Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sex differences in insulin and glucagon responses for glucose homeostasis in young healthy Japanese adults

It has been reported that glucose responses during the oral glucose tolerance test differ between healthy women and men. However, it remains unknown what factors contribute to these differences between the sexes. The present study analyzed the insulin and glucagon responses during the oral glucose tolerance test in 25 female and 38 male healthy young adults aged 22–30 years. The plasma glucose levels at 120 min were significantly higher in women than men. Insulin secretion was significantly greater at 30, 90 and 120 min from baseline in women than men. Glucagon suppression was greater at 30 and 120 min from baseline in men than women when determined by a sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay glucagon kit. These results suggest that the differences in glucose responses during the oral glucose tolerance test are mediated by the difference between the sexes in bi‐hormonal responses in healthy individuals.
Biomarkers Predictive of Exacerbations in the SPIROMICS and COPDGene Cohorts

Rationale: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations are associated with disease progression, higher healthcare cost, and increased mortality. Published predictors of future exacerbations include previous exacerbation, airflow obstruction, poor overall health, home oxygen use, and gastroesophageal reflux. Objectives: To determine the value of adding blood biomarkers to clinical variables to predict exacerbations. Methods: Subjects from the SPIROMICS (Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes Measures in COPD Study) (n = 1,544) and COPDGene (Genetic Epidemiology of COPD) (n = 602) cohorts had 90 plasma or serum candidate proteins measured on study entry using Myriad‐RBM multiplex panels. We defined total exacerbations as subject‐reported worsening in respiratory health requiring therapy with corticosteroids and/or antibiotics, and severe exacerbations as those leading to hospitalizations or emergency room visits. We assessed retrospective exacerbations during the 12 months before enrollment and then documented prospective exacerbations in each cohort. Exacerbations were modeled for biomarker associations with negative binomial regression including clinical covariates (age, sex, percent predicted FEV1, self‐reported gastroesophageal reflux, St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire score, smoking status). We used the Stouffer‐Liptak test to combine P values for metaanalysis. Measurements and Main Results: Between the two cohorts, 3,471 total exacerbations (1,044 severe) were reported. We identified biomarkers within each cohort that were significantly associated with a history of exacerbation and with a future exacerbation, but there was minimal replication between the cohorts. Although established clinical features were predictive of exacerbations, of the blood biomarkers only decorin and &agr;2‐macroglobulin increased predictive value for future severe exacerbations. Conclusions: Blood biomarkers were significantly associated with the occurrence of exacerbations but were not robust between cohorts and added little to the predictive value of clinical covariates for exacerbations.
SETTING RATE OF ASPHALT CONCRETE

MIXES THAT SHOVE EXCESSIVELY UNDER STEEL WHEEL ROLLERS, DO NOT DENSIFY, OR ARE TENDER TO ANY TYPE OF DISTORTION ARE DEFINED AS 'SLOW SETTING. ' AT TIMES, THESE MIXES REMAIN TENDER FOR PROLONGED PERIODS AFTER LAYDOWN. FIELD AND LABORATORY STUDIES SHOW THAT AGGREGATE GRADATION AND ANGULARITY, FILLER CONTENT, MOISTURE, AND COMPACTIVE EFFORT ARE IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING THE SETTING RATE OR TOUGHNESS OF A COMPACTED MIX. CONSTRUCTION AND MIX VARIABLES ARE EXAMINED UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS TO ISOLATE THOSE FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR SLOW SETTING. DATA PRESENTED SHOW THAT HIGH-QUALITY, HIGH-STABILITY MIXES COMPACT BETTER WITH INCREASING COMPACTION TEMPERATURE, BUT THAT IN MORE UNSTABLE MIXES INCREASING THE TEMPERATURE RESULTS IN POORER COMPACTION. THE AUTHORS SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF MINERAL FILLER TO BOTH PAVEMENT DENSITY AND TOUGHNESS. AN OPTIMUM FILLER-TO-ASPHALT RATIO EXISTS FOR MAXIMUM COMPACTION UNDER STEEL WHEEL ROLLERS. IN ADDITION, THE AMOUNT OF MINERAL FILLER IN A MIX WAS FOUND TO INFLUENCE THE SETTING RATE OF AN ASPHALT PAVEMENT. PAVEMENT TOUGHNESS PROVED DEPENDENT ON THE TYPE AND DEGREE OF COMPACTION. PNEUMATIC ROLLING SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVES PAVEMENT TOUGHNESS. PAVEMENT SETTING IS SHOWN TO BE MUCH FASTER IN A MIX WITH CRUSHED, ANGULAR AGGREGATE RATHER THAN ROUNDED GRAVEL. THE SETTING RATE OF ASPHALT CONCRETE PAVEMENTS IS LARGELY CONTROLLED BY THE CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES INVESTIGATED IN THIS PAPER. SUGGESTIONS ARE GIVEN ON HOW TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM DENSIFICATION AND PAVEMENT TOUGHNESS. /AUTHOR/
NON-RELATIVISTIC BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND SCATTERING IN THE PRESENCE OF ARBITRARILY MOVING MEDIA AND OBJECTS: CYLINDRICAL PROBLEMS

