Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health benefits of probiotics

This paper reviews the evidence for the claims of health benefits derived from the use of probiotics. A brief history of probiotics and the types of probiotics currently used and the criteria for the selection of probiotics is discussed. The ability of probiotics to enhance the nutritional content and bioavailability of nutrients and the scientific evidence for the usefulness of probiotics in alleviating the symptoms of lactose intolerance and in enhancing growth development is examined. The remainder of the review focuses on studies of a specific probiotic, Lactobacillus GG which has been extensively investigated for its health benefits in humans and animals. These studies serve as a model for the potential benefits of probiotics. The ability of Lactobacillus GG to treat or prevent diarrhoeal disease, to serve as an adjuvant for vaccines, to prevent rotavirus-induced diarrhoea, to prevent milk-based allergic reactions, alcohol-induced liver disease and colon cancer are presented. The review concludes with a discussion of the data supporting the safety of probiotics.
Effects of insulin and exercise on muscle lipoprotein lipase activity in man and its relation to insulin action.

The effects of exercise and a physiological increase in plasma insulin concentration on muscle lipoprotein lipase activity (mLPLA), leg exchange of glucose, and serum lipoprotein levels were investigated in healthy young men. During euglycemic hyperinsulinemia (n = 7) at 44 mU.liter-1, m-LPLA in non-exercised muscle decreased from 30 +/- 7.4 mU.g-1 wet weight (w.w.) (mean +/- SE) to 19 +/- 3.3 (P less than 0.05). Furthermore, the decrease in m-LPLA correlated closely (r = 0.97, P less than 0.05) with the increase in leg glucose uptake. Moreover, basal m-LPLA correlated with the insulin-induced increase in leg glucose uptake (r = 0.93, P less than 0.05). In the control group (n = 6) in which saline was infused in place of insulin and glucose, m-LPLA in nonexercised muscle did not change with time. No change in m-LPLA was observed immediately after one-legged knee extension exercise, but 4 h after exercise m-LPLA was higher (P less than 0.05) in the exercised thigh (47 +/- 17.8 mU.g-1 w.w.) compared with the contralateral nonexercised thigh (29 +/- 6.3 mU.g-1 w.w.). This difference was not found 8 h after exercise. The triacylglycerol content of serum lipoproteins decreased during insulin infusion. It is concluded that in contrast to the effect on adipose tissue, physiological concentrations of insulin decrease m-LPLA in proportion to the effect of insulin on muscle glucose uptake, while muscle contractions cause a local, delayed, and transient increase in m-LPLA. Further-more, basal m-LPLA is an indicator of muscle insulin sensitivity.
Treatment of various movement disorders with botulinum A toxin injection: an experience of 900 patients.

A prospective open study of botulinum toxin A treatment for patients with various movement disorders at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University was analysed to evaluate its efficacy. The grand total of 900 patients comprised of a) 592 patients (65.78 per cent) with hemifacial spasm; b) 92 patients (10.22 per cent) with occupational cramp; c) 79 patients (8.78 per cent) with blepharospasm and Meige syndrome; d) 72 patients (8.00 per cent) with spasmodic torticollis; e) 19 patients (2.11 per cent) with hemidystonia and generalised dystonia; f) 11 patients (1.22 per cent) with spasmodic dysphonia; g) 10 patients (1.11 per cent) with spastic hemiparesis; and h) 25 patients (2.78 per cent) with miscellaneous group (i.e. tics, Gilles de la Tourette, facial myokimia, benign fasciculation, etc.). The results of treatment for hemifacial spasm were classified as excellent in 486 patients (82.09 per cent), moderate improvement in 60 patients (10.14 per cent), mild improvement in 39 patients (6.59 per cent) and no improvement or worse in 7 patients (1.18 per cent). There were complications of mild transient facial weakness in 50 patients (8.45 per cent) and mild ptosis in 12 patients (2.02 per cent). The effect of botulinum toxin treatment lasted 3-6 months. In occupational cramp and spasmodic torticollis the good response rate was around two-thirds of all patients, whereas, blephalospasm, spasmodic dysphonia, spastic hemiparesis and tics responsed in 79-88 per cent of the patients. Botulinum toxin A injection is thus a simple, safe, and effective out-patient treatment for patients with various kinds of movement disorders but it is a costly therapy.
Gravitationally lensed galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5: direct abundance measurements of Ly α emitters

