Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk of suicide among users of calcium channel blockers: population based, nested case-control study

Lindberg et al reported the results of two studies, which they interpreted as showing that calcium channel blockers may increase the risk of suicide.1 They found a significant correlation between rates of suicide and use of calcium channel blockers ( r =0.29, P<0.001) in a cross sectional ecological study and an increased risk of suicide (relative risk 5.4, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 20.5) in users of calcium channel blockers compared with non-users. But they did not control for important independent risk factors such as depression and did not validate diagnoses of suicide. We aimed at investigating further the possible association between use of calcium channel blockers and risk of suicide among people with hypertension, given the limitations of Lindberg et al's study.2 The study was based on information derived from …
Psychological Well-Being and Ill-Being: Do They Have Distinct or Mirrored Biological Correlates?

Background: Increasingly, researchers attend to both positive and negative aspects of mental health. Such distinctions call for clarification of whether psychological well-being and ill-being comprise opposite ends of a bipolar continuum, or are best construed as separate, independent dimensions of mental health. Biology can help resolve this query – bipolarity predicts ‘mirrored’ biological correlates (i.e. well-being and ill-being correlate similarly with biomarkers, but show opposite directional signs), whereas independence predicts ‘distinct’ biological correlates (i.e. well-being and ill-being have different biological signatures). Methods: Multiple aspects of psychological well-being (eudaimonic, hedonic) and ill-being (depression, anxiety, anger) were assessed in a sample of aging women (n = 135, mean age = 74) on whom diverse neuroendocrine (salivary cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, DHEA-S) and cardiovascular factors (weight, waist-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, total/HDL cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin) were also measured. Results: Measures of psychological well-being and ill-being were significantly linked with numerous biomarkers, with some associations being more strongly evident for respondents aged 75+. Outcomes for seven biomarkers supported the distinct hypothesis, while findings for only two biomarkers supported the mirrored hypothesis. Conclusion: This research adds to the growing literature on how psychological well-being and mental maladjustment are instantiated in biology. Population-based inquiries and challenge studies constitute important future directions.
MULTIBOLTED JOINTS FOR GFRP STRUCTURAL MEMBERS

For the past few decades, aerospace industry was the major user of advanced composite materials. Recently, civil engineers and the construction industry began to realize the potential of these materials in providing remedies for many problems associated with deterioration and corrosion of infrastructures. In light of this, a comprehensive experimental investigation was conducted at the University of Manitoba to study the behavior of multibolted connections using glass fiber-reinforced plastic members. A total of 105 multibolted double shear lap connections were tested. The effect of various parameters including the width of the structural member, edge distance, number of bolts, bolt pattern, pitch, thickness of the members, and direction of fibers with respect to the applied load were examined. This paper analyzes the experimental program, test results, and the various modes of failure as affected by the previously noted parameters.
Antibodies to lipopolysaccharides: Some diagnostic and protective aspects

Infections by Gram-negative bacteria are a serious and increasing problem. During the last 30 years, the incidence of Gram-negative bacterial sepsis and shock in the USA has increased from 1 per lo00 hospital admissions in 1950 to about 13 per lo00 in 1980 (Kreger et al., 1980). Despite the availability of potent antibiotics, the administration of vasoactive drugs using advanced monitoring techniques and intensive
Trust-based anonymous communication: adversary models and routing algorithms

We introduce a novel model of routing security that incorporates the ordinarily overlooked variations in trust that users have for different parts of the network. We focus on anonymous communication, and in particular onion routing, although we expect the approach to apply more broadly. This paper provides two main contributions. First, we present a novel model to consider the various security concerns for route selection in anonymity networks when users vary their trust over parts of the network. Second, to show the usefulness of our model, we present as an example a new algorithm to select paths in onion routing. We analyze its effectiveness against deanonymization and other information leaks, and particularly how it fares in our model versus existing algorithms, which do not consider trust. In contrast to those, we find that our trust-based routing strategy can protect anonymity against an adversary capable of attacking a significant fraction of the network.
Marine Peptides: Bioactivities and Applications

Peptides are important bioactive natural products which are present in many marine species. These marine peptides have high potential nutraceutical and medicinal values because of their broad spectra of bioactivities. Their antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor, antioxidative, cardioprotective (antihypertensive, antiatherosclerotic and anticoagulant), immunomodulatory, analgesic, anxiolytic anti-diabetic, appetite suppressing and neuroprotective activities have attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry, which attempts to design them for use in the treatment or prevention of various diseases. Some marine peptides or their derivatives have high commercial values and had reached the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical markets. A large number of them are already in different phases of the clinical and preclinical pipeline. This review highlights the recent research in marine peptides and the trends and prospects for the future, with special emphasis on nutraceutical and pharmaceutical development into marketed products.
Small And Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) And Nigeria’s Economic Development