Recently non-relativistic boundary conditions, based on the Lorentz force formulas, have been investigated. It was shown that to the first order in the relative velocity v/c the results for scattering problems are in agreement with the exact relativistic formalism. Examples for scattering by material objects moving in free space have been discussed. Presently the feasibility of non-relativistically solving scattering problems involving arbitrary material media is investigated. For concreteness, two representative canonical problems were chosen: scattering by a uniformly moving circular cylinder, and the related problem of a cylinder at rest, comprised of a uniformly moving medium in the cylindrical cross-sectional plane. The investigation demonstrates that solving such problems is feasible, and indicates the complexity involved in such an analysis. The main highlights are that we need to evaluate the phases and amplitudes of waves at the scatterer’s surface, employing formulas based on the Lorentz force formulas and the Fresnel drag concept. The explicit solutions for the scattering problem display velocity-dependent interaction of the scattering coefficients.
Associations Between Secret-Keeping and Quality of Life in Older Adults

This study examined the effects of secrecy on quality of life in a sample consisting of older adults (>50 years; N = 301). Three key components of secrecy were examined with the Tilburg Secrecy Scale-25 (TSS25; possession of a secret, self-concealment, and cognitive preoccupation). The TSS25 distinguishes between the tendency to conceal personal information (self-concealment) and the tendency to worry or ruminate about the secret (cognitive preoccupation), thereby enabling investigation of the effects of secrecy on quality of life in detail. Confirming previous findings in younger samples, we found a positive effect of possession of a secret on quality of life, after controlling for both TSS25’s self-concealment and cognitive preoccupation. This suggests that keeping secrets may have a positive association with quality of life in older adults as well, as long as they do not have the tendency to self-conceal and are not cognitively preoccupied with their secret.
Medication overuse headache following repeated morphine, but not [INCREMENT]9-tetrahydrocannabinol administration in the female rat

The potential of [INCREMENT]9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as a treatment for migraine depends on antinociceptive efficacy with repeated administration. Although morphine has good antinociceptive efficacy, repeated administration causes medication overuse headache (MOH) – a condition in which the intensity/frequency of migraine increases. The present study compared the effect of repeated morphine or THC administration on the magnitude and duration of migraine-like pain induced by a microinjection of allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) onto the dura mater of female rats. Acute administration of THC or morphine prevented AITC-induced depression of wheel running. This antinociception was maintained in rats treated repeatedly with THC, but not following repeated administration of morphine. Moreover, repeated morphine, but not THC administration, extended the duration of AITC-induced depression of wheel running. These data indicate that tolerance and MOH develop rapidly to morphine administration. The lack of tolerance and MOH to THC indicates that THC may be an especially effective long-term treatment against migraine.
Collaborative Networks for Person Verification