Strong gravitational lensing magnifies the flux from distant galaxies, allowing us to detect emission lines that would otherwise fall below the detection threshold for medium-resolution spectroscopy. Here we present the detection of temperature-sensitive oxygen emission lines from three galaxies at 2 � z � 3.5, which enables us to directly determine the oxygen abundances and thereby double the number of galaxies at z > 2 for which this has been possible. The three galaxies have �10% solar oxygen abundances in agreement with strong emission line diagnostics. Carbon and nitrogen ratios relative to ox ygen are sub-solar as expected for ) — —
IGF1R Protein Expression Is Not Associated with Differential Benefit to Concurrent Trastuzumab in Early-Stage HER2+ Breast Cancer from the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (Alliance) Adjuvant Trastuzumab Trial N9831

Background: Preclinical evidence indicates that increased insulin-like growth factor receptor-1 (IGF1R) signaling interferes with the action of trastuzumab suggesting a possible mechanism of trastuzumab resistance. Thus, we evaluated IGF1R prevalence, relationship with demographic data, and association with disease-free survival (DFS) of patients randomized to chemotherapy alone (Arm A) or chemotherapy with sequential (Arm B) or concurrent trastuzumab (Arm C) in the prospective phase III HER2+ adjuvant N9831 trial. Experimental Design: IGF1R protein expression was determined in tissue microarray sections (three cores per block; N = 1,197) or in whole tissue sections (WS; N = 537) using IHC (rabbit polyclonal antibody against IGF1R β-subunit). A tumor was considered positive (IGF1R+) if any core or WS had ≥1+ membrane staining in >0% invasive cells. Median follow-up was 8.5 years. Results: Of 1,734 patients, 708 (41%) had IGF1R+ breast tumors. IGF1R+ was associated with younger age (median 48 vs. 51, P = 0.007), estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor positivity (78% vs. 35%, P < 0.001), nodal positivity (89% vs. 83%, P < 0.001), well/intermediate grade (34% vs. 24%, P < 0.001), tumors ≥2 cm (72% vs. 67%, P = 0.02) but not associated with race or tumor histology. IGF1R did not affect DFS within arms. Between Arms A and C, patients with IGF1R+ and IGF1R− tumors had DFS HRs of 0.48 (P ≤ 0.001) and 0.68 (P = 0.009), respectively (Pinteraction = 0.17). Between Arms A and B, patients with IGF1R+ and IGF1R− tumors had DFS HRs of 0.83 (P = 0.25) and 0.69 (P = 0.01), respectively (Pinteraction = 0.42). Conclusions: In contrast to preclinical studies that suggest a decrease in trastuzumab sensitivity in IGF1R+ tumors, our adjuvant data show benefit of adding trastuzumab for patients with either IGF1R+ and IGF1R− breast tumors. Clin Cancer Res; 23(15); 4203–11. ©2016 AACR.
Strategy Fading and Progress Feedback

This experiment investigated the effects of strategy verbalization with fading and strategy value feedback on children's achievement outcomes. Children with reading-skill deficiencies received instruction on locating main ideas. Children were taught and verbalized a strategy; some faded the verbalizations to inner speech. Half of the children in the fading and no-fading conditions periodically received feedback that linked strategy use with improved performance. The no-fading/nofeedback condition scored significantly lower than the other three conditions on posttest self-efficacy, comprehension skill, and self-reported strategy use. Fading plus feedback led to higher reported strategy use compared with the fading-only and feedback-only conditions and to higher comprehension skill compared with the feedback-only condition. These results support the idea that students receiving remedial reading services benefit from procedures that require extensive cognitive activity and that inform them about strategy usefulness. Research suggestions and implications of the results for educational practice are discussed.
A Framework for Mining Instant Messaging Services