In a developing country like Nigeria, there several socio-economic conditions impeding meaningful development, despite many interventions and policy strategies. However, Small and Medium Scaled Enterprises (SMEs), if fully developed have been identified as being beneficial in alleviating poverty through wealth and job creation. This sector can benefit any government that develops it to the extent that it has the capacity to grow a country’s GDP, generate taxes and other revenue, as well as assist in bringing stability in the polity of a country. The corporate world can also gain from the specialised goods and services of SMEs and the healthy market competitiveness it promotes, thus giving way for a strong private driven economic sector, with entrepreneurs springing up. In Nigeria, the prevailing economic and political conditions have not given room for SMEs to thrive, as evidenced in the challenges they are currently facing in the country. Despite these challenges, SMEs are associated with immense benefits which can be harnessed to better the Nigerian economy. This forms the subject of analysis in this paper. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n7p656
Insufficiency of linear coding in network information flow

It is known that every solvable multicast network has a scalar linear solution over a sufficiently large finite field alphabet. It is also known that this result does not generalize to arbitrary networks. There are several examples in the literature of solvable networks with no scalar linear solution over any finite field. However, each example has a linear solution for some vector dimension greater than one. It has been conjectured that every solvable network has a linear solution over some finite field alphabet and some vector dimension. We provide a counterexample to this conjecture. We also show that if a network has no linear solution over any finite field, then it has no linear solution over any finite commutative ring with identity. Our counterexample network has no linear solution even in the more general algebraic context of modules, which includes as special cases all finite rings and Abelian groups. Furthermore, we show that the network coding capacity of this network is strictly greater than the maximum linear coding capacity over any finite field (exactly 10% greater), so the network is not even asymptotically linearly solvable. It follows that, even for more general versions of linearity such as convolutional coding, filter-bank coding, or linear time sharing, the network has no linear solution
Effect of Polymerization Conditions on Reaction Yield, Conductivity, and Ammonia Sensing of Polyaniline

ABSTRACT: This paper addresses the preparation of polyaniline (PANI) via a rapid mixing method in which a nanosheet(nanoﬂake) structure was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The microstructures of acid- and ammonia-dedoped PANIsamples were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effects of polymerization conditions (time and temperature ofreaction, monomer/oxidant ratio, and acid type) on the polymerization yield, electrical conductivity, and ammonia-sensingperformance of PANI-based sensors were investigated using a Taguchi experimental design. It was found that acid type has the mostsigniﬁcant effect on polymerization yield and ammonia-sensing property of PANI. The conductivity of PANI ﬁlms was mostlyinﬂuenced by reaction time, reaction temperature, and acid type, respectively. Some interesting behaviors were observed forinﬂuential factors that have been comprehensively justiﬁed. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Technol 2013, 32, 21356; Viewthis article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.21356
AT THE ANNUAL CLOSED MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL HIP SOCIETY Combined Periacetabular and Femoral Osteotomies for Severe Hip Deformities

Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is an effective acetabular reorientation technique for treatment of symptomatic acetabular dysplasia. In hips with severe deformities, an adjunctive femoral osteotomy (PFO) may optimize correction, joint stability, and congruency. We analyzed the clinical and radiographic results of combined PAO/PFO in treating severe hip deformities. Second, we compared the clinical results of patients treated with PAO/ PFO with patients treated with isolated PAO for lesser deformities. Twenty-five patients (28 hips) treated with PAO/PFO were reviewed and followed a minimum of 16 months (mean, 44 months). The matched PAO cohort included 25 patients (28 hips). For the PAO/PFO group, the average Harris hip score improved from 60.9 to 86.3. Eighty-nine percent of the patients demonstrated at least a 10-point improvement in the hip score and 75% had a Harris hip score over 80 points. Radiographic evaluation demonstrated consistent deformity correction. The PAO/ PFO group had a lower average Harris hip score preoperatively, yet hip function after surgery was comparable between groups. These data indicate combined PAO/ PFO is associated with improved hip function in most patients. These clinical results are comparable to those obtained with isolated PAO for lesser hip deformities. Level of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Effectiveness of a 16-hour transdermal nicotine patch in a medical practice setting, without intensive group counseling.

