Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction of fat and fat-free mass in male athletes using dual X-ray absorptiometry as the reference method

The ability of bioelectrical impedance analysis and anthropometry to predict fat mass and fat-free mass was compared in a sample of 82 male athletes from a wide variety of sports, using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as the reference method. The percent fat measured by DXA was 10.9 - 4.9% (mean - s ), and fat mass was predicted with a standard error of the estimate of 1.7 kg for skinfolds and 2.8 kg for bioelectrical impedance analysis (P≪0.001). Fat-free mass was predicted with a standard error of the estimate of 1.7 kg for anthropometry and 2.6 kg for bioelectrical impedance analysis (P≪0.001). Regression of various individual skinfolds and summed skinfolds, to examine the eff ect of skinfold selection combinations by stepwise regression, produced an optimal fat mass prediction using the thigh and abdominal skinfold sites, and an optimal fat-free mass prediction using the thigh, abdominal and supra-ilium sites. These results suggest that anthropometry off ers a better way of assessing body composition in athletes than bioelectrical impedance analysis. Applying the derived equations to a separate sample of 24 athletes predicted fat and fat-free mass with a total error of 2.3 kg (2.9%) and 2.2 kg (2.7%), respectively. Combining the samples introduced more heterogeneity into the sample (n=106), and the optimal prediction of fat mass used six skinfolds in producing a similar standard error of the estimate (1.7 kg), although this explained a further 4% of the variation in DXA-derived fat. Fat-free mass was predicted best from four skinfolds, although the standard error of the estimate and coefficient of determination were unchanged.
Timing Performance as a Predictor of Psychometric Intelligence as Measured by Speed and Power Tests

In the present study, the relationship between timing performance and psychometric intelligence as measured by a speed and a power test of intelligence was examined. For this purpose performance on the Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test (ZVT), the Wiener Matrizen-Test (WMT), seven psychophysical temporal tasks, and the Hick reaction-time paradigm was obtained in 190 participants. Correlational and principal component analyses suggested a unitary timing mechanism referred to as temporal g. Performance on single temporal tasks and individual factor scores on temporal g were substantially related to both speed and power measures of psychometric intelligence. Temporal g exhibited higher sensitivity to the prediction of performance on the power test than on the speed test. Furthermore, stepwise multiple regression analysis and commonality analysis revealed that timing performance provides a more powerful predictor of psychometric intelligence than traditional reaction-time measures derived from the Hick paradigm. These f.
HOW ENGLISH STUDENT TEACHERS DEAL WITH TEACHING DIFFICULTIES IN THEIR TEACHING PRACTICUM

Abstract: In the process of becoming professional, every single teacher will normally go through a series of experiences that are cognitively, physically, and emotionally challenging. One of the first steps they have to go through is a form of first teaching experience with real students and real school environment like what many student teachers are required to face in their teaching practicum. This paper explores kinds of teaching difficulties and efforts carried out to overcome them by English student teachers in the context of teaching practicum conducted in 14 different secondary schools in Bandung, Indonesia. Qualitative case study is applied as the research design, with interviews as the main instrument in collecting the data. This study involves the participation of students enrolled in an EFL Methodology class in collecting the data as a part of their course assignment. The results of data analysis reveal that there are a variety of problems that can be mainly categorised into three types, namely problems related to students, to the supervising teachers, and to the student teachers themselves. Several efforts carried out are also identified and some suggestions are also highlighted at the end of the paper.
Mothers as Mediators of Intimacy Between Grandmothers and Their Young Adult Granddaughters.