This paper considers the person verification problem in video surveillance systems. The goal is to verify whether or not a given pair of human body images belong to the same identity. For this purpose, we propose a method of collaborative networks which contains two kinds of novel agents. Specifically, one is implemented by an improved siamese network (iSN) and the other is employed as a deep discriminative network (DDN). The iSN explores the commonness and difference properties of pairwise feature vectors to enhance the robustness for person verification. Instead, the DDN learns to discriminate the difference of input images from the original difference space, without individual feature extraction. Both of the networks capture the correlation of the input and determine whether they are the same or not. Moreover, we introduce a collaborative learning strategy to fuse them into a unified architecture. Extensive experiments are conducted on four person verification datasets, including CUHK01, CUHK03, PRID2011 and QMUL GRID. We obtain competitive or superior performance compared to state-of-the-art methods.
Accumulation of Phosphorus by Filamentous Microorganisms

Many microorganisms accumulate phosphor as polyphosphates. This paper highlights the great im portance of filamentous microorganisms. So far the ability to store phosphorus in volutin granules by filamentous microorganisms has not been evaluated. The aim of this research was to prove the ability to store phosphorus in volutin granules as well as to show the meaning of potassium and magnesium ions in the phosphorus uptake by filamentous microorganisms that dominate the floating scum over the bioreactors liquid surface and monocultures of bacteria. Electron microscopy and energy dispersive X–ray analysis was used to assess the composition of polyphosphate granules in filamentous bacteria.
The ADAMs family of metalloproteases: multidomain proteins with multiple functions.

The ADAMs family of transmembrane proteins belongs to the zinc protease superfamily. Members of the family have a modular design, characterized by the presence of metalloprotease and integrin receptor-binding activities, and a cytoplasmic domain that in many family members specifies binding sites for various signal transducing proteins. The ADAMs family has been implicated in the control of membrane fusion, cytokine and growth factor shedding, and cell migration, as well as processes such as muscle development, fertilization, and cell fate determination. Pathologies such as inflammation and cancer also involve ADAMs family members. Excellent reviews covering various facets of the ADAMs literature-base have been published over the years and we recommend their examination (Black and White 1998; Schlondorff and Blobel 1999; Primakoff and Myles 2000; Evans 2001; Kheradmand and Werb 2002). In this review, we will first discuss the properties of each of the domains of the ADAMs. We will then go on to describe the involvement of ADAMs in selected biological processes. Then, we will highlight recent interesting findings suggesting roles for ADAMs in human disease. Finally, we look to the future and discuss some of the open issues in ADAMs function and regulation.
Economic burden of cancer in India: Evidence from cross-sectional nationally representative household survey, 2014

With the ongoing demographic and epidemiological transition, cancer is emerging as a major public health concern in India. This paper uses nationally representative household survey to examine the overall prevalence and economic burden of cancer in India. The age-standardized prevalence of cancer is estimated to be 97 per 100,000 persons with greater prevalence in urban areas. The evidence suggests that cancer prevalence is highest among the elderly and also among females in the reproductive age groups. Cancer displays a significant socioeconomic gradient even after adjusting for age-sex specifics and clustering in a multilevel regression framework. We find that out of pocket expenditure on cancer treatment is among the highest for any ailment. The average out of pocket spending on inpatient care in private facilities is about three-times that of public facilities. Furthermore, treatment for about 40 percent of cancer hospitalization cases is financed mainly through borrowings, sale of assets and contributions from friends and relatives. Also, over 60 percent of the households who seek care from the private sector incur out of pocket expenditure in excess of 20 percent of their annual per capita household expenditure. Given the catastrophic implications, this study calls for a disease-based approach towards financing such high-cost ailment. It is suggested that universal cancer care insurance should be envisaged and combined with existing accident and life insurance policies for the poorer sections in India. In concluding, we call for policies to improve cancer survivorship through effective prevention and early detection. In particular, greater public health investments in infrastructure, human resources and quality of care deserve priority attention.
Calling All Facebook Friends: Exploring Requests for Help on Facebook

