Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Food consumption and expenditures in Singapore: implications to Malaysia’s agricultural exports

Imports are the only source of food supply to Singapore. Such condition offers a very attractive proposition for agricultural oriented countries. The dependence on type of food imports is determined by consumer demand. This study intends to do an exploratory study on the current conditions of Singaporean food consumption and expenditures with implications on Malaysia as an important agricultural exporting country to Singapore. It is identified that Singaporean consumers tend to demand for high quality poultry, pork, seafood, vegetables, and fruits in future, particularly in response to income growth. At the mean time, Malaysia is seemingly rich in the production of these food commodities and commits to exports for the excess of the supplies. While facing competition from various countries, Malaysia still possesses various competitive advantages over the other countries.
Prevention and management of chemotherapy-induced diarrhea in patients with colorectal cancer: a consensus statement by the Canadian Working Group on Chemotherapy-Induced Diarrhea

Chemotherapy-induced diarrhea (cid) is a common side effect of cancer treatment and can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Diarrhea is frequently severe enough to require a dose reduction of, a delay in, or a discontinuation of chemotherapy. Diarrhea-associated mortality has been reported to be as high as 3.5% in clinical trials of irinotecan and bolus 5-fluorouracil in colorectal cancer. The frequency of cid and its impact on patient management are frequently under-recognized in clinical practice. A Canadian working group, consisting of medical oncologists and an oncology pharmacist, was formed in 2001 to review the optimal approach to managing cid and to identify and implement new areas of research. The recommendations that follow are the result of the group’s work. Acute medical management of cid includes loperamide or diphenoxylate as first-line agents. Subcutaneous octreotide is recommended for intractable grade 2 diarrhea and may be considered for grade 1 cid that does not resolve with high-dose loperamide. Hospitalization is recommended for patients with grades 3 and 4 cid; in-hospital care includes rehydration, antibiotic therapy, and octreotide. A chemotherapy dose reduction is generally advised for patients who have experienced grade 3 or 4 diarrhea in a previous chemotherapy cycle. If a dose reduction is not desired, prophylaxis with intramuscular long-acting release octreotide may be considered. The foregoing recommendations are based on expert opinion and require validation in prospective clinical trials.
Linking extracurricular involvement and integration to college life: a survey of second semester freshmen

by Matthew S. Starnes The few brief months between the last semester of high school and first semester in college represent a substantial period of change in the lives of students. This study utilized a survey of second semester college freshmen to explore students’ extracurricular involvement during their senior year of high school and first semester in college in relationship to their academic performance and responses to three self-assessment scales: motivation, self-esteem, and communication apprehension. The study did not find a significant relationship between level of student involvement and academic performance or perceived motivation, self-esteem, or communication apprehension. LINKING EXTRACURRICULAR INVOLVEMENT AND INTEGRATION TO COLLEGE LIFE: A SURVEY OF SECOND SEMESTER FRESHMEN by Matthew S. Starnes A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Communication and Sociology University of Central Missouri
Using Monte Carlo simulations to determine power and sample size for planned missing designs

Planned missing data designs allow researchers to increase the amount and quality of data collected in a single study. Unfortunately, the effect of planned missing data designs on power is not straightforward. Under certain conditions using a planned missing design will increase power, whereas in other situations using a planned missing design will decrease power. Thus, when designing a study utilizing planned missing data researchers need to perform a power analysis. In this article, we describe methods for power analysis and sample size determination for planned missing data designs using Monte Carlo simulations. We also describe a new, more efficient method of Monte Carlo power analysis, software that can be used in these approaches, and several examples of popular planned missing data designs.
Epicatechin Gallate Induces Cell Death via p53 Activation and Stimulation of p38 and JNK in Human Colon Cancer SW480 Cells

The tea flavonoid epicatechin gallate (ECG) exhibits a wide range of biological activities. In this study, the in vitro anticancer effects of ECG on SW480 colon cancer cell line was investigated by analyzing the cell cycle, apoptosis, key proteins involved in cellular survival/proliferation, namely AKT/phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and the role of p53 in these processes. ECG induced cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1-S phase border associated with the stimulation of p21, p-p53, and p53 and the suppression of cyclins D1 and B1. Exposure of SW480 cells to ECG also led to apoptosis as determined by time-dependent changes in caspase-3 activity, MAPKs [extracellular regulated kinase (ERK), p38, and c-jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK)], p21 and p53 activation, and AKT inhibition. The presence of pifithrin, an inhibitor of p53 function, blocked ECG-induced apoptosis as was manifested by restored cell viability and caspase-3 activity to control values and reestablished the balance among Bcl-2 anti- and proapoptotic protein levels. Interestingly, ECG also inhibited p53 protein and RNA degradation, contributing to the stabilization of p53. In addition, JNK and p38 have been identified as necessary for ECG-induced apoptosis, upon activation by p53. The results suggest that the activation of the p53-p38/JNK cascade is required for ECG-induced cell death in SW480 cells.
DNA microarray‐based analysis of voluntary resistance wheel running reveals novel transcriptome leading robust hippocampal plasticity

