Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Food Intake and Respiratory Quotient in Mice

It is a generally accepted principle that the respiratory quotient is influenced by the composition of the food eaten, but the effect on it of the quantity of food seems to have been neglected. Occasional papers can be found which contain data showing an increase in R.Q. at higher intakes (e.g. Williams, Riche & LuSk, 1912; Forbes, Swift, Elliott & James, 1946)) but the levels used are too few to just@ quantitative inferences. One reason for this omission is undoubtedly that the field has been dominated by the important conception of ‘basal metabolism’, so that most studies have been carried out on animals in the post-absorptive state, and periods of observation have tended to be short. The evidence for a quantitative relationship between R.Q. and food intake which is presented in this paper is derived from observations made over 24 hr. periods on animals provided with food and drink.
Postoperative aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index change predicts prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma

AbstractAn elevated preoperative aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI) is reported to be a prognostic factor for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after treatment. However, delta APRI (&Dgr;APRI), which represents the change from preoperative to postoperative APRI, has received little attention. The present study was designed to evaluate the prognostic value of &Dgr;APRI in patients with small HCC after liver resection.A retrospective cohort study analyzing 244 patients with small HCC who had undergone liver resection was conducted. Medical data were retrieved from our prospectively maintained database. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to &Dgr;APRI as follows: group A (&Dgr;APRI ≥0.02) and group B (&Dgr;APRI <0.02). The association of demographic and clinical data, overall survival (OS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were statistically compared in the 2 groups, and a multivariate analysis was used to identify prognostic factors.The 1, 3, and 5-year OS of patients in group A were 94.2%, 79.5%, and 62.3%, respectively, and 95.1%, 87.9%, and 84.6%, respectively, for patients in group B (P = 0.001). The corresponding 1, 3, and 5-year RFS was 69.0%, 44.7 %, and 28.1%, and 77.4%, 57.0%, and 54.2% for patients in the 2 groups, respectively (P = 0.009). The results of a multivariate analysis indicated that &Dgr;APRI was an independent prognostic factor for both OS (P = 0.001, hazard ratio 3.115, 95% confidence interval 1.642–5.912) and RFS (P = 0.006, hazard ratio 1.689, 95% confidence interval 1.163–2.452). A positive &Dgr;APRI after liver resection predicts decreased OS and RFS in patients with small HCC.
A versatile quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm

This study points out some weaknesses of existing quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithms (QEA) and explains in particular how hitchhiking phenomena can slow down the discovery of optimal solutions and encourage premature convergence. A new algorithm, called versatile quantum- inspired evolutionary algorithm (vQEA), is proposed. With vQEA, the attractors moving the population through the search space are replaced at every generation without considering their fitness. The new algorithm is much more reactive. It always adapts the search toward the last promising solution found thus leading to a smoother and more efficient exploration. In this paper, vQEA is tested and compared to a classical genetic algorithm CGA and to a QEA on several benchmark problems. Experiments have shown that vQEA performs better than both CGA and QEA in terms of speed and accuracy. It is a highly scalable algorithm as well. Finally, the properties of the vQEA are discussed and compared to estimation of distribution algorithms (EDA).
Stromal Cells Are the Main Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor‐1‐Producing Cells in Human Fat: Evidence of Differences Between Visceral and Subcutaneous Deposits

&NA; Elevated plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)‐1 observed during insulin resistance has been connected with an excessive PAI‐1 adipose tissue secretion mainly by visceral fat. Our aim was to compare the localization of PAI‐1 in human visceral and subcutaneous fats. PAI‐1 secretion was also investigated in vitro during human adipocyte differentiation. PAI‐1 antigen and mRNA were localized in the stromal area of the tissue and were also present in a few CD14‐positive monocytes, in direct contact with adipocytes. In addition, in subcutaneous tissue, PAI‐1 mRNA contents, determined by using real‐time polymerase chain reaction, were higher in the stromal fraction than in the adipocyte fraction. PAI‐1 mRNA‐positive cells were 5‐fold more frequent in the visceral area than in the subcutaneous stromal area (P=0.004). Such a difference was also observed for PAI‐1 mRNA content between both whole adipose tissues. In contrast to leptin, during adipocyte differentiation, PAI‐1 secretion did not follow adipocyte maturation. In situ hybridization in culture did not reveal PAI‐1 mRNA in lipid‐filled cells. Our results demonstrate that PAI‐1 production is mainly due to stromal cells, which were more numerous in the visceral than in the subcutaneous depot. These results could explain the strong relationship observed between circulating PAI‐1 levels and the accumulation of visceral fat.
HIV Vaccine: Recent Advances, Current Roadblocks, and Future Directions

HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In spite of successful interventions and treatment protocols, an HIV vaccine would be the ultimate prevention and control strategy. Ever since identification of HIV/AIDS, there have been meticulous efforts for vaccine development. The specific aim of this paper is to review recent vaccine efficacy trials and associated advancements and discuss the current challenges and future directions. Recombinant DNA technologies greatly facilitated development of many viral products which were later incorporated into vectors for effective vaccines. Over the years, a number of scientific approaches have gained popularity and include the induction of neutralizing antibodies in late 1980s, induction of CD8 T cell in early 1990s, and combination approaches currently. Scientists have hypothesized that stimulation of right sequences of somatic hypermutations could induce broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) capable of effective neutralization and viral elimination. Studies have shown that a number of host and viral factors affect these processes. Similarly, eliciting specific CD8 T cells immune responses through DNA vaccines hold future promises. In summary, future studies should focus on the continuous fight between host immune responses and ever-evasive viral factors for effective vaccines.
Classification of multi-sensor remote sensing images using an adaptive hierarchical Markovian model

In this paper, we propose a novel method for the classification of the multi-sensor remote sensing imagery, which represents a vital and fairly unexplored classification problem. The proposed classifier is based on an explicit hierarchical graph-based model sufficiently flexible to deal with multi-source coregistered datasets at each level of the graph. The suggested supervised method relies on a two-step technique. In the first step, a joint statistical model is developed for the input images that consists of the finite mixtures of automatically chosen parametric families for single images, and multivariate copulas to model joint class-conditional statistics at each resolution. As a second step, we plug the estimated joint probability density functions into a hierarchical Markovian model based on a quad-tree structure. Multi-scale features correspond to different resolution images or are extracted by discrete wavelet transforms. To obtain the classification map, we resort to an exact estimator of the marginal posterior mode.
Reproduction Angular Error: An Improved Performance Metric for Illuminant Estimation

Only if we can estimate the colour of the prevailing light - and discount it from the image - can image colour be used as a stable cue for indexing, recognition and tracking (amongst other tasks). Almost all illumination estimation research uses the angle between the RGB of the actual measured illuminant colour and that estimated one as the recovery error. However here we identify a problem with this metric. We observe that the same scene, viewed under two different coloured lights for the same algorithm, leads to different recovery errors despite the fact that when we remove the colour bias due to illuminant (we divide out by light) exactly the same reproduction is produced. We begin this paper by quantifying the scale of this problem. For a given scene and algorithm, we solve for the range of recovery angular errors that can be observed given all colours of light. We also show that the lowest errors are for red, green and blue lights and the largest for cyans, magentas and yellows. Next, we propose a new reproduction angular error which is defined as the angle between the image RGB of a white surface when the actual and estimated illuminations are 'divided out'. Reassuringly, this reproduction error metric, by construction, gives the same error for the same algorithm-scene pair. For many algorithms and many benchmark datasets we recompute the illuminant estimation performance of a range of algorithms for the new reproduction error and then compare against the algorithm rankings for the old recovery error. We find that the overall rankings of algorithms remains, broadly, unchanged - though there can be local switches in rank - and the algorithm parameters provide that the best illuminant estimation performance depend on the error metric used.
Structural stability and robustness to bounded rationality

The introduction of a small amount of bounded rationality into a model sometimes has little effect, and sometimes has a dramatic impact on predicted behavior. We call a model robust to bounded rationality if small deviations from rationality result only in small changes in the equilibrium set. We also say that a model is structurally stable if the equilibrium set (given fully rational agents) varies continuously with the parameter values of the model. Our notions of a model and of rationality are quite broad, allowing us to cover cases in which bounded rationality refers to imperfect optimization, non-rational expectations, or arbitrary behavior by a subset of agents. We show that a model is robust to bounded rationality if and only if it is structurally stable. Thus, we can characterize which models will be robust to bounded rationality and which ones will not, independently of the exact form that bounded rationality takes. In addition, from our characterization it follows that introducing a small amount of bounded rationality will have large effects on predicted outcomes if and only if parameters are near a critical point where the equilibrium set changes in a discontinuous way JEL classification: C69, C79, D51, E19
Are Gender Differences in Emotion Culturally Universal? Comparison of Emotional Intensity Between Chinese and German Samples