Do mothers mediate intimacy between grandmothers and their young adult granddaughters or is the grandmother-granddaughter relationship direct? It was predicted that the relationship is mediated by the middle generation when contact is low between grandmother and granddaughter, but, when contact is high, the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter is direct and bypasses the middle generation. Using a sample of 126 triads (undergraduate women, their mothers, and maternal grandmothers), the prediction was supported when considering granddaughters'perceptions of intimacy. When considering grandmothers' perceptions of intimacy, however, the oldest generation failed to differentiate at all between their feelings for their daughter and their feelings for their granddaughter. In view of this global "family feeling, " the issue of mediation for grandmothers is irrelevant. It would appear that a different model is needed to predict grandmothers' feelings for their granddaughters than to predict granddaughters' feelings for their grandmothers.
Proteomic identification of nitrated brain proteins in traumatic brain‐injured rats treated postinjury with gamma‐glutamylcysteine ethyl ester: Insights into the role of elevation of glutathione as a potential therapeutic strategy for traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs suddenly and has damaging effects to the brain that are dependent on the severity of insult. Symptoms can be mild, moderate, or severe. Oxidative damage is associated with traumatic brain injury through reactive oxygen/nitrogen species production. One such species, peroxynitrite, is elevated in TBI brain tissue (Orihara et al. [ 2001 ] Forensic Sci. Int. 123:142–149; Deng et al. [ 2007 ] Exp. Neurol. 205:154–165). Peroxynitrite can react with carbon dioxide and decompose to produce NO2 and carbonate radicals, which in turn can lead to 3‐nitrotyrosine, an index of protein nitration. Gamma‐glutamylcysteine ethyl ester (GCEE) is an ethyl ester moiety of gamma‐glutamylcysteine, an agent that up‐regulates glutathione (GSH) production in brain (Drake et al. [ 2002 ] J. Neurosci. Res. 68:776–784). Many preclinical studies of TBI have employed pretreatment of animals with proposed beneficial agents prior to the injury itself. However, in the real world of TBI, treatment begins postinjury. Hence, insights into agents that improve outcome following injury are desperately needed. This study is one of the first to investigate a potential GSH‐based therapy for TBI postinjury. Protein carbonyls, an index of protein oxidation, were significantly elevated in brain of animals subjected to TBI. However, if, after TBI, GCEE was administered i.p., protein carbonyl levels were significantly reduced. Similarly, 3‐nitrotyrosine levels were elevated in brain following TBI but significantly decreased following TBI if GCEE was administered i.p. Redox proteomics analysis showed that several brain proteins were nitrated after TBI. However, if GCEE was given i.p. following TBI, many of these proteins were protected from nitration. The results are encouraging and are discussed with reference to potential therapeutic strategies for TBI involving elevated GSH. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Superior discrimination of speech pitch and its relationship to verbal ability in autism spectrum disorders

Whilst hypersensitivity to pitch information appears to be characteristic of many individuals with autism spectrum disorders little is known about the implications of such a tendency for language acquisition and development. Discrimination of systematically varied pitch differences between pairs of words, nonwords, and nonspeech pitch contour analogues was assessed in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and matched controls. The findings revealed superior performance in ASD, although, like controls, discrimination of pitch in speech stimuli was poorer in this group than for nonspeech stimuli. Whilst it was hypothesized that enhanced processing of speech pitch would correlate negatively with receptive language skills in ASD, the findings did not fully support this, and enhanced discrimination skills were observed in individuals without significant language impairment. The implications of these findings for understanding heterogeneity of language ability in ASD are discussed.
Regulatory networks of cadmium stress in plants

During their life, plants have to cope with a variety of abiotic stresses. Cadmium is highly toxic to plants, water soluble and therefore promptly adsorbed in tissues and its presence greatly influences the entire plant metabolism. In this review, we focus on the signal pathways responsible for the sensing and transduction of the “metal signal” inside the cell, ultimately driving the activation of transcription factors and consequent expression of genes that enable plants to counteract the heavy metal stress.
Plant Pathology and Information Technology: Opportunity for Management of Disease Outbreak and Applications in Regulation Frameworks

In many European rural areas, agriculture is not only an economic activity, but it is strictly linked to environmental and social characteristics of the area. Thus, sometimes, a pathogen can become a social threat, as in the case of Xylella fastidiosa and olive trees ( Olea europaea L.) in Salento. Fast and systemic response to threats represents the key to success in stopping pest invasions, and proves a great help in managing lots of data in a short time or coordinating large-scale monitoring coming from applying Information Technology tools. Regarding the field of applications, the advantages provided by new technologies are countless. However, is it the same in agriculture? Electronic identification tools can be applied for plant health management and certification. Treatments, agrochemical management or impact assessment may also be supported by dematerialization of data. Information Technology solution for urban forestry management or traceability of commodities belonging to “Food from Somewhere” regimes were analyzed and compared to protection from pests of a unique tree heritage such as olive trees in Salento.
A computational theory of spike-timing dependent plasticity: achieving robust neural responses via conditional entropy minimization.

textabstractExperimental studies have observed synaptic potentiation when a presynaptic neuron fires shortly before a postsynaptic neuron, and synaptic depression when the presynaptic neuron fires shortly after. The dependence of synaptic modulation on the precise timing of the two action potentials is known as spike-timing dependent plasticity or STDP. We derive STDP from a simple computational principle: synapses adapt so as to minimize the postsynaptic neuron's variability to a given presynaptic input, causing the neuron's output to become more reliable in the face of noise. Using an entropy-minimization objective function and the biophysically realistic spike-response model of Gerstner (2001), we simulate neurophysiological experiments and obtain the characteristic STDP curve along with other phenomena including the reduction in synaptic plasticity as synaptic efficacy increases. We compare our account to other efforts to derive STDP from computational principles, and argue that our account provides the most comprehensive coverage of the phenomena. Thus, reliability of neural response in the face of noise may be a key goal of unsupervised cortical adaptation
Inhibition of Histone Deacetylase 3 Produces Mitotic Defects Independent of Alterations in Histone H3 Lysine 9 Acetylation and Methylation

