Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low socioeconomic status and mental health outcomes in colorectal cancer survivors: disadvantage? advantage? … or both?

The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and both positive and negative mental health (MH) outcomes in a population‐based sample of colorectal cancer survivors. On the basis of theoretical conceptualizations of trauma and posttraumatic growth, low SES was hypothesized to be positively associated with both greater negative MH outcomes (e.g., distress) and greater positive MH outcomes (e.g., growth).
Interpretations of “Chinglish”: Native Speakers, Language Learners and the Enregisterment of a Stigmatized Code

Abstract As a linguistic curiosity, Chinglish has long fascinated native speakers of English, prompting numerous studies that analyze its form with a view towards either eliminating it or accepting it as a viable Standard English variant. In this article, I examine how various social groups involved in foreign language education in China, including Chinese students, foreign teachers and linguists, enregister Chinglish as a linguistic variety. I argue that Chinglish is not distinguished by the presence or absence of any particular linguistic feature, but a label produced in the intersubjective engagements between language learners and native speakers. Chinglish is structured by and reinforces the relations of expertise within the Chinese English language speech community, thus representing larger anxieties about nationalism and modernization in a global context. *
Principal Leadership Long-Term Indirect Effects on Learning Growth in Mathematics

In both the school effectiveness and the educational administration literature, growing attention has been paid to the extent of principal leadership effects and the means by which they affect school performance. The main goal of this study is to estimate the effects of principal leadership on students' achievement growth in mathematics over a period of 6 years. Results from multilevel latent growth show that the impact of principal leadership on students' achievement growth is mediated by teacher collaboration and collective efficacy.
Basal Serum Cortisol Levels are not Predictive of Response to Corticotropin but Have Prognostic Significance in Patients with Septic Shock

Because high levels of cortisol are frequently observed in patients with septic shock, low levels of serum cortisol are considered indicative of relative adrenal insufficiency (RAI). This study was performed to investigate whether pretest clinical characteristics, including basal serum cortisol levels, are predictive of serum cortisol response to corticotropin and whether basal cortisol levels have a prognostic significance in patients with septic shock. We performed a retrospective analysis of 68 patients with septic shock who underwent short corticotropin stimulation testing. RAI was defined as an increase in cortisol level <9 µg/dL from baseline, and results showed that 48 patients (70.6%) had this insufficiency. According to the univariate analysis, the RAI group had significantly higher simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II) and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores than the non-RAI group. The incidence of RAI was the same regardless of the basal serum cortisol level (p=0.447). The hospital mortality rate was 58.8% and was not significantly different between the RAI and non-RAI groups. However, a high basal serum cortisol level (≥30 µg/dL) was significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. In conclusion, our data suggest that basal serum cortisol levels are not predictive of serum cortisol response to corticotropin but have a significant prognostic value in patients with septic shock.
Tissue factor expression on platelets is a dynamic event.

To the editor: The so-called controversy about the presence of tissue factor (TF) in platelets is a reality that our research group has been dealing with since 2003, when we published our first data on this topic. We have read with interest the letter by Bouchard et al,[1][1] and we agree with the
Progress on Website Accessibility?

Over 100 top-traffic and government websites from the United States and United Kingdom were examined for evidence of changes on accessibility indicators over the 14-year period from 1999 to 2012, the longest period studied to date. Automated analyses of WCAG 2.0 Level A Success Criteria found high percentages of violations overall. Unlike more circumscribed studies, however, these sites exhibited improvements over the years on a number of accessibility indicators, with government sites being less likely than topsites to have accessibility violations. Examination of the causes of success and failure suggests that improving accessibility may be due, in part, to changes in website technologies and coding practices rather than a focus on accessibility per se.
Direct imaging of phosphorylation‐dependent conformational change and DNA binding of CREB by electron microscopy