In two separate experiments, voluntary resistance wheel running with 30% of body weight (RWR), rather than wheel running (WR), led to greater enhancements, including adult hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive functions, in conjunction with hippocampal brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling (Lee et al., J Appl Physiol, 2012; Neurosci Lett., 2013). Here we aimed to unravel novel molecular factors and gain insight into underlying molecular mechanisms for RWR‐enhanced hippocampal functions; a high‐throughput whole‐genome DNA microarray approach was applied to rats performing voluntary running for 4 weeks. RWR rats showed a significant decrease in average running distances although average work levels increased immensely, by about 11‐fold compared to WR, resulting in muscular adaptation for the fast‐twitch plantaris muscle. Global transcriptome profiling analysis identified 128 (sedentary × WR) and 169 (sedentary × RWR) up‐regulated (>1.5‐fold change), and 97 (sedentary × WR) and 468 (sedentary × RWR) down‐regulated (<0.75‐fold change) genes. Functional categorization using both pathway‐ or specific‐disease‐state‐focused gene classifications and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) revealed expression pattern changes in the major categories of disease and disorders, molecular functions, and physiological system development and function. Genes specifically regulated with RWR include the newly identified factors of NFATc1, AVPR1A, and FGFR4, as well as previously known factors, BDNF and CREB mRNA. Interestingly, RWR down‐regulated multiple inflammatory cytokines (IL1B, IL2RA, and TNF) and chemokines (CXCL1, CXCL10, CCL2, and CCR4) with the SYCP3, PRL genes, which are potentially involved in regulating hippocampal neuroplastic changes. These results provide understanding of the voluntary‐RWR‐related hippocampal transcriptome, which will open a window to the underlying mechanisms of the positive effects of exercise, with therapeutic value for enhancing hippocampal functions.
Expression and prognostic value of WISP‐1 in patients with endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma

Aim: It has been well established that the aberrant activation of the Wnt/β‐catenin signal correlates to endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EEC). As an effector of the Wnt/β‐catenin mediated antiapoptotic signal, the role of Wnt‐induced secreted protein‐1 (WISP‐1) in EEC still remains unclear.
‘Thrash yourself Thursday’: the production of the ‘healthy’ child through a fitness-based PE practice

Saturating the Canadian landscape are media and health industry discourses representing childhood physical ‘(in)activity’ and ‘obesity’ as being at ‘epidemic’ proportion. Increasingly identified as a focus of concern within such representations is the school setting, simultaneously positioned both as a cause of and a key institutional site for redressing these ‘pathologies’. Drawing on qualitative research carried out at a Canadian elementary school, this discussion offers a Foucaultian governmental analysis of one school's navigation of this gauntlet of accountability to improve children's health. Specifically, the school-wide fitness-based initiative known as ‘Thrash yourself Thursdays’, whose objective is the production of ‘healthy’ students, is examined to understand the power relations enacted through it, and how the target of this practice (i.e. the children) negotiated such efforts to shape their bodily conduct. This in turn, offers a unique contribution to the governmental literature, which is more characterised by attending to discourses and strategies of government rather than how the subjects of such strategies respond to such efforts.
Self-Regulatory Skills Usage Strengthens the Relations of Self-Efficacy for Improved Eating, Exercise, and Weight in the Severely Obese: Toward an Explanatory Model

Lack of success with behavioral weight-management treatments indicates a need for a better understanding of modifiable psychological correlates. Adults with class 2 and 3 obesity (N = 183; Mean BMI = 42.0 kg/m2) volunteered for a 26-week nutrition and exercise treatment, based on social cognitive theory, that focused on self-efficacy and self-regulation applied to increasing cardiovascular exercise and fruit and vegetable consumption. Improved self-efficacy for controlled eating significantly predicted increased fruit and vegetable consumption (R 2 = .15). Improved self-efficacy for exercise significantly predicted increased exercise (R 2 = .46). When changes in self-regulatory skill usage were stepped into the 2 previous equations, the variances accounted for significantly increased. Increases in fruit and vegetable consumption and exercise significantly predicted weight loss (R 2 = .38). Findings suggest that behavioral theory should guide research on weight-loss treatment, and a focus on self-efficacy and self-regulatory skills applied to specific nutrition and exercise behaviors is warranted.
BEYOND THE RULES: THE EFFECT OF OUTCOME FAVOURABILITY ON RED TAPE PERCEPTIONS