Past research suggests Facebook use is linked to perceptions of social capital, a concept that taps into the resources people gain from interactions with their social network. In this study, we examine a sample of public Facebook status updates (N=20,000) for instances in which users request a response from their network. These attempts to mobilize resources offer insight into the mechanisms through which Facebook is used for social capital conversion. After identifying mobilization requests (N=856), we categorize them by cost (i.e., effort needed to satisfy the request) and type (e.g., opinion, information, social coordination) in order to describe the prevalence of these requests and the extent to which they require effort on the part of the potential responders. Finally, we examine characteristics of these users and the linguistic characteristics of status updates that contain mobilization requests.
Balance Training Reduces Brain Activity during Motor Simulation of a Challenging Balance Task in Older Adults: An fMRI Study

Aging is associated with a shift from an automatic to a more cortical postural control strategy, which goes along with deteriorations in postural stability. Although balance training has been shown to effectively counteract these behavioral deteriorations, little is known about the effect of balance training on brain activity during postural tasks in older adults. We, therefore, assessed postural stability and brain activity using fMRI during motor imagery alone (MI) and in combination with action observation (AO; i.e., AO+MI) of a challenging balance task in older adults before and after 5 weeks of balance training. Results showed a nonsignificant trend toward improvements in postural stability after balance training, accompanied by reductions in brain activity during AO+MI of the balance task in areas relevant for postural control, which have been shown to be over-activated in older adults during (simulation of) motor performance, including motor, premotor, and multisensory vestibular areas. This suggests that balance training may reverse the age-related cortical over-activations and lead to changes in the control of upright posture toward the one observed in young adults.
Detection of Leishmania RNA Virus in Leishmania Parasites

Background Patients suffering from cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by New World Leishmania (Viannia) species are at high risk of developing mucosal (ML) or disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL). After the formation of a primary skin lesion at the site of the bite by a Leishmania-infected sand fly, the infection can disseminate to form secondary lesions. This metastatic phenotype causes significant morbidity and is often associated with a hyper-inflammatory immune response leading to the destruction of nasopharyngeal tissues in ML, and appearance of nodules or numerous ulcerated skin lesions in DCL. Recently, we connected this aggressive phenotype to the presence of Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) in strains of L. guyanensis, showing that LRV is responsible for elevated parasitaemia, destructive hyper-inflammation and an overall exacerbation of the disease. Further studies of this relationship and the distribution of LRVs in other Leishmania strains and species would benefit from improved methods of viral detection and quantitation, especially ones not dependent on prior knowledge of the viral sequence as LRVs show significant evolutionary divergence. Methodology/Principal Findings This study reports various techniques, among which, the use of an anti-dsRNA monoclonal antibody (J2) stands out for its specific and quantitative recognition of dsRNA in a sequence-independent fashion. Applications of J2 include immunofluorescence, ELISA and dot blot: techniques complementing an arsenal of other detection tools, such as nucleic acid purification and quantitative real-time-PCR. We evaluate each method as well as demonstrate a successful LRV detection by the J2 antibody in several parasite strains, a freshly isolated patient sample and lesion biopsies of infected mice. Conclusions/Significance We propose that refinements of these methods could be transferred to the field for use as a diagnostic tool in detecting the presence of LRV, and potentially assessing the LRV-related risk of complications in cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Contact Angle Measurements: an Alternative Approach Towards Understanding the Mechanism of Increased Drug Dissolution from Ethylcellulose Tablets Containing Surfactant and Exploring the Relationship Between Their Contact Angles and Dissolution Behaviors

