Besides, PSP offers many benefits to software engineers. However, through findings and studies, it is found that the Personal Software Process adoption problem may be caused by the overhead in data collection, manual execution in data analysis, and inflexibility of process definition. This paper presents in details the factors that influence the PSP adoption problem and explains the need for automated tool to support the adoption of PSP. It is believed that with the highly flexible automated tool support, it can give the flexibility to the software engineers to manage their process definition rather than staying freeze. Other than that, it can minimize the overhead during the data collection and data analysis phases. Software engineers should be easily monitors, measure and improve their software development process by using other additional features provided by this tool.
The impact of business process modularity on relational contract in the outsourcing of two business processes

How to successfully govern the alliances of business process outsourcing (BPO) is worthy of research. This paper studies the impact of business process modularity on relational contract when two unverifiable business processes are outsourced, by modeling a repeated game. The results show that, enhancing business process modularity improves the sustainability of relational contract in BPO, and the client's payoff. When the relational contract is first best, business process modularity will not affect the optimal bonus which is a constant, and when the relational contract is second best, higher business process modularity is associated with a higher bonus.
Development and Initial Validation of a Measure to Assess Career Goal Feedback

Career goal feedback provides information about career goal suitability, adequacy of goal progress, and whether changes are needed to reach the goals. Feedback comes from external (e.g., parents, peers) and internal sources (e.g., self-reflection), and plays an important role in the career development of young people. As there is no existing measure that adequately captures this construct, we devised and validated a 24-item inventory for use with young adults. In Study 1, initial items were developed, expert reviewed, and administered to a sample of Chinese university students (N = 1,055; MAGE = 19 years). We used exploratory factor analysis to test the factor structure and confirmatory factor analysis on a holdout sample to validate a third-order solution (one third-order factor manifested by three second-order factors). In addition, we provided evidence for convergent and incremental validity. In Study 2, we confirmed the factor structure on Australian university students (N = 184; MAGE = 19 years).
Differences between dementia caregivers who are users and nonusers of community services.

OBJECTIVES To examine differences between users and non-users of community services in caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD). A profile of who used services versus did not use services was developed. DESIGN AND SAMPLE Existing cross-sectional data from the NINR funded National Caregiver Training Project (data collected 1995-1997) were used. The sample (N = 241) of caucasian, well-educated caregivers reflected a mix of spouse and adult caregivers with a mean age of 64.8 years. MEASURES Variables measured included caregiver social support, burden, and depression as well as problem behavior of PWD. RESULTS The majority of caregivers did not attend support groups (73%) or use respite services (79%). Among caregivers who did not use services, 78% lived with the recipient and 77% were spouses. The profile of non-users compared to users revealed that non-users were significantly older, more depressed, and received less social support. On the other hand, non-users provided fewer hours of care per week to recipients who had less cognitive and functional deterioration and fewer behavior problems. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide public health nurses with knowledge about service use in caregivers of PWD. Recommendations regarding caregiver needs for assistance and increased use of services before a crisis ensues are presented.
Collegiate Women Athletes With Irregular Menses During Adolescence Have Decreased Bone Density

We studied six eumenorrheic and 13 oligomenorrheic collegiate women athletes who were matched in all respects other than menstrual histories. There was a significant (P<.05) association between menstrual regularity and bone density. The severely oligomenorrheic subjects had modestly decreased plasma estrogen levels. These findings support the notion that plasma estrogen levels during adolescence play a significant role in the development of peak adult bone density in women.
Response to Comment on “Atlantic and Pacific multidecadal oscillations and Northern Hemisphere temperatures”

Kravtsov et al. claim that we incorrectly assess the statistical independence of simulated samples of internal climate variability and that we underestimate uncertainty in our calculations of observed internal variability. Their analysis is fundamentally flawed, owing to the use of model ensembles with too few realizations and the fact that no one model can adequately represent the forced signal.
Exploring the interplay of cultural capital, habitus, and field in the life histories of two West African teacher candidates

This paper captures the life histories of two West African pre-service teachers pursuing their education in the United States. Based on a larger study examining the life histories of 45 undergraduate pre-service teachers, these narratives focus specifically on international student experiences in the US. Grounded in Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, capital, and field, the life histories of Bakar and Selma illustrate how their capital and habitus become contingent on the field(s) (i.e. sites, time, and agents within a specific context) in which they are situated. The narratives of Bakar and Selma captured their early educational experiences, teacher preparation practices, and future possibilities as they moved in and out of different fields where the exchange of capital occurred, which then led to restructuring and/or de-valuerization of certain habitus. The experiences of Bakar and Selma heighten our awareness of the capital and habitus deployed in a variety of contexts – fields – in the US and elsewhere. We conclude by incorporating discussion focused on working with international teacher candidates.