The underlying reasoning of much red tape research is that the level of rule burden, in terms of resources expended at implementing and complying with specific rules, is the main driver of red tape perceptions. In this study we challenge this claim and argue that stakeholder red tape perceptions are also affected by the favourability of the outcome. More specifically, if a certain rule or procedure has a positive outcome for a certain stakeholder, then this stakeholder will perceive lower levels of red tape, irrespective of rule burden. Using a survey experiment (n=81), we show how variations in red tape perceptions are affected in equal measure by rule burden and outcome. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for red tape scholars, in particular the need to further understand the relationships between red tape perceptions and rule procedures and outcomes.
Childhood maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and body dissatisfaction in patients with binge eating disorder: the mediating role of self-criticism.

OBJECTIVE We examined the mediating role of self-criticism in the relation between childhood maltreatment and both depressive symptoms and body dissatisfaction in patients with binge eating disorder (BED). METHOD Participants were 170 BED patients who completed measures of childhood maltreatment, self-criticism, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and body dissatisfaction. RESULTS Specific forms of childhood maltreatment (emotional abuse, sexual abuse) were significantly associated with body dissatisfaction. Path analyses demonstrated that self-criticism fully mediated the relation between emotional abuse and both depressive symptoms and body dissatisfaction. Specificity for the mediating role of self-criticism was demonstrated in comparison to other potential mediators (low self-esteem) and alternative competing mediation models. DISCUSSION These results highlight self-criticism as a potential mechanism through which certain forms of childhood maltreatment may be associated with depressive symptoms and body dissatisfaction in BED patients.
THE EFFECTS OF MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY: A QUALITATIVE APPROACH

indfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) isthe result of integrating Cognitive Therapy withKabat-Zinn’s (1985) Mindfulness-Based StressReduction (MBSR) program. The treatment involves atotal of 8 weekly two-hour sessions. In the sessions, par-ticipants are taught to meditate in groups and given home-work tasks (self-recording of thoughts, feelings and emo-tions, meditation practice with a CD guide, etc.). The cre-ators of MBCT, J. Teasdale, Z. Segal and M. Williams setout to find a group-based alternative within cognitivetherapy based on the conclusions they had reached in theirtheoretical model, the ICS for the prevention of relapsesin depression. According to this model, psychologicalintervention should train the capacity to redirect attentiontoward cognitive modes that break with the mechanism ofdepression which can trigger a relapse into a depressiveepisode. Their objective was to create a group treatmentfor training attention, and which would offer new mentalmodes and forms of dealing with one’s own thoughts,thus impeding access to depressive mechanisms. In theirquest for a suitable group treatment for this type ofapproach they came across Jon Kabat-Zinn and hisMindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program atthe University of Massachusetts. This is a therapeutic pro-gram that has been validated as effective in the reductionof stress, and has been studied above all in medical ill-nesses in which the stress component is a key element intheir development.The strategy for avoiding relapses, according toMBCT, is to help patients rid themselves of these self-perpetuating and ruminative processes when they feelsad, since behind such ruminative processes is theconcept of a “discrepancy”: the current state iscontinually checked against the desired, required orexpected state. That is, the person is constantlycomparing “how he/she is” with “how he/she ought tobe” and measuring the distance between them. Theessence of Mindfulness is the intentional use of attentionfor establishing an alternative configuration ofinformation processing, which is incompatible with theconfiguration of the depressive mechanism (Teasdale,1999). Training in Mindfulness increases the
Consumption and Labor Supply with Partial Insurance: An Analytical Framework

This paper studies consumption and labor supply in a model where agents have partial insurance and face risk and initial heterogeneity in wages and preferences. Equilibrium allocations and variances and covariances of wages, hours and consumption are solved for analytically. We prove that all parameters of the structural model are identified given panel data on wages and hours, and cross-sectional data on consumption. The model is estimated on US data. Second moments involving hours and consumption show that the rise in wage dispersion in the 1970s was effectively insured by households, while the rise in the 1980s was not.
Influence of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the Right Angular Gyrus on Brain Activity during Rest