The addition of surfactant in tablet was a well-defined approach to improve drug dissolution rate. While the selected surfactant played a vital role in improving the wettability of tablet by medium, it was equally important to improve the dissolution rate by permeation effect due to production of pores or the reduced inter-particle adhesion. Furthermore, understanding the mechanism of dissolution rate increased was significant. In this work, contact angle measurement was taken up as an alternative approach for understanding the dissolution rate enhancement for tablet containing surfactant. Ethylcellulose, as a substrate, was used to prepare tablet. Four surfactants, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), and sodium lauryl sulfonate (SLS), were used. Berberine hydrochloride, metformin hydrochloride, and rutin were selected as model drugs. The contact angle of tablet in the absence and presence of surfactant was measured to explore the mechanism. The dissolution test was investigated to verify the mechanism and to establish a correlation with the contact angle. The result showed that the mechanism was the penetration effect rather than the wetting effect. The dissolution increased with a reduction in the contact angle. DTAB was found to obtain the highest level of dissolution enhancement and the lowest contact angle, while SDS, SDBS, and SLS were found to be the less effective in both dissolution enhancement and contact angle decrease. Therefore, contact angle was a good indicator for dissolution behavior besides exploring the mechanism of increased dissolution, which shows great potential in formula screening.
Survivin and VEGF as Novel Biomarkers in Diagnosis of Endometriosis

Summary Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of peripheral blood markers as additional diagnostic tools to transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) findings in the diagnosis of endometriosis. Methods: This study included 40 patients undergoing laparoscopy for suspected endometriosis from January to December 2012. Preoperative levels of serum CA125, CA19-9, CEA and mRNA expression levels for survivin and VEGF were obtained. Real-time PCR was used to determine relative gene expression. A new diagnostic score was obtained by deploying the peripheral blood markers to the TVU findings. Statistical methods used were Chi-square, Fisher’s, Student’s t-test or the Mann - Whitney test. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in serum CA125, survivin and VEGF levels in patients with endometriosis and those without endometriosis (p<0.001, p=0.025 and p=0.009, respectively). False negative TVU findings were noted in 3/13 patients (23.1%) with peritoneal endometriosis without ovaries involvement. High sensitivity (93.3%), specificity (90.0%), PPV (96.6%), NPV (81.8%) and accuracy (92.5%) were obtained for a diagnostic score based on TVU and significant peripheral blood markers (CA125, survivin and VEGF). Conclusions: Determination of serum CA125, mRNA expression levels for survivin and VEGF along with TVU can contribute to higher accuracy of the noninvasive diagnostic tools for endometriosis. Kratak sadržaj Uvod: Cilj ovog istraživanja je da se ispita značaj određivanja koncentracija serumskih biomarkera (CA125, CA19-9, CEA i ekspresije iRNK za survivin i VEGF) zajedno sa trans- vaginalnim ultrazvučnim pregledom (TVU) prilikom dijag- nostikovanja endometrioze. Metode: Ova studija obuhvata 40 pacijentkinja kojima je zbog sumnje|na postojanje endometrioze urađena dijagnostička laparoskopija sa patohistološkom analizom u jednogodišnjem periodu od januara 2012. do decembra 2013. Preoperativno su određivane koncentracije CA125, CA19- 9, CEA kao i nivoi ekspresije iRNK za survivin i VEGF. Real- time PCR je korišćen za određivanje relativne ekspresije gena. Određivanjem vrednosti serumskih biomarkera zajedno sa TVU dobijen je novi dijagnostički skor. Statističke metode koje su korišćene su Hi kvadratni test, Fishe- rov, Studentov t test ili Mann-Whitney test. Rezultati: Postoji statistički značajna razlika u serumskoj koncentraciji CA125, survivina i nivoa VEGF kod pacijentkinja sa endometriozom i onih bez endometrioze (p<0,001, p=0,025 i p=0,009). Lažno negativan nalaz TVU zabeležen je kod 3/13 pacijenata (23,1%) sa perito- nealnom endometriozom. Visoka osetljivost (93,3%), specifičnost (90,0%), PPV (96,6%), NPV (81,8%) i tačnost (92,5%) postižu se određivanjem koncentracija serumskih biomarkera (CA125, survivin i VEGF) i TVU. Zaključak: Određivanje serumskih koncentracija CA125, nivoa ekspresije iRNK za survivin i VEGF zajedno sa TVU od velikog je kliničkog značaja u neinvazivnoj dijagnostici endometrioze.