Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diet-Induced Obesity Is Associated with an Impaired NK Cell Function and an Increased Colon Cancer Incidence

Obesity is associated with an increased colon cancer incidence, but underlying mechanisms remained unclear. Previous studies showed altered Natural killer (NK) cell functions in obese individuals. Therefore, we studied the impact of an impaired NK cell functionality on the increased colon cancer risk in obesity. In vitro investigations demonstrated a decreased IFN-γ secretion and cytotoxicity of human NK cells against colon tumor cells after NK cell preincubation with the adipokine leptin. In addition, leptin incubation decreased the expression of activating NK cell receptors. In animal studies, colon cancer growth was induced by injection of azoxymethane (AOM) in normal weight and diet-induced obese rats. Body weight and visceral fat mass were increased in obese animals compared to normal weight rats. AOM-treated obese rats showed an increased quantity, size, and weight of colon tumors compared to the normal weight tumor group. Immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated a decreased number of NK cells in spleen and liver in obesity. Additionally, the expression levels of activating NK cell receptors were lower in spleen and liver of obese rats. The results show for the first time that the decreased number and impaired NK cell function may be one cause for the higher colon cancer risk in obesity.
Centrosome movements in vivo correlate with specific neurite formation downstream of LIM homeodomain transcription factor activity

Neurons must develop complex structure to form proper connections in the nervous system. The initiation of axons in defined locations on the cell body and their extension to synaptic targets are critical steps in neuronal morphogenesis, yet the mechanisms controlling axon formation in vivo are poorly understood. The centrosome has been implicated in multiple aspects of neuronal morphogenesis; however, its function in axon development is under debate. Conflicting results from studies of centrosome function in axonogenesis suggest that its role is context dependent and underscore the importance of studying centrosome function as neurons develop in their natural environment. Using live imaging of zebrafish Rohon-Beard (RB) sensory neurons in vivo, we discovered a spatiotemporal relationship between centrosome position and the formation of RB peripheral, but not central, axons. We tested centrosome function by laser ablation and found that centrosome disruption inhibited peripheral axon outgrowth. In addition, we show that centrosome position and motility are regulated by LIM homeodomain transcription factor activity, which is specifically required for the development of RB peripheral axons. Furthermore, we show a correlation between centrosome mislocalization and ectopic axon formation in bashful (laminin alpha 1) mutants. Thus, both intrinsic transcription factor activity and extracellular cues can influence centrosome position and axon formation in vivo. This study presents the first positive association between the centrosome and axon formation in vivo and suggests that the centrosome is important for differential neurite formation in neurons with complex axonal morphologies.
Benchmarking patient outcomes.

PURPOSE To examine the usefulness of three types of benchmarking for interpreting patient outcome data. DESIGN This study was part of a multiyear, multihospital longitudinal survey of 10 patient outcomes. The patient outcome used for this methodologic presentation was central line infections (CLI). The sample included eight hospitals in an integrated healthcare system, with a range in size from 144 to 861 beds. The unit of analysis for CLI was the number of line days, with the CLI rate defined as the number of infections per 1,000 patient-line days per month. METHODS Data on each outcome were collected at the unit level according to standardized protocols. Results were submitted via standardized electronic forms to a central data management center. Data for this presentation were analyzed using a Bayesian hierarchical Poisson model. Results are presented for each hospital and the system as a whole. FINDINGS In comparison to published benchmarks, hospital performances were mixed with regard to CLI. Five of the 8 hospitals exceeded 2.2 infections per 1,000 patient-line days. When benchmarks were established for each hospital using 95% credible intervals, hospitals did reasonably well with only isolated months reaching or going beyond the benchmark limits. When the entire system was used to establish benchmarks with the 95% credible intervals, the hospitals that reached or exceeded the benchmark limits remained the same, but some hospitals had CLI rates more frequently in the upper 50% of the benchmarking limits. CONCLUSIONS Benchmarking of quality indicators can be accomplished in a variety of ways as a means to quantify patient care and identify areas needing attention and improvement. Hospital-specific and system-wide benchmarks provide relevant feedback for improving performance at individual hospitals.
International Conference on Small and Medium Enterprises Development with a Theme ( ICSMED 2012 ) The Small Medium-Free Trade Zone that Able to Acquire Debt

