Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression of XBP1S Mediates High Glucose-Induced Oxidative Stress and Extracellular Matrix Synthesis in Renal Mesangial Cell and Kidney of Diabetic Rats

Recent evidences suggest that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress was involved in multi pathological conditions, including diabetic nephropathy (DN). X-box binding protein 1(XBP1), as a key mediator of ER stress, has been proved having the capability of preventing oxidative stress. In this study, we investigated the effects of spliced XBP1 (XBP1S), the dominant active form of XBP1, on high glucose (HG)-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis in cultured renal mesangial cells (MCs) and renal cortex of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Real time PCR and Western blot were used to evaluate the mRNA and protein levels respectively. Transfection of recombinant adenovirus vector carrying XBP1S gene (Ad-XBP1S) was used to upregulate XBP1S expression. XBP1S siRNA was used to knockdown XBP1S expression. ROS level was detected by dihydroethidium (DHE) fluorescent probe assay. The results showed that HG treatment significantly reduced XBP1S protein and mRNA level in the cultured MCs while no obvious change was observed in unspliced XBP1 (XBP1U). In the mean time, the ROS production, collagen IV and fibronectin expressions were increased. Diphenylene-chloride iodonium (DPI), a NADPH oxidase inhibtor, prevented HG-induced increases in ROS as well as collagen IV and fibronectin expressions. Transfection of Ad-XBP1S reversed HG-induced ROS production and ECM expressions. Knockdown intrinsic XBP1S expression induced increases in ROS production and ECM expressions. Supplementation of supreoxide reversed the inhibitory effect of Ad-XBP1S transfection on ECM synthesis. P47phox was increased in HG-treated MCs. Ad-XBP1S transfection reversed HG-induced p47phox increase while XBP1S knockdown upregulated p47phox expression. In the renal cortex of diabetic rats, the expression of XBP1S was reduced while p47phox, collagen IV and fibronectin expression were elevated. These results suggested that XBP1S pathway of ER stress was involved in HG-induced oxidative stress and ECM synthesis. A downstream target of XBP1S in regulating ROS formation might be NADPH oxidase.
An evaluation of a short term cognitive behavioural anger management intervention for key stage two pupils

The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of a short term, cognitive behavioural anger management intervention, for improving the emotional and behavioural outcomes of children aged 7-11. The study investigated whether locus of control acts as a mediating variable and whether age, gender, socio-economic status and family stress act as moderating variables for the intervention. Interviews were undertaken to explore factors which impact on the success of the intervention. In all, 70 Participants took part in a 6 week school based group run by trainee educational psychologists. An experimental versus wait-list control design was used. Questionnaires were delivered pre and post intervention and at a 3 month follow up. The questionnaires administered included: Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control, Adverse Life Events and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. A sub-sample of children, parents and facilitators participated in semi-structured interviews post intervention. Data from questionnaires and demographic information were analysed using multiple linear regression analyses. The intervention was shown to be effective post intervention, but only for those children in the wait-list control group. For the children in the wait-list control group the intervention was moderated by age, with younger children benefiting more from the intervention. No other variables investigated acted as mediating or moderating variables. The thematic analysis of the interviews identified a number of factors which impacted on the success of the intervention including, factors which supported the running of the group 3 and factors which made running the group more difficult. Findings point towards a number of practical implications for the delivery of therapeutic interventions in schools. The current study highlights the need for future research to explore school factors and group processes in addition to individual child and family factors which impact on the success of CST based group interventions.
Random Consensus Robust PCA

This paper presents r2pca , a random consensus method for robust principal component analysis. r2pca takes ransac ’s principle of using as little data as possible one step further. It iteratively selects small subsets of the data to identify pieces of the principal components, to then stitch them together. We show that if the principal components are in general position and the errors are suﬃ-ciently sparse, r2pca will exactly recover the principal components with probability 1, in lieu of assumptions on coherence or the distribution of the sparse errors, and even under adversarial settings. r2pca enjoys many advantages: it works well under noise, its computational complexity scales linearly in the ambient dimension, it is easily parallelizable, and due to its low sample complexity, it can be used in settings where data is so large it cannot even be stored in memory. We complement our theoretical ﬁndings with synthetic and real data experiments showing that r2pca outperforms state-of-the-art methods in a broad range of settings.
Federated Data Warehouse Approach to Support the National and International Interoperability of Healthcare Information Systems