The second messenger cAMP stimulates the expression of numerous genes through the PKA‐dependent phosphorylation of CREB. The cAMP‐regulated transcription factor CREB undergoes conformational change in response to phosphorylation by PKA at Ser 133. The phosphorylation enables interaction between the kinase‐inducible domain (KID) of CREB and KIX domain of CREB binding protein (CBP).
A Longitudinal Study Simultaneously Exploring the Carriage of APEC Virulence Associated Genes and the Molecular Epidemiology of Faecal and Systemic E. coli in Commercial Broiler Chickens

Colibacillosis is an economically important syndromic disease of poultry caused by extra-intestinal avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) but the pathotype remains poorly defined. Combinations of virulence-associated genes (VAGs) have aided APEC identification. The intestinal microbiota is a potential APEC reservoir. Broiler chickens are selectively bred for fast, uniform growth. Here we simultaneously investigate intestinal E. coli VAG carriage in apparently healthy birds and characterise systemic E. coli from diseased broiler chickens from the same flocks. Four flocks were sampled longitudinally from chick placement until slaughter. Phylogrouping, macro-restriction pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) were performed on an isolate subset from one flock to investigate the population structure of faecal and systemic E. coli. Early in production, VAG carriage among chick intestinal E. coli populations was diverse (average Simpson's D value = 0.73); 24.05% of intestinal E. coli (n = 160) from 1 day old chicks were carrying ≥5 VAGs. Generalised Linear models demonstrated VAG prevalence in potential APEC populations declined with age; 1% of E. coli carrying ≥5 VAGs at slaughter and demonstrated high strain diversity. A variety of VAG profiles and high strain diversity were observed among systemic E. coli. Thirty three new MLST sequence types were identified among 50 isolates and a new sequence type representing 22.2% (ST-2999) of the systemic population was found, differing from the pre-defined pathogenic ST-117 at a single locus. For the first time, this study takes a longitudinal approach to unravelling the APEC paradigm. Our findings, supported by other studies, highlight the difficulty in defining the APEC pathotype. Here we report a high genetic diversity among systemic E. coli between and within diseased broilers, harbouring diverse VAG profiles rather than single and/or highly related pathogenic clones suggesting host susceptibility in broilers plays an important role in APEC pathogenesis.
Measuring SCTP throughput and jitter over heterogeneous networks

Stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) is gaining ever more attention. Several proposals, based on simulation results, aiming to replace TCP with SCTP are present. To the best of our knowledge there are no available tools supporting SCTP traffic generation. In this work, to study the performance of SCTP in real heterogeneous (wired/wireless) scenarios, we provide some preliminary results in terms of throughput and jitter that we obtained using a tool we developed to support SCTP traffic generation in real networks. A comparison with TCP and UDP over the same scenarios is also present.
Evidence that TSC2 acts as a transcription factor and binds to and represses the promoter of Epiregulin

The TSC2 gene, mutated in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), encodes a 200 kDa protein TSC2 (tuberin). The importance of TSC2 in the regulation of cell growth and proliferation is irrefutable. TSC2 in complex with TSC1 negatively regulates the mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) via RHEB in the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway and in turn regulates cell proliferation. It shows nuclear as well as cytoplasmic localization. However, its nuclear function remains elusive. In order to identify the nuclear function of TSC2, a whole-genome expression profiling of TSC2 overexpressing cells was performed, and the results showed differential regulation of 266 genes. Interestingly, transcription was found to be the most populated functional category. EREG (Epiregulin), a member of the epidermal growth factor family, was found to be the most downregulated gene in the microarray analysis. Previous reports have documented elevated levels of EREG in TSC lesions, making its regulatory aspects intriguing. Using the luciferase reporter, ChIP and EMSA techniques, we show that TSC2 binds to the EREG promoter between −352 bp and −303 bp and negatively regulates its expression. This is the first evidence for the role of TSC2 as a transcription factor and of TSC2 binding to the promoter of any gene.
Cognitive Enhancement With Stimulants: Effects and Correlates

