Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Colorectal Adenomas in a Randomized Folate Trial: The Role of Baseline Dietary and Circulating Folate Levels

The Aspirin/Folate Polyp Prevention Study is a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of aspirin use and folic acid supplementation and incidence of colorectal adenomas in individuals with a history of these lesions. The trial showed that folic acid supplementation does not prevent the occurrence of new adenomas and may increase risk. We extend these results by investigating whether the effect of folic acid treatment differed by baseline dietary and circulating folate levels. Diet and supplement use were ascertained at baseline through a food-frequency questionnaire; a blood sample was used to determine plasma and RBC folate levels. Individuals were followed for 3 years (first follow-up) and subsequently for an additional 3 to 5 years (second follow up). We used generalized linear regression to estimate risk ratios and 95% confidence limits as measures of association. There was little evidence that baseline dietary and total folate intake, and plasma and RBC folate modified the association between folic acid treatment and risk of any adenomas or advanced lesions. However, there was a protective association of the highest tertile of dietary and total intake as well as circulating folate with risk of any adenomas among those in the placebo group but no association among individuals in the folic acid group. Our findings support the idea that although moderate doses of folate may be protective compared with deficiency, at some point of sufficiency, supplementation provides no additional benefit. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(10):2625–31)
CoMaL: Good Features to Match on Object Boundaries

Traditional Feature Detectors and Trackers use information aggregation in 2D patches to detect and match discriminative patches. However, this information does not remain the same at object boundaries when there is object motion against a significantly varying background. In this paper, we propose a new approach for feature detection, tracking and re-detection that gives significantly improved results at the object boundaries. We utilize level lines or iso-intensity curves that often remain stable and can be reliably detected even at the object boundaries, which they often trace. Stable portions of long level lines are detected and points of high curvature are detected on such curves for corner detection. Further, this level line is used to separate the portions belonging to the two objects, which is then used for robust matching of such points. While such CoMaL (Corners on Maximally-stable Level Line Segments) points were found to be much more reliable at the object boundary regions, they perform comparably at the interior regions as well. This is illustrated in exhaustive experiments on realworld datasets.
Understanding Identity and Organizations

An understanding of identity is fundamental to a complete understanding of organizational life. While conventional management textbooks nod to in-groups, cohesion and discrimination, this text offers instead a deeper, more nuanced understanding of why people, groups and organizations behave the way they do. With conceptions of identity perhaps less stable than they have ever been, the authors make complex theoretical issues accessible to the reader through the use of lively examples from popular culture. The authors present an overview of the key issues, as well as an examination of cutting-edge research and topical forces currently redefining identity, such as globalisation, the fair trade movement and online identities. This text is a succinct, relevant and exciting overview of the field of identity studies as it relates to business and management and applied social sciences, an is an invaluable resource to undergraduate and postgraduate students of management on any course that has an identity component.
The anterior thalamus provides a subcortical circuit supporting memory and spatial navigation

The anterior thalamic nuclei (ATN), a central component of Papez' circuit, are generally assumed to be key constituents of the neural circuits responsible for certain categories of learning and memory. Supporting evidence for this contention is that damage to either of two brain regions, the medial temporal lobe and the medial diencephalon, is most consistently associated with anterograde amnesia. Within these respective regions, the hippocampal formation and the ATN (anteromedial, anteroventral, and anterodorsal) are the particular structures of interest. The extensive direct and indirect hippocampal-anterior thalamic interconnections and the presence of theta-modulated cells in both sites further support the hypothesis that these structures constitute a neuronal network crucial for memory and cognition. The major tool in understanding how the brain processes information is the analysis of neuronal output at each hierarchical level along the pathway of signal propagation coupled with neuroanatomical studies. Here, we discuss the electrophysiological properties of cells in the ATN with an emphasis on their role in spatial navigation. In addition, we describe neuroanatomical and functional relationships between the ATN and hippocampal formation.
Sequence Based Prediction of DNA-Binding Proteins Based on Hybrid Feature Selection Using Random Forest and Gaussian Naïve Bayes