The interoperability of medical information systems is gaining more attention as the need for the collaboration in healthcare domain increases. Consolidation of distributed patient data and building a sustainable e-health system is the major research challenge. In order to overcome institutional barriers and competences for changes across sectors, standardized data structures and corresponding underlying infrastructure are needed. A concisely defined information network for the exchange of sensitive patient’s data is a significant step towards enabling national and international cooperation. In this paper, we discuss the challenges and the advantages of the healthcare information integration into a federated data warehouse (DWH). We present technical and organizational aspects for creation of Austrian healthcare information network, and describe a scenario-based federation of Austrian health-insurance DWHs in compliance with the national governing framework for electronic exchange of patient-related data. This example will illustrate the benefits of standardized, identifiable and secure consolidation of the local DWHs and promote innovation in the public sector.
Education for Peace: Content, Form, and Structure: Mobolizing Youth for Civic Engagement

The inclusion of youth in peacebuilding initiatives brings vibrancy and creativity to peacebuilding efforts. Believing that youth offer creative energy and active potential for the transformation of violent conflict in the world -- and believing that education is a space for nurturing cultures of peace or cultures of war -- peace educators maintain that practitioners have a responsibility to dialogue with youth on knowledge, values, skills, and behaviors conducive to fostering global harmony and social justice. Peace is described as the absence of physical and structural violence, and the presence of justice; therefore, students should explore the root causes of conflict, know international humanitarian and human rights laws, envision alternative structures of security, and learn skills for managing micro/macro conflict without violence. Accordingly, the goal of this paper is to discuss peace education as education for humane purposes and social justice, where youth are involved in the transformation of society and the construction of peaceful futures. The paper is divided into 5 sections: 1) what is peace education, 2) education for peace: values and inquiry-based teaching and learning, 3) peace education frameworks: the content of peace education, 4) pedagogy for peace: involving youth in community, and 5) models of peace education: learning in community. The paper focuses on the social purposes (why), content (what), pedagogy (how), and structure (where) of teaching peaceful values, behaviors, and skills, as well as generating a commitment among youth toward social agency and democratic participation. The peace reflects a dynamic field. Harris (2004) divides peace education into 5 international environmental education, rights education, Curricula a of peace ‘negative’ ‘positive’
Featural and holistic processing in facial composite construction: the role of cognitive style and processing sets

When a serious crime has been committed, eyewitnesses may be required to assist a police investigation by constructing a facial composite of the perpetrator of the crime with the help of a police operator. A large body of research has investigated the utility of composite construction systems and the ways in which they are implemented with eyewitnesses. There has been less research conducted on individual differences which might have an impact on the accuracy of facial composites which eyewitnesses produce. The first aim of the research presented within this thesis was to investigate whether individual differences in stable cognitive style have an effect on the accuracy of the facial composites they produce. The second aim of the research was to investigate whether manipulating the temporary cognitive processing state of individuals during face encoding and prior to facial composite construction affects the accuracy of the facial composites they produce. These issues were investigated using two facial composite construction systems currently in widespread use by UK police forces, E-FIT and EFIT-V. Study One investigated, for the first time in the facial composite literature, individual differences in the cognitive style of field dependence/independence (Witkin, Oltman, Raskin & Karp, 1971). Results indicated that field independent individuals produced more accurate composites than field dependent individuals. Study Two investigated individual differences in holistic/analytic cognitive style (Riding & Cheema, 1991). Results indicated that individuals with a holistic cognitive style produced more accurate composites than individuals with an analytic cognitive style. Study Three manipulated the way in which faces were encoded by individuals, and introduced a Navon (1977) task into the composite construction process using E-FIT. Results showed that the Navon task had an effect on the accuracy of the facial composites that individuals produced which was mediated by the way in which the target face had been encoded. Study Four introduced a Navon task prior to composite construction using the EFIT-V system. In addition, the field dependence/independence cognitive style of the participants who created an EFIT-V was measured. Results showed that the Navon task had an effect on the accuracy of the EFIT-V composites that individuals produced, which was mediated both by the way in which the target face was encoded, and by the cognitive style of the individual. Overall, the findings indicated that there is a strong featural cognitive processing element to facial composite construction which is at odds with the way in which faces are processed and represented in memory. Collectively, the results indicate that featural cognitive processing prior to the composite construction process may lead to more accurate facial composites. In addition to this, if an individual does not have a natural featural processing cognitive style, then inducing a featural cognitive processing state may also lead to more accurate facial composites.
Familial clustering of suicide risk: a total population study of 11.4 million individuals