Does non-medical use of prescription stimulants improve healthy cognition? What distinguishes healthy users of ADHD medication from their peers? The present project examined stimulants’ cognitive enhancement effects and the psychological profile of non-medical stimulant users. Study 1, a double-blind, placebocontrolled experiment, found no enhancing effect of mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall) on healthy participants’ inhibitory control, working memory, episodic memory, convergent creativity, perceptual intelligence, and a standardized achievement test. No moderating effects of baseline performance or COMT genotype were detected. Despite the lack of enhancement observed for most measures and most participants, participants nevertheless believed their performance was more enhanced by the active capsule than by placebo. In Study 2, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether stimulants’ cognitive enhancement potential is truly non-existent or simply small. Based on 47 double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments, we found evidence for small effects of amphetamine and methylphenidate on inhibitory control, working memory and episodic memory. Given the absence of conclusive evidence for practically significant stimulant effects in healthy people, we conducted Study 3 to infer about the motives for use from users’ psychological profile. Non-medical stimulant use appeared more strongly related to individuals’ perceived attention functioning than to their objectively measured attentional performance. Users reported lower motivation during the laboratory attention test and described their everyday study habits as poorer than a control group with no history of stimulant use. Taken together, these data imply that enhancement users struggle with below-average functioning in one or several cognitive, affective and behavioral domains, possibly seeking stimulants to compensate for these problems. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Psychology First Advisor Martha J. Farah
Using ROC Curves to Choose Minimally Important Change Thresholds when Sensitivity and Specificity Are Valued Equally: The Forgotten Lesson of Pythagoras. Theoretical Considerations and an Example Application of Change in Health Status

Background Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves are being used to identify Minimally Important Change (MIC) thresholds on scales that measure a change in health status. In quasi-continuous patient reported outcome measures, such as those that measure changes in chronic diseases with variable clinical trajectories, sensitivity and specificity are often valued equally. Notwithstanding methodologists agreeing that these should be valued equally, different approaches have been taken to estimating MIC thresholds using ROC curves. Aims and objectives We aimed to compare the different approaches used with a new approach, exploring the extent to which the methods choose different thresholds, and considering the effect of differences on conclusions in responder analyses. Methods Using graphical methods, hypothetical data, and data from a large randomised controlled trial of manual therapy for low back pain, we compared two existing approaches with a new approach that is based on the addition of the sums of squares of 1-sensitivity and 1-specificity. Results There can be divergence in the thresholds chosen by different estimators. The cut-point selected by different estimators is dependent on the relationship between the cut-points in ROC space and the different contours described by the estimators. In particular, asymmetry and the number of possible cut-points affects threshold selection. Conclusion Choice of MIC estimator is important. Different methods for choosing cut-points can lead to materially different MIC thresholds and thus affect results of responder analyses and trial conclusions. An estimator based on the smallest sum of squares of 1-sensitivity and 1-specificity is preferable when sensitivity and specificity are valued equally. Unlike other methods currently in use, the cut-point chosen by the sum of squares method always and efficiently chooses the cut-point closest to the top-left corner of ROC space, regardless of the shape of the ROC curve.
Cross-lingual and cross-domain discourse segmentation of entire documents

Discourse segmentation is a crucial step in building end-to-end discourse parsers. However, discourse segmenters only exist for a few languages and domains. Typically they only detect intra-sentential segment boundaries, assuming gold standard sentence and token segmentation, and relying on high-quality syntactic parses and rich heuristics that are not generally available across languages and domains. In this paper, we propose statistical discourse segmenters for five languages and three domains that do not rely on gold pre-annotations. We also consider the problem of learning discourse segmenters when no labeled data is available for a language. Our fully supervised system obtains 89.5% F1 for English newswire, with slight drops in performance on other domains, and we report supervised and unsupervised (cross-lingual) results for five languages in total.
Differential Mechanisms of Recognition and Activation of Interleukin-8 Receptor Subtypes*