Developing an efficient method for determination of the DNA-binding proteins, due to their vital roles in gene regulation, is becoming highly desired since it would be invaluable to advance our understanding of protein functions. In this study, we proposed a new method for the prediction of the DNA-binding proteins, by performing the feature rank using random forest and the wrapper-based feature selection using forward best-first search strategy. The features comprise information from primary sequence, predicted secondary structure, predicted relative solvent accessibility, and position specific scoring matrix. The proposed method, called DBPPred, used Gaussian naïve Bayes as the underlying classifier since it outperformed five other classifiers, including decision tree, logistic regression, k-nearest neighbor, support vector machine with polynomial kernel, and support vector machine with radial basis function. As a result, the proposed DBPPred yields the highest average accuracy of 0.791 and average MCC of 0.583 according to the five-fold cross validation with ten runs on the training benchmark dataset PDB594. Subsequently, blind tests on the independent dataset PDB186 by the proposed model trained on the entire PDB594 dataset and by other five existing methods (including iDNA-Prot, DNA-Prot, DNAbinder, DNABIND and DBD-Threader) were performed, resulting in that the proposed DBPPred yielded the highest accuracy of 0.769, MCC of 0.538, and AUC of 0.790. The independent tests performed by the proposed DBPPred on completely a large non-DNA binding protein dataset and two RNA binding protein datasets also showed improved or comparable quality when compared with the relevant prediction methods. Moreover, we observed that majority of the selected features by the proposed method are statistically significantly different between the mean feature values of the DNA-binding and the non DNA-binding proteins. All of the experimental results indicate that the proposed DBPPred can be an alternative perspective predictor for large-scale determination of DNA-binding proteins.
Oral hypoglycemic agents for gestational diabetes mellitus?

Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the most frequent medical complication of pregnancy, is associated with several adverse outcomes over the short- and long-term for both mother and offspring. Standard treatment for GDM consists of insulin injections. Oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs), on the other hand, are still the subject of controversy. Although OHAs are seemingly as efficient as insulin and may provide better quality of life, congenital malformations and unknown long-term effects are still feared. Areas covered: Recent data on the pharmacokinetics of two OHAs (glyburide and metformin) and their clinical use for GDM are reviewed, with a focus on clinical trials and observational studies comparing insulin with glyburide or metformin (1960 – 2010). The review will provide a comprehensive overview of the pros and cons of OHA usage, an appreciation of OHAs' efficiency for the purpose of controlling glycemia and embryogenetic basics relating to congenital malformations. Expert opinion: While insulin treatment is an effective therapy for controlling maternal glycemia, it nevertheless requires sufficient education and skills on the part of the patient to manage properly and may cause hypoglycemia, fear and anxiety. Oral treatment as a more user-friendly alternative may thus facilitate the control of GDM in some patients.
Group Counseling: A Developmental Approach

Chapter 1. The Globalization of International Relations Chapter 2. Realist Theories Chapter 3. Liberal and Social Theories Chapter 4. Conflict, War, and Terrorism Chapter 5. Trade and Finances Chapter 6. International Organization, Law, and Human Rights Chapter 7. North-South Relations Chapter 8. Environment and Technology
Substrate Turnover by Transporters Curtails Synaptic Glutamate Transients

Although inhibitors of glutamate transport prolong synaptic currents at many glutamate synapses, the cause of the current prolongation is unclear. Transport inhibitors may prolong synaptic currents by simply interfering with synaptic glutamate binding to transporters, by inhibiting substrate translocation, or by promoting accumulation of ambient glutamate, which may act cooperatively at receptors with synaptic glutamate. We show that reversal of the membrane potential of astrocytes surrounding the synapse prolongs synaptic currents but does not decrease the apparent affinity of transporters or significantly alter glutamate-dependent kinetics of macroscopic transporter currents in excised membrane patches. Positive membrane potentials do not affect binding of a nontransported glutamate analog, nor do positive membrane potentials alter the number of transporters available to bind analog. We also test the hypothesis that glutamate accumulation during uptake inhibition by transporter substrates is the direct cause of synaptic current prolongations. Transporter substrates elevate ambient glutamate near synapses by fostering reverse transport of endogenous glutamate. However, increases in ambient glutamate cannot account for the prolongations of synaptic currents, because a nonsubstrate transport inhibitor does not foster reverse uptake yet it prolongs synaptic currents. Moreover, exogenous glutamate does not mimic synaptic current prolongations induced by substrate inhibitors. These results provide strong support for a major role of substrate translocation in determining the time course of the glutamate concentration transient at excitatory synapses.
Doing cross-cultural research : ethical and methodological perspectives