Developing a framework for analysis of large scale masscommunication media such as instant messaging (popularly known as IM) has gone largely unexplored up until this point. This paper explores various data mining issues and how they relate to Instant Messaging and current CounterTerrorism efforts. Specific topics include user pattern analysis, anomaly detection, limited message size based textual topic detection, and largely generic social network analysis in this context. Several interesting questions are posed and the current framework being developed explores some of the
Posttraumatic Growth After Earthquake Trauma is Predicted by Executive Functions: A Pilot Study

Abstract Although positive personal change after adverse events (posttraumatic growth [PTG]) is repeatedly shown to occur after a range of traumatic or distressing events, there is still a debate on the validity of the concept. Using the objective measurement of cognitive functions, we attempted to show that PTG is a scientifically valid construct in a group of earthquake survivors. This is the first study to associate PTG with cognitive functioning. We found that growth was predicted by executive functions and not by memory or processing speed, showing that the correlation between cognitive functions and growth is a specific one. In addition, a specific form of PTG, namely personal growth, was related to cognitive functions, whereas relational growth was not. Our findings provide support for the validity of the PTG concept.
Kininase 1 As a Preclinical Therapeutic Target for Kinin B1 Receptor in Insulin Resistance

Kinin B1 receptor (B1R) contributes to insulin resistance, an early event in type 2 diabetes, through the upregulation and activation of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), pro-inflammatory cytokines and the oxidative stress. This study addresses the hypothesis that inhibition of kininase 1 (carboxypeptidase M, CPM), the key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of B1R agonists, could exert the same beneficial effects to B1R antagonism in insulin resistance. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were made insulin resistant with a drinking solution containing 10% D-glucose for a period of 9 weeks. Control rats received tap water. During the last week, kininase 1 was blocked with Mergetpa (1 mg kg−1 twice daily, s.c.) and the impact was determined on insulin resistance (HOMA index), metabolic hormone levels, oxidative stress and the expression of several markers of inflammation by western blot and qRT-PCR. Glucose-fed rats displayed hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, hyperleptinemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, positive body weight gain, and enhanced expression of B1R, CPM, iNOS, and IL-1β in renal cortex, aorta and liver. Markers of oxidative stress (superoxide anion and nitrotyrosine expression) were also enhanced in aorta and renal cortex. Mergetpa reversed and normalized most of those alterations, but failed to affect leptin levels and hypertension. Pharmacological blockade of kininase 1 (CPM) exerted similar beneficial effects to a 1-week treatment with a B1R antagonist (SSR240612) or an iNOS inhibitor (1,400 W). These data reinforce the detrimental role of B1R in insulin resistance and recommend CPM as a new therapeutic target.
Explaining Suspect Resistance in Police-Citizen Encounters

The authors analyzed police records to explore why suspects resist arrest. The analysis was based on a sample of 400 police reports from a mid-size urban police department in Southern California. Two hundred cases involved suspects who were charged with resisting arrest. The remaining 200 cases involved arrested suspects who did not resist. The authors used logistic regression to explore the association between several demographic factors and a binary outcome measuring suspect resistance. They found that suspects arrested in police beats characterized by a disproportionate number of calls for service were more likely to resist. They further found that Black suspects were more likely to resist relative to their White and Hispanic counterparts. The authors also explored interaction effects.
Speech delay in children: a functional MR imaging study.

PURPOSE To determine if children with speech delay who have been sedated have patterns of activation to passive language paradigms that are different than those of children with normal speech. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventeen children with speech delay (age range, 2-7 years; mean, 4.0 years) and 35 age-matched children with normal speech (age range, 2-8 years; mean, 4.2 years) were evaluated. The subjects in the control group were selected from patients referred for conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. All children had absence of auditory impairment or mental retardation, and MR findings indicated that brain structure was normal. Sedation was achieved with pentobarbital (3-5 mg/kg) or chloral hydrate (75 mg/kg). Functional MR imaging was performed with a single-shot echo-planar blood oxygen-level-dependent technique and a passive block paradigm, in which the child listened to his or her mother's prerecorded voice. Statistical postprocessing of functional MR images was performed with the t test and cluster detection methods. Comparison between groups was performed depending on the type of data with a nonparametrical Mann-Whitney test, parametrical t test, or Fisher exact test. RESULTS Five (83%) of the six children older than 3 years with speech delay had lateralized activation of functional MR imaging signal in the right hemisphere. Ten (71%) of 14 age-matched patients with normal speech had activation in the left hemisphere when exposed to the same passive listening tasks. When these groups were compared, this difference was statistically significant. (P =.036). No statistically significant lateralization was seen across all age groups in children with activation. CONCLUSION Children older than 3 years with speech delay have activation in the right hemisphere more frequently than children older than 3 years with normal speech, who often have the expected finding of activation in the left hemisphere.
Continuity of Microblade Technology in the Indian Subcontinent Since 45 ka: Implications for the Dispersal of Modern Humans