BACKGROUND To determine the effectiveness of a 16-hour transdermal nicotine patch in assisting smokers to stop smoking, when used in a primary medical practice model. METHODS A single-site, randomized, double-blind, out-patient, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial consisting of 220 regular, otherwise healthy cigarette smokers. Patients participated in a 12-week patch treatment phase plus a 6-week tapering phase. A standard medical office model of physician intervention, such as could easily be employed by any primary care physician, without need for any special psychological services, training, or skills, was the behavioral intervention. RESULTS Sustained abstinence, determined at each visit by absolutely no cigarette use, carbon monoxide level of 9 ppm or less, and serum cotinine level of 15 ng/mL or less (after week 18), was significantly greater for those patients receiving the active nicotine patch than for those receiving the placebo patch: the percent of patients not smoking at 6, 12, 18, 26, and 52 weeks was 61% vs 35%, 45% vs 26%, 41% vs 16%, 34% vs 12%, and 25% vs 9%, respectively (P < .001). This 16-hour nicotine patch produced no systemic side effects and minimal skin irritation. CONCLUSIONS Nicotine replacement therapy via a 16-hour transdermal nicotine patch provided safe and effective treatment for tobacco-dependent patients. One-year sustained nonsmoking rates were nearly three times higher in the active than in the placebo condition, when the patch was used in an easily applicable standard medical practice setting, without the need for psychological interventions. This outcome was as good as or better than results achieved by nicotine patches using behavior modification or group counseling.
Naproxen does not alter indices of muscle damage in resistance-exercise trained men.

PURPOSE Unaccustomed exercise is associated with an elevated plasma creatine kinase (CK), myofibrillar inflammation, and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) may attenuate DOMS and indirect indices of inflammation in humans. METHODS We studied the effects of an NSAID (naproxen sodium (500 mg, 2 times a day for 48 h)) taken before and after resistance exercise in eight healthy, moderately trained men in a randomized, double-blind trial. The exercise consisted of unilateral knee concentric/eccentric weight lifting with 6 sets x 10 repetitions at 80-85% of the 1 repetition maximal contraction. Muscle biopsies of each vastus lateralis (EX = exercised/REST = control) were taken 24 h after exercise for immunohistochemical staining of inflammatory cells (leukocyte common antigen). At 24 and 48 h postexercise, we also determined DOMS, plasma CK activity, and knee extensor muscle torque. RESULTS Exercise resulted in an increased CK activity at +24 and +48 h (vs preexercise: P < 0.01), with no treatment effect. There were no treatment effects for any of the measured variables except for a return of voluntary knee extension torque to baseline by +48 h postexercise for NSAID treatment (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS NSAID administration did not alter CK rise, muscle force deficit at 24 h postexercise, nor perceived muscle pain. In addition, the increased CK at 24 h postexercise was not associated with an acute myofibrillar inflammatory cell infiltrate in moderately trained men after resistance exercise.
Higher-Order Factorization Machines

Factorization machines (FMs) are a supervised learning approach that can use second-order feature combinations even when the data is very high-dimensional. Unfortunately, despite increasing interest in FMs, there exists to date no efficient training algorithm for higher-order FMs (HOFMs). In this paper, we present the first generic yet efficient algorithms for training arbitrary-order HOFMs. We also present new variants of HOFMs with shared parameters, which greatly reduce model size and prediction times while maintaining similar accuracy. We demonstrate the proposed approaches on four different link prediction tasks.
Effects of Pleiotrophin Overexpression on Mouse Skeletal Muscles in Normal Loading and in Actual and Simulated Microgravity

Pleiotrophin (PTN) is a widespread cytokine involved in bone formation, neurite outgrowth, and angiogenesis. In skeletal muscle, PTN is upregulated during myogenesis, post-synaptic induction, and regeneration after crushing, but little is known regarding its effects on muscle function. Here, we describe the effects of PTN on the slow-twitch soleus and fast-twitch extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles in mice over-expressing PTN under the control of a bone promoter. The mice were maintained in normal loading or disuse condition, induced by hindlimb unloading (HU) for 14 days. Effects of exposition to near-zero gravity during a 3-months spaceflight (SF) into the Mice Drawer System are also reported. In normal loading, PTN overexpression had no effect on muscle fiber cross-sectional area, but shifted soleus muscle toward a slower phenotype, as shown by an increased number of oxidative type 1 fibers, and increased gene expression of cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV and citrate synthase. The cytokine increased soleus and EDL capillary-to-fiber ratio. PTN overexpression did not prevent soleus muscle atrophy, slow-to-fast transition, and capillary regression induced by SF and HU. Nevertheless, PTN exerted various effects on sarcolemma ion channel expression/function and resting cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in soleus and EDL muscles, in normal loading and after HU. In conclusion, the results show very similar effects of HU and SF on mouse soleus muscle, including activation of specific gene programs. The EDL muscle is able to counterbalance this latter, probably by activating compensatory mechanisms. The numerous effects of PTN on muscle gene expression and functional parameters demonstrate the sensitivity of muscle fibers to the cytokine. Although little benefit was found in HU muscle disuse, PTN may emerge useful in various muscle diseases, because it exerts synergetic actions on muscle fibers and vessels, which could enforce oxidative metabolism and ameliorate muscle performance.
Capturing missing tuples and missing values