We have probed an epitope sequence (His18-Pro19-Lys20-Phe21) in interleukin-8 (IL-8) by site-directed mutagenesis. This work shows that single and double Ala substitutions of His18 and Phe21 in IL-8 reduced up to 77-fold the binding affinity to IL-8 receptor subtypes A (CXCR1) and B (CXCR2) and to the Duffy antigen. These Ala mutants triggered neutrophil degranulation and induced calcium responses mediated by CXCR1 and CXCR2. Single Asp or Ser substitutions, H18D, F21D, F21S, and double substitutions, H18A/F21D, H18A/F21S, and H18D/F21D, reduced up to 431-fold the binding affinity to CXCR1, CXCR2, and the Duffy antigen. Interestingly, double mutants with charged residue substitutions failed to trigger degranulation or to induce wild-type calcium responses mediated by CXCR1. Except for the H18A and F21A mutants, all other IL-8 mutants failed to induce superoxide production in neutrophils. This study demonstrates that IL-8 recognizes and activates CXCR1, CXCR2, and the Duffy antigen by distinct mechanisms.
On Fiscal Multipliers: Estimates from a Medium Scale DSGE Model

This article contributes to the debate on fiscal multipliers, in the context of an estimated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model, featuring a rich fiscal policy block and a transmission mechanism for government spending shocks. I find the multiplier for government spending to be 1.07, which is largest on impact. The multipliers for labor and capital tax on impact are 0.13 and 0.34, respectively. The effects of tax cuts take time to build and exceed stimulative effects of spending by 12–20 quarters. I carry out counterfactual exercises to show how alternative financing methods and expected monetary policy have consequences for the size of fiscal multipliers.
Exosomes from human umbilical cord blood accelerate cutaneous wound healing through miR-21-3p-mediated promotion of angiogenesis and fibroblast function

The application of blood plasma for soft tissue wound healing is receiving much more attention recently. Exosomes are critical paracrine mediators that can be obtained from biological fluids including plasma and be able to induce regenerative effects by transferring bioactive molecules such as microRNAs (miRNAs). This study aimed to investigate the effects of exosomes from human umbilical cord blood plasma (UCB-Exos) on wound healing and to elucidate the underlying mechanism. Methods: UCB-Exos were isolated by ultracentrifugation and subcutaneously injected into full-thickness skin wounds in mice. The efficacy of UCB-Exos on wound healing was evaluated by measuring wound closure rates, histological analysis and immunofluorescence examinations. In vitro, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis was performed to detect the expression levels of a class of miRNAs that have positive roles in regulating wound healing. The scratch wound assay, transwell assay and cell counting kit-8 analysis were conducted to assess the effects of UCB-Exos on migration and proliferation of human skin fibroblasts and endothelial cells. Tube formation assay was carried out to test the impact of UCB-Exos on angiogenic tube formation ability of endothelial cells. Meanwhile, by using specific RNA inhibitors or siRNAs, the roles of the candidate miRNA and its target genes in UCB-Exos-induced regulation of function of fibroblasts and endothelial cells were assessed. Results: The local transplantation of UCB-Exos into mouse skin wounds resulted in accelerated re-epithelialization, reduced scar widths, and enhanced angiogenesis. In vitro, UCB-Exos could promote the proliferation and migration of fibroblasts, and enhance the angiogenic activities of endothelial cells. Notably, miR-21-3p was found to be highly enriched in UCB-Exos and served as a critical mediator in UCB-Exos -induced regulatory effects through inhibition of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and sprouty homolog 1 (SPRY1). Conclusion: Our results suggest that UCB-Exos are important effectors of plasma activity and can be used as a novel promising strategy for soft tissue wound healing.
Autologous fat transplantation versus adipose-derived stem cell-enriched lipografts: a study.