Preface, Pranee Liamputtong. - Acknowledgement. Contributors. - Part I: Introduction and Conceptual Framework. 1. Doing Research in a Cross-Cultural Context: Methodological and Ethical Challenges Pranee Liamputtong. - 2. Language and Communication in Cross-Cultural Qualitative Research Monique M. Hennink. - 3. The Researcher as Insider Versus the Researcher as Outsider: Enhancing Rigour through Language and Cultural Sensitivity Fiona Irvine, Gwerfyl Roberts and Caroline Bradbury-Jones. - 4. Respecting Culture: Research with Rural Aboriginal Community Jennene Greenhill and Kerry Dix. - 5. Kaupapa Maori Research, Supervision and Uncertainty: 'What's a Pakeha Fella to Do? ' Clive C. Pope. - Part 2: Ethical and Methodological Perspectives. 6. Researching Anger in Indigenous Men in Prison: A Perspective from Non-Indigenous Researchers Linda Davy and Andrew Day. - 7. Researching Refugees: Methodological and Ethical Considerations Robert Schweitzer and Zachary Steel. - 8. The Ethics and Politics of Researching HIV/AIDS Within the School Context in South Africa Labby Ramrathan. 9. Exploring Ethical Issues When Using Visual Tools in Qualitatitve Research Doria Daniels. - Part 3: Methodological Consideration. 10. Decolonised Methodologies in Cross-Cultural Research April Vannini and Coreen Gladue. - 11. 'Living on the Ground': Research which Sustains Living Culture Zohl de Ishtar. - 12. Researching With Aboriginal Men: A Desert Experience Brian F. McCoy. - 13. Creating Collaborative Visions with Aboriginal Women: A Photovoice Project Carolyn Brooks, Jennifer Poudrier and Roanne Thomas-MacLean. - 14. Participatory Photography in Cross-Cultural Research: A Case Study of Investigating Farmer Groups in Rural Mozambique Elisabeth Gotschi, Bernhard Freyer and Robert Delve. - 15. On the Use of Focus Groups in Cross-Cultural Research Erminia Colucci. - 16. Let's Tell You a Story: Use of Vignettes in Focus Group Discussions on HIV/AIDS Among Migrant and Mobile Men in Goa, India Ajay Bailey. - 17. Face-to-Face Versus Online Focus Groups in Two Different Countries: Do Qualitative Data Collection Strategies Work the Same Way in Different Cultural Contexts? Guendalina Graffigna, Albino Claudio Bosio and Karin Olson. - 18. Refining the Occupation of Research Across Cultures Anne Shordike, Clare Hocking, Soisuda Vittayakorn, Wannipa Bunrayong, Phuanjai Rattakorn, Valerie Wright St.-Clair and Doris Pierce.
Regional resilience and national party system change: India's 2014 general elections in context

For the first time in 30 years, a single national party has won a majority on its own in the Indian parliament, and does not depend on the support of regional party allies for a parliamentary majority. Yet it is too soon to pronounce the decline or marginalisation of regional parties in India's national political life. The aggregate performance of regional parties remained resilient in the 2014 elections, even marginally improving over 2009. This article considers whether the 2014 elections mark a critical break in the position of regional parties at the national level. The principal argument is that the 2014 elections do not reflect a fundamental alteration in the dynamics of political regionalisation. Rather they suggest a new phase in the impact of regionalisation on the party system at the national level. In a landscape of continually increasing voter choice, electoral outcomes at the national level have begun to narrow to favour a smaller range of parties since 2004. The number of parties able to achieve influence via participation in cabinet governance or coalition has begun to decline. Political fragmentation has not gone away, but its consequences for election outcomes have changed.
Le questionnaire de soutien social de Sarason (SSQ6). Une adaptation française