We extend the continuity of microblade technology in the Indian Subcontinent to 45 ka, on the basis of optical dating of microblade assemblages from the site of Mehtakheri, (22° 13' 44″ N Lat 76° 01' 36″ E Long) in Madhya Pradesh, India. Microblade technology in the Indian Subcontinent is continuously present from its first appearance until the Iron Age (~3 ka), making its association with modern humans undisputed. It has been suggested that microblade technology in the Indian Subcontinent was developed locally by modern humans after 35 ka. The dates reported here from Mehtakheri show this inference to be untenable and suggest alternatively that this technology arrived in the Indian Subcontinent with the earliest modern humans. It also shows that modern humans in Indian Subcontinent and SE Asia were associated with differing technologies and this calls into question the “southern dispersal” route of modern humans from Africa through India to SE Asia and then to Australia. We suggest that modern humans dispersed from Africa in two stages coinciding with the warmer interglacial conditions of MIS 5 and MIS 3. Competitive interactions between African modern humans and Indian archaics who shared an adaptation to tropical environments differed from that between modern humans and archaics like Neanderthals and Denisovans, who were adapted to temperate environments. Thus, while modern humans expanded into temperate regions during warmer climates, their expansion into tropical regions, like the Indian Subcontinent, in competition with similarly adapted populations, occurred during arid climates. Thus modern humans probably entered the Indian Subcontinent during the arid climate of MIS 4 coinciding with their disappearance from the Middle East and Northern Africa. The out of phase expansion of modern humans into tropical versus temperate regions has been one of the factors affecting the dispersal of modern humans from Africa during the period 200–40 ka.
Caregiver Burden among Adults Caring for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Southern India.