Databases in real life are often neither entirely closed-world nor entirely open-world. Indeed, databases in an enterprise are typically partially closed, in which a part of the data is constrained by master data that contains complete information about the enterprise in certain aspects [21]. It has been shown that despite missing tuples, such a database may turn out to have complete information for answering a query [9]. This paper studies partially closed databases from which both tuples and values may be missing. We specify such a database in terms of conditional tables constrained by master data, referred to as c-instances. We first propose three models to characterize whether a c-instance T is complete for a query Q relative to master data. That is, depending on how missing values in T are instantiated, the answer to Q in T remains unchanged when new tuples are added. We then investigate four problems, to determine (a) whether a given c-instance is complete for a query Q, (b) whether there exists a c-instance that is complete for Q relative to master data available, (c) whether a c-instance is a minimal-size database that is complete for Q, and (d) whether there exists a c-instance of a bounded size that is complete for Q. We establish matching lower and upper bounds on these problems for queries expressed in a variety of languages, in each of the three models for specifying relative completeness.
A class of modular aerial robots

In this work we consider the modelling of a modular aerial robot obtained by rigidly interconnecting a certain number of ducted-fan aircraft. It is shown how different geometric configurations lead to different dynamical properties of the overall system which can be exploited to improve the achievable closed-loop performances in certain scenarios. Suitable constrained control allocation problems are formulated to show how the modular system performs in presence of possible extra payload and of force and torque disturbances that may derive from the physical interaction with the surrounding environment.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in preschool children in Thessaloniki, Greece

OBJECTIVE: Data on obesity in preschoolers are scarce in Greece, a country particularly affected by the obesity epidemic. The present study aimed to assess overweight and obesity prevalence of preschoolers in Thessaloniki, Greece, by using three different standards for defining childhood overweight and obesity. DESIGN: One thousand two hundred and fifty (1250) preschool children (657 boys and 593 girls) aged 2.0–6.0 years old from all public municipality kindergartens of Thessaloniki, Greece, participated in this cross-sectional survey conducted from 2009 to 2010. Body weight and height were measured and detailed anthropometry measurement was undertaken. BMI was classified to weight categories based on the CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), IOTF (the International Obesity Task Force) and WHO (the World Health Organization) references. RESULTS: Rates of excess body weight varied significantly according to the different international criteria: IOTF: overweight (including obesity) 21.2%, obesity 5.8%; CDC: overweight (including obesity) 30.5%, obesity 13.5%; and WHO: overweight (including obesity) 32.6%, obesity 5%. Boys and older children were particularly affected. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight prevalence is high in Greek preschoolers and varies significantly according to the different criteria used, from 21.2% (IOTF reference) to 32.6% (CDC reference).
Changes in Cholinergic Parameters Associated with Failure of Conotruncal Septation in Embryonic Chick Hearts after Neural Crest Ablation

Cells from the neural crest over occipital somites migrate to the heart, where they give rise to parasympathetic postganglionic neurons as well as ectomesenchymal elements which contribute to conotruncal septation. With a microcautery needle, the neural crest over occipital somites was ablated bilaterally in chicken embryos at an early stage of development. Histological examination on incubation day 15 revealed conotruncal malformations, involving malformation or absence of the conotruncal septum in all embryos. Two peaks of embryo mortality were observed. One peak (incubation days 6–8) occurred at the same time as conotruncal septal closure; the second peak (incubation days 11–13) was concurrent with the onset of functional parasympathetic innervation. A disruption of parasympathetic innervation was indicated by: (1) a decrease in acetylcholinesterase staining, (2) a decrease (27%) in the number of ganglion cells in the conotruncus, (3) decreases in the acetylcholine content of atrium (31%) and ventricle (39%), and (4) a decrease (21%) in muscarinic acetylcholine receptor density on incubation day 15. Radio-labeled ligand-binding studies revealed no change in the affinity of cardiac muscarinic receptors for [3H]methylscopolamine (KD = 0.17 − 0.21 nM). Agonist-binding affinity and sensitivity to guanine nucleotides were similarly unaffected. The reasons for the limited extent of the parasympathetic lesion are unclear, but may involve recruitment of precursor cells from other regions of the neural crest, partial regeneration of the neural crest following surgical removal, or an alteration in the contribution of incoming sympathetic or preganglionic parasympathetic elements. No such plasticity was associated with neural crest contributions to the structural development of the conotruncus. Malformations were observed in all lesioned embryos.