Although numerous studies examined resting-state networks (RSN) in the human brain, so far little is known about how activity within RSN might be modulated by non-invasive brain stimulation applied over parietal cortex. Investigating changes in RSN in response to parietal cortex stimulation might tell us more about how non-invasive techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulate intrinsic brain activity, and further elaborate our understanding of how the resting brain responds to external stimulation. Here we examined how activity within the canonical RSN changed in response to anodal tDCS applied over the right angular gyrus (AG). We hypothesized that changes in resting-state activity can be induced by a single tDCS session and detected with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Significant differences between two fMRI sessions (pre-tDCS and post-tDCS) were found in several RSN, including the cerebellar, medial visual, sensorimotor, right frontoparietal, and executive control RSN as well as the default mode and the task positive network. The present results revealed decreased and increased RSN activity following tDCS. Decreased RSN activity following tDCS was found in bilateral primary and secondary visual areas, and in the right putamen. Increased RSN activity following tDCS was widely distributed across the brain, covering thalamic, frontal, parietal and occipital regions. From these exploratory results we conclude that a single session of anodal tDCS over the right AG is sufficient to induce large-scale changes in resting-state activity. These changes were localized in sensory and cognitive areas, covering regions close to and distant from the stimulation site.
Determinants of patient satisfaction with cancer care delivered by the Danish healthcare system

Patient‐reported quality of care, which is often measured by patients' overall rating of care, is gaining more attention within the field of oncology. The aim of this study was to examine factors that determine adult cancer patients' overall rating of prediagnosis care (PDC) and care provided during treatment (CDT).
Possible decline of the carbon sink in the Mongolian Plateau during the 21st century

The Mongolian Plateau is dominated by grassland ecosystems. It frequently experiences drought and is underlain by permafrost in the north. Its complex responses of plant carbon uptake and soil carbon release to climate change are considered to have affected the global carbon cycle during the 21st century. Here we combine spatially explicit information on vegetation, soils, topography and climate with a process-based biogeochemistry model to assess the carbon responses for the 20th and 21st centuries. We estimate the region acted as a C sink of 31 Tg C yr−1 in the 1990s, but that this sink will likely decline in both magnitude and extent under future climate conditions. This change is due to the relatively larger enhancement of soil organic matter decomposition, which releases carbon to the atmosphere, than the corresponding enhancement of plant C uptake, by rising temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Future plant C uptake rates are expected to become more limited due to drier soils caused by increasing evapotranspiration rates. Complex soil thermal and moisture dynamics result in large interannual and spatial variability as a consequence of the different rates of change of air temperature and precipitation in this region.
Uwa Research Publication

Mutations in the skeletal muscle α-actin gene (ACTA1) cause a range of congenital myopathies characterised by muscle weakness and specific skeletal muscle structural lesions. Actin accumulations, nemaline and intranuclear bodies, fibre type disproportion, cores, caps, dystrophic features and zebra bodies have all been seen in biopsies from patients with ACTA1 disease, with patients frequently presenting with multiple pathologies. Therefore increasingly it is considered that these entities may represent a continuum of structural abnormalities arising due to ACTA1 mutations. Recently an ACTA1 mutation has also been associated with a hypertonic clinical presentation with nemaline bodies. While multiple genes are known to cause many of the pathologies associated with ACTA1 mutations, to date actin aggregates, intranuclear rods and zebra bodies have solely been attributed to ACTA1 mutations. Approximately 200 different ACTA1 mutations have been identified, with 90% resulting in dominant disease and 10% resulting in recessive disease. Despite extensive research into normal actin function and the functional consequences of ACTA1 mutations in cell culture, animal models and patient tissue, the mechanisms underlying muscle weakness and the formation of structural lesions remains largely unknown. Whilst precise mechanisms are being grappled with, headway is being made in terms of developing therapeutics for ACTA1 disease, with gene therapy (specifically reducing the amount of mutant skeletal muscle α-actin protein) and pharmacological agents showing promising results in animal models and patient muscle. The use of small molecules to sensitise the contractile apparatus to Ca is a promising therapeutic for patients with various neuromuscular disorders, including ACTA1 disease.
The Use and Misuse of the “Minorities at Risk” Project

The “Minorities at Risk” (MAR) project and data have offered an innovative, systematic view of communal and ethnic groups. By collecting detailed information on groups that are mobilized and/or discriminated against, and thus “at risk,” MAR has allowed researchers to offer new insights in many areas dealing with relationships among groups. However, scholars have also used this dataset in ways for which it was not designed or is hardly appropriate. This article offers an overview of the main contributions of MAR and identifies research questions for which the MAR data have to be used with care.
The Nature of the View from Home

Depending on what is in the view, looking out the window may provide numerous opportunities for restoration. Unlike other restorative opportunities, however, window viewing is more frequent and for brief moments at a time. The setting is also experienced from afar rather than while being in it. A study conducted at six low-rise apartment communities, using a survey with both verbal and visual material, provides considerable support for the premise that having natural elements or settings in the view from the window contributes substantially to residents’ satisfaction with their neighborhood and with diverse aspects of their sense of well-being. Views of built elements, by contrast, affected satisfaction but not well-being. Views of the sky and weather did not have a substantial effect on either outcome. The potential of nature content in the view from home to contribute so significantly to satisfaction and well-being suggests clear action mandates.