The constitutive heterochromatin of the centromere is marked by high levels of trimethylated histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) and binding of the heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1), which are believed to also have an important role in mitosis. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) are a class of anticancer agents that affect many cellular processes, including mitosis. Here we examine the mechanism by which these drugs disrupt mitosis. We have used Drosophila melanogaster embryos to demonstrate that treatment with the HDACi 100 μg/ml suberic bishydroxamic acid (IC50 12 μg/ml), conditions that induce extensive H3K9 acetylation and aberrant mitosis in mammalian cells, induced aberrant mitosis in the absence of de novo transcription. We have examined the effect of the same treatment on the levels of H3K9 modification and HP1 binding in human cancer cells and found only minor effects on H3K9 methylation and HP1 binding. Complete loss of trimethylated H3K9 or depletion of HP1α and β had no effect on mitosis, although specific depletion of histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) replicates the mitotic defects induced by the drugs without increasing H3K9 acetylation. These data demonstrate that H3K9 methylation and HP1 binding are not the targets responsible for HDACi-induced aberrant mitosis, but it is a consequence of selective inhibition of HDAC3.
Assessment of Rational Approximations for Square Root Operator in Bidirectional Beam Propagation Method

Accurate rational approximations to the square root operators are crucial for the bidirectional beam propagation method in simulation of strongly reflective structures. An assessment and comparison of various commonly used rational approximations is performed for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) waves. The range of validity and level of accuracy for the different approximations are studied by investigating the structures with varying reflection intensities. Guidelines for accurately modeling of evanescent and propagating modes are provided.
Comprehensive MRI simulation methodology using a dedicated MRI scanner in radiation oncology for external beam radiation treatment planning.

PURPOSE The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in radiation oncology is expanding rapidly, and more clinics are integrating MRI into their radiation therapy workflows. However, radiation therapy presents a new set of challenges and places additional constraints on MRI compared to diagnostic radiology that, if not properly addressed, can undermine the advantages MRI offers for radiation treatment planning (RTP). The authors introduce here strategies to manage several challenges of using MRI for virtual simulation in external beam RTP. METHODS A total of 810 clinical MRI simulation exams were performed using a dedicated MRI scanner for external beam RTP of brain, breast, cervix, head and neck, liver, pancreas, prostate, and sarcoma cancers. Patients were imaged in treatment position using MRI-optimal immobilization devices. Radiofrequency (RF) coil configurations and scan protocols were optimized based on RTP constraints. Off-resonance and gradient nonlinearity-induced geometric distortions were minimized or corrected prior to using images for RTP. A multidisciplinary MRI simulation guide, along with window width and level presets, was created to standardize use of MR images during RTP. A quality assurance program was implemented to maintain accuracy and repeatability of MRI simulation exams. RESULTS The combination of a large bore scanner, high field strength, and circumferentially wrapped, flexible phased array RF receive coils permitted acquisition of thin slice images with high contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and image intensity uniformity, while simultaneously accommodating patient setup and immobilization devices. Postprocessing corrections and alternative acquisition methods were required to reduce or correct off-resonance and gradient nonlinearity induced geometric distortions. CONCLUSIONS The methodology described herein contains practical strategies the authors have implemented through lessons learned performing clinical MRI simulation exams. In their experience, these strategies provide robust, high fidelity, high contrast MR images suitable for external beam RTP.
Transposon mutagenesis as an approach to improved understanding of Borrelia pathogenesis and biology

Transposon insertion provides a method for near-random mutation of bacterial genomes, and has been utilized extensively for the study of bacterial pathogenesis and biology. This approach is particularly useful for organisms that are relatively refractory to genetic manipulation, including Lyme disease Borrelia. In this review, progress to date in the application of transposon mutagenesis to the study of Borrelia burgdorferi is reported. An effective Himar1-based transposon vector has been developed and used to acquire a sequence-defined library of nearly 4500 mutants in the infectious, moderately transformable B. burgdorferi B31 derivative 5A18NP1. Analysis of these transposon mutants using signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) and Tn-seq approaches has begun to yield valuable information regarding the genes important in the pathogenesis and biology of this organism.
Psychological and existential vulnerability among clinical young women: a quantitative comparison of depression-related subgroups

The objective was to explore psychological and existential vulnerability among clinical young women in Sweden. Females (n = 53) with depression as the most common preliminary diagnosis were investigated through an online questionnaire. Included measures were Karolinska Scales of Personality, Self-concept, Strategies to Handle Negative Emotions, Sense of Coherence, and questions pertaining to existential meaning-making, including religious/spiritual belief. The sample was divided into High (n = 35) and Low/Inter (n = 18) groups according to scores on the anxiety- and depression-related personality scale Inhibition of aggression. Using independent samples t-test, the High group showed signs of significantly higher psychological and existential vulnerability than the Low/Inter group. Salutogenic factors being (1) coming from socially and societally engaged families and (2) being in a functional existential meaning-making process. The conclusion is that vulnerabilities in the psychological and existential domains are linked, especially in individuals high on depression-like aspects of personality. However, no significant differences for religion/spirituality were found. Treatment implications were addressed.
p44/p42-MAP kinase expression in papillary thyroid carcinomas.