Background Research suggests that suicidal behaviour is aggregated in families. However, due to methodological limitations, including small sample sizes, the strength and pattern of this aggregation remains uncertain. Method We examined the familial clustering of completed suicide in a Swedish total population sample. We linked the Cause of Death and Multi-Generation Registers and compared suicide rates among relatives of all 83 951 suicide decedents from 1952–2003 with those among relatives of population controls. Results Patterns of familial aggregation of suicide among relatives to suicide decedents suggested genetic influences on suicide risk; the risk among full siblings (odds ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 2.8–3.5, 50% genetic similarity) was higher than that for maternal half-siblings (1.7, 1.1–2.7, 25% genetic similarity), despite similar environmental exposure. Further, monozygotic twins (100% genetic similarity) had a higher risk than dizygotic twins (50% genetic similarity) and cousins (12.5% genetic similarity) had higher suicide risk than controls. Shared (familial) environmental influences were also indicated; siblings to suicide decedents had a higher risk than offspring (both 50% genetically identical but siblings having a more shared environment, 3.1, 2.8–3.5 v. 2.0, 1.9–2.2), and maternal half-siblings had a higher risk than paternal half-siblings (both 50% genetically identical but the former with a more shared environment). Although comparisons of twins and half-siblings had overlapping confidence intervals, they were supported by sensitivity analyses, also including suicide attempts. Conclusions Familial clustering of suicide is primarily influenced by genetic and also shared environmental factors. The family history of suicide should be considered when assessing suicide risk in clinical settings or designing and administering preventive interventions.
The Three Models of Emotional Intelligence and Performance in a Hot and Cool go/no-go Task in Undergraduate Students

Emotional intelligence (EI), or the ability to perceive, use, understand and regulate emotions, appears to be helpful in the performance of “hot” (i.e., emotionally laden) cognitive tasks when using performance-based ability models, but not when using self-report EI models. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between EI (as measured through a performance-based ability test, a self-report mixed test and a self-report ability test) and cognitive control ability during the performance of hot and “cool” (i.e., non-emotionally laden) “go/no-go” tasks. An experimental design was used for this study in which 187 undergraduate students (25% men) with a mean age of 21.93 years (standard deviation [SD] = 3.8) completed the three EI tests of interest (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test [MSCEIT], Trait Meta-Mood Scale [TMMS] and Emotional Quotient Inventory–Short Form [EQi:S]) as well as go/no-go tasks using faces and geometric figures as stimuli. The results provide evidence for negative associations between the “managing” branch of EI measured through the performance-based ability test of EI and the cognitive control index of the hot go/no-go task, although similar evidence was not found when using the cool task. Further, the present study failed to observe consistent results when using the self-report EI instruments. These findings are discussed in terms of both the validity and implications of the various EI models.
Coordination vs . Di ¤ erentiation in a Standards War : 56 K Modems

56K modems were introduced under two competing incompatible standards. We show the importance of competition between Internet Service Providers in the adoption process. We show that ISPs were less likely to adopt the technology that more competitors adopted. This result is particularly striking given that industry participants expected coordination on one standard or the other. We speculate about the role of ISP di¤erentiation in preventing the market from achieving standardization until a standard setting organization intervened. JEL: L15, L63, L86
The Dynamics of Decision Making in Risky Choice: An Eye-Tracking Analysis

In the last years, research on risky choice has moved beyond analyzing choices only. Models have been suggested that aim to describe the underlying cognitive processes and some studies have tested process predictions of these models. Prominent approaches are evidence accumulation models such as decision field theory (DFT), simple serial heuristic models such as the adaptive toolbox, and connectionist approaches such as the parallel constraint satisfaction (PCS) model. In two studies involving measures of attention and pupil dilation, we investigate hypotheses derived from these models in choices between two gambles with two outcomes each. We show that attention to an outcome of a gamble increases with its probability and its value and that attention shifts toward the subsequently favored gamble after about two thirds of the decision process, indicating a gaze-cascade effect. Information search occurs mostly within-gambles, and the direction of search does not change over the course of decision making. Pupil dilation, which reflects both cognitive effort and arousal, increases during the decision process and increases with mean expected value. Overall, the results support aspects of automatic integration models for risky choice such as DFT and PCS, but in their current specification none of them can account for the full pattern of results.
Hope, social support, intelligence, and academic performance of first year students at a higher education institution

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between hope, social support, intelligence and academic performance at a higher education institution. A cross-sectional survey design with an availability sample (N = 308) was utilised. The Hope Scale (HS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), The Abstract Reasoning Test (ART) and a biographical questionnaire were administered to participants. Results demonstrated that positive, statistically and practically significant correlations were established between fluid intelligence and grade point average. Fluid intelligence was found to be a statistically significant predictor of grade point average, however neither hope nor social support predicted grade point average in this sample. Moderating effects of hope and social support on the relationship between fluid intelligence and grade point average was tested and found no statistically significant moderating effects, based on the characteristics of the research sample, a hypothesis was generated for the aforementioned findings.
The Gender of Face Stimuli is Represented in Multiple Regions in the Human Brain