INTRODUCTION In India, family caregivers provide bulk of care to People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Caregiver burden refers to the physical, emotional and financial hardships associated with providing care to a diseased individual. Attending to the needs of PLWHA can place a significant burden on family members. This may adversely affect their Quality of Life (QOL). AIM The main aim of our study was to assess the caregiver burden and QOL among the family members of PLWHA in Southern India. We also determined the impact of caregiver burden on QOL. MATERIALS AND METHODS This facility based cross-sectional study was carried out at Kasturba Medical College (KMC) Mangalore. The study was conducted over a period of 18 months starting from October 2013. A total of 360 caregivers participated in our study. The data were collected by face-to-face interview. Caregiver burden was assessed using the Zarit Burden scale & WHOQOL-BREF scale was used to assess the QOL of caregivers. The collected data was entered and analysed using SPSS version 11.5. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS The mean age of caregivers was 36.09± 10.18 years. Most of the caregivers were females 279 (77.5%). Majority of caregivers 184 (51.1%) belonged to Middle/Lower Middle socioeconomic class (Kuppuswamy class III). Majority of PLWHA 155 (43.1%) had Stage 2 disease. Mean CD4 count of the patients was 405.2± 240 cells/μL. In our study 88(24.4%) caregivers had moderate to severe burden and 36(10%) had very severe burden. Physical domain of QOL showed maximum score of 60.28±13.08, while a minimum score of 51.88 ± 14.20 was seen in social domain. With increase in caregiver burden, the mean QOL scores decreased which was statistically significant. CONCLUSION Our study highlights the need to counsel the caregivers on how to deal with PLWHA in the family. Family care plays a major role in the general wellbeing of PLWHA. Majority of national HIV programmes all over the world focus mainly on PLWHA. National programmes should immediately address the mental health issues of caregivers thereby reducing caregiver burden. More studies on this topic have to be conducted in developing countries.
Effect of therapeutic horseback riding on balance and gait of people with multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND Exercise therapy is an important part of symptomatic and supportive treatment in patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). According to the literature, equine-assisted therapies--such as therapeutic horseback riding (THR) and hippotherapy (HT)--are exercise therapies that can have positive physical effects on coordination, muscle tone, postural alignment, stiffness/flexibility, endurance and strength, correcting abnormal movement patterns and improving gait and balance. While HT is known to have a positive effect on balance in PwMS, data about THR are limited. OBJECTIVE The aim of the present work was to determine the effect of THR on the balance and gait of ambulatory PwMS. METHODS Twenty-seven PwMS were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: 12 underwent THR and 15 traditional physiotherapy (for both groups, two series of 10 weekly sessions were performed). Before and after the study period, the following outcome measures were applied: Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Barthel Index, Tinetti Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA). In addition, patients of the THR group underwent a gait analysis to assess spatiotemporal gait parameters and ground reaction forces. RESULTS The THR group showed a significant improvement in POMA scores (p<0.005) and two gait parameters: stride time (p<0.04) and ground reaction forces (p<0.01). No statistically significant change was found in the control group. CONCLUSION The results of the study show that THR can improve balance and gait of ambulatory PwMS. Findings are preliminary, but promising and in line with the recent literature.
Covariance-based Clustering in Multivariate and Functional Data Analysis

In this paper we propose a new algorithm to perform clustering of multivariate and functional data. We study the case of two populations different in their covariances, rather than in their means. The algorithm relies on a proper quantification of distance between the estimated covariance operators of the populations, and subdivides data in two groups maximising the distance between their induced covariances. The naive implementation of such an algorithm is computationally forbidding, so we propose a heuristic formulation with a much lighter complexity and we study its convergence properties, along with its computational cost. We also propose to use an enhanced estimator for the estimation of discrete covariances of functional data, namely a linear shrinkage estimator, in order to improve the precision of the clustering. We establish the effectiveness of our algorithm through applications to both synthetic data and a real data set coming from a biomedical context, showing also how the use of shrinkage estimation may lead to substantially better results.
Analysis of brain activation patterns using a 3‐D scale‐space primal sketch

A fundamental problem in brain imaging concerns how to define functional areas consisting of neurons that are activated together as populations. We propose that this issue can be ideally addressed by a computer vision tool referred to as the scale‐space primal sketch. This concept has the attractive properties that it allows for automatic and simultaneous extraction of the spatial extent and the significance of regions with locally high activity. In addition, a hierarchical nested tree structure of activated regions and subregions is obtained. The subject in this article is to show how the scale‐space primal sketch can be used for automatic determination of the spatial extent and the significance of rCBF changes. Experiments show the result of applying this approach to functional PET data, including a preliminary comparison with two more traditional clustering techniques. Compared to previous approaches, the method overcomes the limitations of performing the analysis at a single scale or assuming specific models of the data. Hum. Brain Mapping 7:166–194. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Preparing Residents to Counsel About Smoking

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of an innovative, multicomponent, theory-based educational intervention for pediatric residents on prevention of tobacco use counseling for cessation. Before and 3 months after intervention residents in a large urban midwestern pediatric residency program completed a self-assessment of measures of their attitudes and counseling behaviors. The intervention was a 3-hour multicomponent program including presentations, case discussions, role-plays and support material based on concepts from Motivational Interviewing (MI). Participants reported increased confidence in their ability to counsel, as well as greater frequency of counseling (standardized effect size (d) = 0.57). Residents also reported an increased use of principal components of MI, assessing how important quitting is to patients (d = .66), and how confident patients are in their ability to quit (d = .78). This brief educational intervention taught theory-based counseling techniques to pediatric residents. After the study, participants reported significant increases in their frequency of counseling as well as greater use of the MI principles.