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase contributes to the growth and tumorigenesis of human epithelial cancers. Furthermore, blockade of this pathway may inhibit the growth of epithelial cancers. To determine whether MAP kinase is activated in human papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), we analyzed the presence of native MAP kinase (MAPK) and activated phosphorylated MAP kinase (pMAPK) in papillary thyroid cancers and thyroid carcinoma cell lines. METHODS Protein from paired specimens of 10 patients with PTC was analyzed by immunoblot for MAPK and pMAPK. In addition, MAPK protein expression and cell growth were analyzed in 3 thyroid tumor cell lines treated with a mitogen extracellular kinase inhibitor, U0126. RESULTS All 10 PTCs had equal expression of MAPK in the tumors and adjacent normal tissue. Six of the 10 tumors demonstrated increased expression of the pMAPK in the tumor specimen compared to the adjacent normal tissue. Interestingly, 3 of 4 patients without differential expression had multifocal PTC. The pMAPK was expressed constitutively in 3 thyroid cancer cell lines. The MAPK inhibitor treatment decreased pMAPK expression and decreased serum-induced growth in all 3 cell lines. CONCLUSIONS MAP kinase activation is common in PTCs and may offer a potential target for growth inhibition of PTCs.
The adaptation of metaphors across genres

In this paper I consider the ways in which a metaphor that was first introduced in an article on pain mechanisms published in Science has been adapted and developed in a selection of texts that can be broadly described as ‘educational’: a neuroscience website aimed at children, a self-help guide for chronic pain sufferers, and a book aimed at medical professionals. In the course of the discussion I point out both the advantages and potential disadvantages of these developments. As such, this paper aims to make a contribution to a growing body of research on metaphor in actual contexts of use, and particularly on variation in the use of metaphor across genres that are aimed at different audiences.
Changes in evaluating teaching in higher education

We evaluate teaching in higher education more today than ever before. In the last 30 years teaching evaluation has evolved from its primary reliance on a chair's informal assessment to a formal, comprehensive, and systematic approach. Colleges and universities are using evaluation systems that incorporate data collected from multiple sources using multiple methods to satisfy multiple institutional purposes. Additionally, the growing history of teaching evaluation research has greatly improved the quality of the instruments and methods used to collect evaluative information.
Regional Examination of the Musculoskeletal System (REMS): a core set of clinical skills for medical students.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine an agreed set of core regional musculoskeletal examination skills for medical students to learn. METHODS Initially focus groups were undertaken amongst Rheumatologists, Orthopaedic Surgeons, Geriatricians and General Practitioners. These findings were used to inform the production of a questionnaire survey. The findings from both the questionnaire survey and focus groups were assessed using a group nominative technique with national representation from each of the four specialties involved. RESULTS This process has led to the identification of 50 items, considered to be core regional musculoskeletal examination skills for medical students. CONCLUSIONS This core set of musculoskeletal clinical skills may now be used to inform the production of teaching materials aimed at medical students.
Using Crossword Puzzles as an Aid to Studying Sociological Concepts.

L'A. presente son experience pedagogique en ce qui concerne l'initiation aux concepts et a la terminologie sociologique. Il montre comment les connaissances des etudiants en ce domaine sont evaluees par le biais d'un questionnaire en fin de semestre. Il souligne le fait que les etudiants trouvent la terminologie de la discipline abstraite au debut de leur formation. Il considere que la tâche pedagogique de l'enseignant consiste a leur faire prendre conscience que ces concepts leur permettent d'apprehender la realite. Il met en relief l'utilite pedagogique de mots croises pour se familiariser avec les concepts sociologiques. Ceci permet d'ameliorer l'association et l'identification des concepts
The development of verbal memory in childhood and adolescence: Findings from the Munich Longitudinal Study.

The authors assessed developmental changes in verbal memory from the beginning of elementary school to late adolescence on the basis of data from the Munich Longitudinal Study. Major issues concern the stability of individual differences in strategy use as well as interrelationships among different components of verbal memory and the impact of educational context on verbal memory development. Long-term stability of strategic memory was low to moderate in late childhood and adolescence. Interrelations among the verbal memory components were also moderate and did not change much over time. Unexpectedly, no impact of educational context was found. Overall, individual differences in verbal memory performance develop very early in life and are relatively unaffected by differences in educational experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)