Face perception in humans is mediated by activation in a network of brain areas. Conventional univariate fMRI data analysis has not localized differential responses to viewing male as compared with viewing female faces within this network. We tested whether we could detect neural response patterns specific to viewing male vs. female faces in 40 participants. Replicating earlier work, face stimuli evoked activation in the core (inferior occipital gyrus, IOG; fusiform gyrus, FG; and superior temporal sulcus, STS), as well as extended (amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus, IFG; insula, INS; and orbitofrontal cortex, OFC) regions of the face network. Multivariate pattern classification of activity within these regions revealed successful decoding of gender information, significantly above chance, in the IOG, FG, STS, IFG, INS, and OFC, but not in the amygdala. Multiple control regions indicated that this result might be restricted to face-responsive regions. Our findings suggest that gender information is distributed across the face network and is represented in the core regions that process invariant facial features, as well as the extended regions that process changeable aspects of faces.
Effective Approaches for Partial Satisfaction (Over-Subscription) Planning

In many real world planning scenarios, agents often do not have enough resources to achieve all of their goals. Consequently, they are forced to find plans that satisfy only a subset of the goals. Solving such partial satisfaction planning (PSP) problems poses several challenges, including an increased emphasis on modeling and handling plan quality (in terms of action costs and goal utilities). Despite the ubiquity of such PSP problems, very little attention has been paid to them in the planning community. In this paper, we start by describing a spectrum of PSP problems and focus on one of the more general PSP problems, termed PSP NET BENEFIT. We develop three techniques, (i) one based on integer programming, called OptiPlan, (ii) the second based on regression planning with reachability heuristics, called AltAltps, and (iii) the third based on anytime heuristic search for a forward state-space heuristic planner, called Sapaps. Our empirical studies with these planners show that the heuristic planners generate plans that are comparable to the quality of plans generated by OptiPlan, while incurring only a small fraction of the cost.
Impact of Introducing the Line Probe Assay on Time to Treatment Initiation of MDR-TB in Delhi, India

Setting National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases (erstwhile Lala Ram Sarup Institute) in Delhi, India. Objectives To evaluate before and after the introduction of the line Probe Assay (LPA) a) the overall time to MDR-TB diagnosis and treatment initiation; b) the step-by-step time lapse at each stage of patient management; and c) the lost to follow-up rates. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was done using data on MDR-TB patients diagnosed during 2009–2012 under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme at the institute. Results Following the introduction of the LPA in 2011, the overall median time from identification of patients suspected for MDR-TB to the initiation of treatment was reduced from 157 days (IQR 127–200) to 38 days (IQR 30–79). This reduction was attributed mainly to a lower diagnosis time at the laboratory. Lost to follow-up rates were also significantly reduced after introduction of the LPA (12% versus 39% pre-PLA). Conclusion Introduction of the LPA was associated with a major reduction in the delay between identification of patients suspected for MDR-TB and initiation of treatment, attributed mainly to a reduction in diagnostic time in the laboratory.
Anthelmintic Activity In Vivo of Epiisopiloturine against Juvenile and Adult Worms of Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomiasis is a serious disease currently estimated to affect more that 207 million people worldwide. Due to the intensive use of praziquantel, there is increasing concern about the development of drug-resistant strains. Therefore, it is necessary to search for and investigate new potential schistosomicidal compounds. This work reports the in vivo effect of the alkaloid epiisopiloturine (EPI) against adults and juvenile worms of Schistosoma mansoni. EPI was first purified its thermal behavior and theoretical solubility parameters charaterised. In the experiment, mice were treated with EPI over the 21 days post-infection with the doses of 40 and 200 mg/kg, and 45 days post-infection with single doses of 40, 100 and 300 mg/kg. The treatment with EPI at 40 mg/kg was more effective in adult worms when compared with doses of 100 and 300 mg/kg. The treatment with 40 mg/kg in adult worms reduced parasite burden significantly, lead to reduction in hepatosplenomegaly, reduced the egg burden in faeces, and decreased granuloma diameter. Scanning electron microscopy revealed morphological changes to the parasite tegument after treatment, including the loss of important features. Additionally, the in vivo treatment against juvenile with 40 mg/kg showed a reduction of the total worm burden of 50.2%. Histopathological studies were performed on liver, spleen, lung, kidney and brain and EPI was shown to have a DL50 of 8000 mg/kg. Therefore EPI shows potential to be used in schistosomiasis treatment. This is the first time that schistosomicidal in vivo activity of EPI has been reported.