Cette etude se propose de mettre a l'epreuve la generalite de la structure bifactorielle de l'echelle abregee de soutien social de Sarason (SSQ6) qui mesure deux dimensions du soutien social (satisfaction et disponibilite). La version francaise du SSQ6 a ete administree a 869 adultes francais (303 femmes, 566 hommes) confrontes a des situations plus ou moins stressantes (vie etudiante, chomage, maladie ou handicap severe). Des analyses confirmatoires ont ete entreprises sur toute la population et sur les sous-groupes (etudiants / patients / chomeurs; hommes /femmes). Elles confirment la stabilite de la structure factorielle du SSQ6 (entre groupes et entre cultures). En outre, les deux dimensions du SSQ6 (satisfaction et disponibilite du soutien) sont associees a des processus transactionnels fonctionnels (coping actif, styles de vie sains) et a divers criteres de sante emotionnelle et somatique.
The Deterministic Information Bottleneck

Lossy compression and clustering fundamentally involve a decision about which features are relevant and which are not. The information bottleneck method (IB) by Tishby, Pereira, and Bialek (1999) formalized this notion as an information-theoretic optimization problem and proposed an optimal trade-off between throwing away as many bits as possible and selectively keeping those that are most important. In the IB, compression is measured by mutual information. Here, we introduce an alternative formulation that replaces mutual information with entropy, which we call the deterministic information bottleneck (DIB) and argue better captures this notion of compression. As suggested by its name, the solution to the DIB problem turns out to be a deterministic encoder, or hard clustering, as opposed to the stochastic encoder, or soft clustering, that is optimal under the IB. We compare the IB and DIB on synthetic data, showing that the IB and DIB perform similarly in terms of the IB cost function, but that the DIB significantly outperforms the IB in terms of the DIB cost function. We also empirically find that the DIB offers a considerable gain in computational efficiency over the IB, over a range of convergence parameters. Our derivation of the DIB also suggests a method for continuously interpolating between the soft clustering of the IB and the hard clustering of the DIB.
Hormonal Regulation of the Rat Small Intestine: Responsiveness of Villus and Crypt Cells to Insulin during the Suckling Period and Unresponsiveness after Weaning