BACKGROUND Several techniques for lipoinjection have been described in the literature. Recently, the role of adult stem cells in adipose tissue has gained interest. OBJECTIVES The authors compare autologous fat transplantation to adipose-derived stem cell-enriched lipografts. METHODS A group of 20 patients with congenital or acquired facial tissue defects were included in this study and randomly divided into two groups. Ten patients were treated with autologous fat transplantation (Group A; 12-165 mL per session), and the remaining ten were treated with adipose-derived stem cell-enriched lipografts (Group B; 8-155 mL per session). Overall patient satisfaction after both treatments was evaluated at six, 12, and 18 months after the initial surgical procedure. RESULTS In Group A, three patients achieved aesthetically-acceptable results after the first treatment; the remaining seven patients required additional sessions. In Group B, all patients required only one treatment. Analysis of patient satisfaction in the first six months clearly demonstrated better results in Group B. However, by the 18-month evaluation, there was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Adipose-derived stem cell-enriched lipografts produced aesthetically-acceptable results without the need for repeat treatment sessions, which are necessary with autologous fat transplantation. Further long-term studies are necessary to confirm the favorable results seen in this study.
Strategic Management of Expectations: The Role of Disconfirmation Sensitivity and Perfectionism

The authors suggest that people strategically manage—specifically, lower—their expectations to increase future satisfaction. Consumers who are more disconfirmation sensitive, that is, those who are more satisfied (dissatisfied) when a product performs better (worse) than expected, are hypothesized to have lower expectations. In contrast, the authors expect that consumers who are perfectionists will have higher expectations than those who are not. Results from a laboratory experiment and a field study are consistent with the hypotheses. Furthermore, the authors identify a possible third type of expectation (“as-if”) that serves as a basis for post-purchase evaluation and provide preliminary evidence that it differs from both will and should expectations.
Detecting Malicious Domains and Authoritative Name Servers Based on Their Distinct Mappings to IP Addresses

: As Domain Name System (DNS) provides ﬂexibility and robustness in communications of hosts on Internet, not only legitimate users but also attackers often take advantages of it. If we know how attackers are managing their malicious domains with authoritative name servers, there is a possibility to detect not only malicious domains but also malicious authoritative name servers. In this study, we present a novel method for detecting malicious “do-mains” (noted as d) and malicious “authoritative name servers” (noted as ns-d) based on their distinct mappings to “IP addresses” (noted as IP). Namely, we present three features to detect them; 1) Single ns-d is mapped to many IP, 2) Single IP is mapped to many ns-d, and 3) Single IP is mapped to both ns-d and d. We evaluate proposed method in terms of accuracy and coverage in detection of malicious d and ns-d. The evaluation shows that our detection method can achieve signiﬁcantly low false positive rate in detecting both malicious d and ns-d without relying on any previous knowledge, such as blacklists or whitelists.
A MATLAB subset to C compiler targeting embedded systems

This paper describes MATISSE, a compiler able to translate a MATLAB subset to C targeting embedded systems. MATISSE uses LARA, an aspect‐oriented programming language, to specify additional information and transformations to the input MATLAB code, for example, insertion of code for initialization of variables, and specification of types and shapes of variables. The compiler is being developed bearing in mind flexibility, multitarget and multitoolchain support, allowing for the generation of several implementations in C from the same reference code in MATLAB. In this paper, we also present a number of techniques being employed in MATLAB to C compilation, such as element‐wise mapping operations, matrix views, weak types, and intrinsics. We validate these techniques using MATISSE and a set of representative benchmarks. More specifically, we evaluate the compiler with a set of 31 benchmarks using an embedded system board and a desktop computer. The results show speedups up to 1.8× by employing information provided by LARA aspects, when compared with C code generated without additional user information. When compared with the execution time of the original code running on MATLAB, the execution time of the generated C code achieved a geometric mean speedup of 13×. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.