The objective of this research is to identify Small Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Characteristics in Batam Free Trade Zone that have the ability to acquire debt. Sampling method used in this research is purposive sampling method. 79 selected samples were taken from SME that located in Batam during 2008-2009. The methods used for analysis were comparison analysis and logistic regression model. The result of this research indicates that firm size, firm growth, firm location, foreign shareholder involvement, type of industry, export activities, and educational background of top manager at SME in bt. The ability to acquire debt by SME in Batam is positively related to location, export activities and manager education but negatively related to size, growth, foreign shareholder and type of industry. The firm age and development strategy seems to have Analysis for independent samples. Based on the analysis, we concluded that firm location, export activities, background educational, foreign shareholder and firm size were the differentiating factors between two groups. © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Parahyangan Catholic University.
Using Audio Analysis and Network Structure to Identify Communities in On-Line Social Networks of Artists

Community detection methods from complex network theory are applied to a subset of the Myspace artist network to identify groups of similar artists. Methods based on the greedy optimization of modularity and random walks are used. In a second iteration, inter-artist audio-based similarity scores are used as input to enhance these community detection methods. The resulting community structures are evaluated using a collection of artist-assigned genre tags. Evidence suggesting the Myspace artist network structure is closely related to musical genre is presented and a Semantic Web service for accessing this structure is described.
Structural Transitions in Nanosized Zn0.97Al0.03O Powders under High Pressure Analyzed by in Situ Angle-Dispersive X-ray Diffraction

Nanosized aluminum-doped zinc oxide Zn1−xAlxO (AZO) powders (AZO-NPs) with x = 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.11 were synthesized by chemical precipitation method. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that the precursors were converted to oxides from hydroxides near 250 °C, which were then heated to 500 °C for subsequent thermal processes to obtain preliminary powders. The obtained preliminary powders were then calcined at 500 °C for three hours. The structure and morphology of the products were measured and characterized by angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction (ADXRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). ADXRD results showed that AZO-NPs with Al content less than 11% exhibited würtzite zinc oxide structure and there was no other impurity phase in the AZO-NPs, suggesting substitutional doping of Al on Zn sites. The Zn0.97Al0.03O powders (A3ZO-NPs) with grain size of about 21.4 nm were used for high-pressure measurements. The in situ ADXRD measurements revealed that, for loading run, the pressure-induced würtzite (B4)-to-rocksalt (B1) structural phase transition began at 9.0(1) GPa. Compared to the predicted phase-transition pressure of ~12.7 GPa for pristine ZnO nanocrystals of similar grain size (~21.4 nm), the transition pressure for the present A3ZO-NPs exhibited a reduction of ~3.7 GPa. The significant reduction in phase-transition pressure is attributed to the effects of highly selective site occupation, namely Zn2+ and Al3+, were mainly found in tetrahedral and octahedral sites, respectively.
Research on Online Consumer Repurchasing Behavior from Relationship Perspective

Websites want to improve their competition power and realize long-term profit, it is not enough to make their consumers purchase only once. The most important is how to let the online consumers continue to purchase (repurchase). But most literatures focus on online consumers purchasing behavior. This study emphasizes on repurchasing behavior of online consumers from relationship perspective. Research variables involve website quality, repurchase intention and relationship variables. The research method is Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) by SPSS 15.0 and LISREL 8.70. The empirical analysis results show that perceived website quality, overall satisfaction, ongoing trust and commitment all have significant effects on repurchasing intention. This study also analyzes relationships between perceived website quality, overall satisfaction, ongoing trust and commitment.
Specific competencies in social work higher education in the framework of the European higher education area: the perception of future professionals in the Spanish context

ABSTRACT We present the results of a study that aims to determine whether young future social work professionals value the specific competencies that they are taught as students and will put into practice as professionals. The study analyses how these students value the professional competencies taught in university social work programmes in Spain, which are under the auspices of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We consider that this study can contribute to the review and improvement of the design of these university curricula. The study is descriptive and employs the survey method. The sample comprises 220 subjects who are university undergraduate students in social work. The findings indicate that undergraduate students express a high valuation of the specific competencies of the degree. Students’ sociodemographic variables have little effect on their valuation of specific competencies, although we can nuance this conclusion with some partial results that show an influence of these sociodemographic variables on students’ valuations.
Timeline of engagement research and future research directions