ABSTRACT: To further document the effect of insulin on intestinal maturation, suckling rats were treated either with exogenous insulin (12.5 mU · g body wt, intraperitoneally, twice daily) or with saline from d 8 to 12 postpartum. Sucrase activity in brush border membrane extracts was precociously induced by insulin, whereas the activities of other brush border membrane enzymes (maltase, aminopeptidase, and neutral lactase) were enhanced (+30 to +131%,p < 0.01 versus controls). The lysosomal enzyme, N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, which normally declines at weaning was significantly (p < 0.025) decreased in both villus (-51%) and crypt cells (-57%) isolated from the jejunum of insulin-treated rats. The microsomal enzyme, sulfatase C, and the cytosolic enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, were also sensitive to insulin with decreases in activity ranging from -37 to -63% (p < 0.05) compared to salinetreated control rats. Insulin at doses of 0.5 or 12.5 mU did not influence plasma total corticosterone levels, which were about 9-fold lower in suckling than in 25-d-old weaned rats. In weaned rats (from d 25 to 32) insulin treatment (12.5 mU) failed to influence the activity of brush border membrane hydrolases or of lysosomal, microsomal, and cytosolic enzymes. The synthesis rate of mature sucraseisomaltase, measured in weaned rats (32 d) by the incorporation of 14C-leucine into the enzyme precursor protein, was equivalent in both groups. These data demonstrate that the immature enterocyte of the suckling rat is responsive to insulin, whereas the mature enterocyte of the weaned rat is unresponsive. The effect of insulin on the intestinal cell appears not to be mediated via an endogenous stimulation of corticosterone release.
Inhibition of NF-kappaB signaling by fenofibrate, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha ligand, presents a therapeutic strategy for rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVES Inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha play an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by promoting chronic inflammation and joint damage. NF-kappaB is a transcriptional activator of genes for these cytokines. It also plays an important role in the regulation of osteoclast differentiation which plays a key role in joint destruction in RA. Ligands for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) -gamma have recently been reported to inhibit the development of RA. In this study, we investigated the role of PPARalpha in RA. METHODS We analyzed the protein expression of PPAR-alpha and -gamma in rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts (RSF) from RA patients and analyzed the effects of ligands for PPAR-alpha and -gamma on cytokine production from RSF NF-kappaB activations in RSF and osteoclast differentiation from osteocalst progenitor in the peripheral blood. Moreover, we analyzed the effects of oral administration of PPAR-alpha and -gamma ligands on the development of adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) in female Lewis rats. RESULTS We confirmed the expression of PPAR-alpha in RSF and also demonstrated that fenofibrate, a ligand for PPAR-alpha, inhibited cytokine production from RSF, NF- kappaB activation in RSF, and osteoclast differentiation from osteoclast progenitor cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that fenofibrate inhibits the development of arthritis in a rat model of human RA. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that fenofibrate suppresses the development of arthritis by inhibition of NF-kappaB signaling; therefore, this compound offers possible anti-rheumatic drug.
Early Literacy Research

This article shares recent research findings in early literacy that every primary grade teacher has had questions about at one time or another ranging from handwriting to phonemic awareness, writing to concepts about print, and more. The article reports research that elaborates upon and extends early literacy research that was reported by the National Early Literacy Panel Report in 2008.
A Virtual Community of Practice for General Practice Training: A Preimplementation Survey

Background Professional isolation is an important factor in low rural health workforce retention. Objective The aim of this study was to gain insights to inform the development of an implementation plan for a virtual community of practice (VCoP) for general practice (GP) training in regional Australia. The study also aimed to assess the applicability of the findings of an existing framework in developing this plan. This included ascertaining the main drivers of usage, or usefulness, of the VCoP for users and establishing the different priorities between user groups. Methods A survey study, based on the seven-step health VCoP framework, was conducted with general practice supervisors and registrars—133 usable responses; 40% estimated response rate. Data was analyzed using the t test and the chi-square test for comparisons between groups. Factor analysis and generalized linear regression modeling were used to ascertain factors which may independently predict intention to use the VCoP. Results In establishing a VCoP, facilitation was seen as important. Regarding stakeholders, the GP training provider was an important sponsor. Factor analysis showed a single goal of usefulness. Registrars had a higher intention to use the VCoP (P<.001) and to perceive it as useful (P<.001) than supervisors. Usefulness independently predicted intention to actively use the VCoP (P<.001). Regarding engagement of a broad church of users, registrars were more likely than supervisors to want allied health professional and specialist involvement (P<.001). A supportive environment was deemed important, but most important was the quality of the content. Participants wanted regular feedback about site activity. Regarding technology and community, training can be online, but trust is better built face-to-face. Supervisors were significantly more likely than registrars to perceive that registrars needed help with knowledge (P=.01) and implementation of knowledge (P<.001). Conclusions Important factors for a GP training VCoP include the following: facilitation covering administration and expertise, the perceived usefulness of the community, focusing usefulness around knowledge sharing, and overcoming professional isolation with high-quality content. Knowledge needs of different users should be acknowledged and help can be provided online, but trust is better built face-to-face. In conclusion, the findings of the health framework for VCoPs are relevant when developing an implementation plan for a VCoP for GP training. The main driver of success for a GP training VCoP is the perception of its usefulness by participants. Overcoming professional isolation for GP registrars using a VCoP has implications for training and retention of health workers in rural areas.