Studies suggest that engagement is related with organizationally desired outcomes, including performance, productivity, profitability, employee retention, organization citizenship behavior and employee well-being. Despite its practical relevance in the workplace, the concept of engagement has been theoretically dispersed. Therefore, this study aims to present a conceptual review of engagement studies leading to the development of a nomological framework and an evolution timeline for the concept. ,The present study is divided into three sections. The first section elicits the nomological framework based on the comparison between engagement, its predecessors and its contemporary concepts such as motivation theories, job design theories, burnout theories and positive psychology. A review of related theories and concepts highlights the similarities and differences vis-a-vis engagement. In the second section, the study depicts the evolution of the engagement concept based on the nomological framework. The evolution is discussed through the decades of before 1990, 1990-2000, 2000-2010 and 2010 onwards. To consolidate the theories and concepts, the authors covered studies that defined engagement as role engagement, personal engagement, work engagement and employee engagement. The third section presents the future research directions based on the framework and evolution. ,The literature review reveals future research directions. These include the addition of new antecedents and theoretical frameworks to enrich the explanatory power and practical relevance of the antecedents of engagement, exploring the context of work with qualitative and mixed method designs, exploring the unit of “role” in engagement studies and the need for more replication studies in this field. ,The key contributions of this paper are the nomological framework and the timeline of the evolution of engagement concept.
Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot: The role of a support seeker’s reply in online support provision

ABSTRACT This experiment examined reciprocal communication among support seekers and support providers in online support forums. An interactive online support forum web page was employed where comments to a support-seeking post and a support seeker’s reply to previous comments were manipulated, and participants could post their responses on the interactive web page. Results showed that support seekers received more supportive responses from subsequent viewers when they expressed appreciation for earlier comments. Compared with an appreciative reply to supportive comments, the same reply to unsupportive comments elicited more positive expectancy violations and thus higher levels of action-focused supportiveness in viewers’ responses. This study extended the application of expectancy violations theory to the context of online support forums.
The Role of RNA Editing in Dynamic Environments

This paper presents a computational methodology based on Genetic Algorithms with Genotype Editing (GAE) for investigating the role of RNA editing in dynamic environments. This model is based on genotype editing characteristics that are gleaned from RNA editing processes as observed in several organisms. We have previously expanded the traditional Genetic Algorithm (GA) with artificial editing mechanisms (Rocha, 1995, 1997), and studied the benefits of including straightforward Genotype Editing in GA for several machine learning problems (Huang and Rocha, 2003, 2004). Here we show that genotype editing also provides a means for artificial agents with genotype/phenotype mappings descriptions to gain greater phenotypic plasticity. We simulate agents endowed with the ability to alter the edition of their genotype according to environmental context. This ability grants agents an adaptive advantage as genotype expression can become contextually regulated. The study of this genotype edition model in changing environments has shed some light into the evolutionary implications of RNA editing. We expect that our methodology will both facilitate determining the evolutionary role of RNA editing in biology, and advance the current state of research in Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Life.
Effect of prostaglandin E1 on inflammatory responses and gas exchange in patients undergoing surgery for oesophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND Oesophageal surgery causes morbidity and mortality from respiratory complications. We tested the possibility that prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) could reduce inflammatory cytokine responses and improve gas exchange after oesophagectomy. METHODS We randomized 14 patients into two groups. One group received PGE1 20 ng kg(-1) min(-1) i.v. during anaesthesia (PGE1 group) and the other group did not (control group). Anaesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane and epidural anaesthesia. During oesophagectomy, ventilation of one lung was carried out with a double-lumen bronchial tube. The patients were extubated on or after the first postoperative day. Blood samples were taken at induction of anaesthesia, at the end of thoracotomy, at the end of the operation, 2 h after surgery and on the first day after surgery. RESULTS The groups were similar for ASA physical status, age, FEV1%, operation time, duration of thoracotomy, intraoperative fluid volume and blood loss. The arterial blood gas and arterial pressure during surgery were also similar in the PGE1 and control groups. However, the PaO2/FiO2 ratio on the first day after surgery was significantly greater in the PGE1 group compared with the control group. Serum concentrations of IL-6 and IL-8 increased after surgery in both groups. IL-6 was significantly less in the PGE1 group at the end of the operation and 2 h after the operation. CONCLUSIONS Intraoperative PGE1 reduced IL-6 production in patients undergoing oesophagectomy and oxygenation was better in the postoperative period.
Modelling visit frequencies to the nature of Denmark

The objective of the study is to construct a model of the number of car borne visitors to the natural environment – forests, beaches, and the remainder untilled landscape. The model, which is implemented in and heavily dependent on GIS, is based on an constrained accessibility model, constrained by the amount of available resources, to cope with intervening opportunities. The ingoing variables includes population, summer houses, camping sites etc., amount of existing natural resources, and the distribution of the populations responses regarding frequencies of different activities in terms of travel distances and type of nature at the destination. By means of regression analysis the model result (combined with local amenity variables) is compared to registration of the number of cars at selected parking lots in the nature. The assessment of effect of changing scale is a central point of the analysis. The resulting predictive model includes the accessibility, terrain-form, distance to the coast, and distance to a location covered by an information leaflet.
Power-over-fiber using double-clad fibers for radio-over-fiber systems

This work presents a power-over-fiber (PoF) using double-clad fibers (DCFs) for radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems. The DCF for the RoF link has a single-mode (SM) core and a multimode inner cladding; the SM core is used for both downlink and uplink transmissions of the optical RoF data signals, while the inner cladding is used for optical power delivery to the BS. The aim of this approach is to optically power the BS in such a way that external electrical power supplies such as batteries or public power lines are not required. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated by RoF transmission over a 100-m DCF optically feeding with 4.0 W. We successfully achieved high downlink and uplink transmission performances from the CS to the BS in terms of bit-error rate and error-vector magnitude measurements, based on the IEEE 802.11g wireless local area network standard at a carrier frequency of 2.45 GHz.
Peer relations and tensions in the school life of Finnish and Korean students: a cross-cultural perspective

ABSTRACT Drawing on cross-cultural qualitative research in comprehensive (primary and middle) schools in Finland and Korea, this article explores students’ peer relationships as well as tensions and negotiations that occur between student agency and school control. Based on school observations and interviews with students and teachers, this article illuminates the meaning of friendship and patterns of peer interactions among students, both within and between genders. It also reveals how school control and student agency manifest in the issues of space, time, and appearance. The findings imply that students develop gendered identities and roles through peer relations and socialisation in school. This article also interprets sociocultural uniqueness and commonality concerning interdependency and independency observed in peer relationships. Finally, the article illustrates that while control over the appearance of students seems to be different in each country, the students’ school lives are tightly controlled by regulations of time and space in both countries.
Too scared to achieve: the relation between neuroticism, conscientiousness and socioeconomic outcomes

Economic studies show that low emotional stability is negatively related to socioeconomic outcomes, while conscientiousness predicts desirable results. Possible mechanisms behind these relations are far less explored. The dissertation addresses this research gap both theoretically and empirically by including psychological insights into an economic model. Diﬀerences in expectations and the individual problem-solving ability are explored as an important channel for the observed relations between personality and socioeconomic outcomes. The results suggest that both low emotionally stable and low conscientious individuals have a higher risk to be trapped in a disadvantageous circle of negative expectations and experiences throughout life. Interventions already in school might reduce this risk.
Three-Processor Tasks Are Undecidable

We show that no algorithm exists for deciding whether a finite task for three or more processors is wait-free solvable in the asynchronous read-write shared-memory model. This impossibility result implies that there is no constructive (recursive) characterization of wait-free solvable tasks. It also applies to other shared-memory models of distributed computing, such as the comparison-based model.
Paricalcitol Reduces Albuminuria and Inflammation in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Randomized Double-Blind Pilot Trial

Vitamin D receptor activation is associated with improved survival in patients with chronic kidney disease, but the mechanism of this benefit is unclear. To better understand the effects of vitamin D on endothelial function, blood pressure, albuminuria, and inflammation in patients with chronic kidney disease (2 patients stage 2, remaining stage 3), we conducted a pilot trial in 24 patients who were randomly allocated equally to 3 groups to receive 0, 1, or 2 &mgr;g of paricalcitol, a vitamin D analog, orally for 1 month. Placebo-corrected change in flow mediated dilatation with a 1-&mgr;g dose was 0.5% and 0.4% with a 2-&mgr;g dose (P>0.2). At 1 month, the treatment:baseline ratio of high sensitivity C-reactive protein was 1.5 (95% CI: 1.1 to 2.1; P=0.02) with placebo, 0.8 (95% CI: 0.3 to 1.9; P=0.62) with a 1-&mgr;g dose, and 0.5 (95% CI: 0.3 to 0.9; P=0. 03) with a 2-&mgr;g dose of paricalcitol. At 1 month, the treatment:baseline ratio of 24-hour albumin excretion rate was 1.35 (95% CI: 1.08 to 1.69; P=0.01) with placebo, 0.52 (95% CI: 0.40 to 0.69; P<0.001) with a 1-&mgr;g dose, and 0.54 (95% CI: 0.35 to 0.83; P=0. 01) with a 2-&mgr;g dose (P<0.001 for between group changes). No differences were observed in iothalamate clearance, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure, or parathyroid hormone with treatment or on washout. Thus, paricalcitol-induced reduction in albuminuria and inflammation may be mediated independent of its effects on hemodynamics or parathyroid hormone suppression. Long-term randomized, controlled trials are required to confirm these benefits of vitamin D analogs.