Are gender differences in emotion culturally universal? To answer this question, the current study compared gender differences in emotional arousal (intensity) ratings for negative and positive pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) across cultures (Chinese vs. German culture) and age (younger vs. older adults). The raters were 53 younger Germans (24 women), 53 older Germans (28 women), 300 younger Chinese (176 women), and 126 older Chinese (86 women). The results showed that gender differences in arousal ratings were moderated by culture and age: Chinese women reported higher arousal for both negative and positive pictures compared with Chinese men; German women reported higher arousal for negative pictures, but lower arousal for positive pictures compared with German men. Moreover, the gender differences were larger for older than younger adults in the Chinese sample but smaller for older than younger adults in the German sample. The results indicated that gender differences in self-report emotional intensity induced by pictorial stimuli were more consistent with gender norms and stereotypes (i.e., women being more emotional than men) in the Chinese sample, compared with the German sample, and that gender differences were not constant across age groups. The study revealed that gender differences in emotion are neither constant nor universal, and it highlighted the importance of taking culture and age into account.
Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mailed Toolkit to Increase Use of Body Mass Index Percentiles to Screen for Childhood Obesity

Introduction Despite epidemic increases in childhood obesity rates, many providers fail to diagnose obesity. Body mass index (BMI)-for-age percentiles are the recommended screening test. We evaluated whether mailing a toolkit to physicians would increase use of sex-specific BMI-for-age percentiles to screen for childhood obesity. Methods We assigned a random sample of family physicians and pediatricians from New York State’s medical licensing database to either intervention or control groups in the summer of 2004. At baseline and at follow-up, we sent physicians a survey that asked how often they used various screening methods to identify childhood obesity. Between the surveys, we sent physicians in the intervention group a toolkit that consisted of professional guidelines for childhood obesity screening, a tool for calculating BMI, BMI-for-age growth charts, and educational information. Results At follow-up, more physicians in the intervention group than in the control group reported using BMI percentiles to screen for childhood obesity. Compared with physicians in the control group, physicians in the intervention group had a larger increase in their routine use of BMI percentiles to screen children aged 2 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 20 years, although the differences in the older 2 groups did not attain statistical significance. Conclusion Directly mailing an educational toolkit to physicians can have a small but positive effect on clinical practice.
ON PREDICTING SOME OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME: THE SEARCH FOR CROSS-SITUATIONAL CONSISTENCIES IN BEHAVIOR

The historically recurring controversy over the existence of cross-situational consistencies in behavior is sustained by the discrepancy between our intuitions, which affirm their existence, and the research literature, which does not. It is argued that the nomothetic assumptions of the traditional research paradigm are incorrect and that by adopting some of the idiographic assumptions employed by our intuitions, higher cross-situational correlation coefficients can be obtained. A study is reported which shows that it is possible to identify on a priori grounds those individuals who will be crosssituationally consistent and those who will not, and it is concluded that not only must personality assessment attend to situations—as has been recently urged—but to persons as well.
Analysis of cardiac cells field potentials using wavelet transform

Based on the experimental model, in this study, the heart rate variability (HRV) is investigated at a microscopically level in a cardiac cells culture by analyzing the field potential (FP) signals using a wavelet transform. Our results suggest that wavelet analysis provides useful information for the assessment of dynamic changes and patterns of FP train.
Anesthesia with Isoflurane and Sevoflurane in the Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela hoya): Minimum Anesthetic Concentration, Physiological Effects, Hematocrit, Plasma Chemistry and Behavioral Effects

ABSTRACT The initial goal of this study was to determine the minimum anesthetic concentration (MAC) for isoflurane (ISO) and sevoflurane (SEVO) for the crested serpent eagle. Next, we compared the anesthetic effects of each on the physiological effects, hematocrit, plasma chemistry values and behavior in spontaneously breathing captive adult crested serpent eagles. Sixteen eagles were randomly allocated to two groups for anesthesia with ISO (n=8) or SEVO (n=8). First, we measured the MAC values of ISO and SEVO, and four weeks later, we investigated the effect of each on the physiological effects, hematocrit (HCT) and plasma chemistry values. The MAC values of ISO and SEVO for crested serpent eagles were 1.46 ± 0.30 and 2.03 ± 0.32%, respectively. The results revealed no significant differences between the two anesthetics in induction time, while time of extubation to recovery was significantly shorter with SEVO. A time-related increase in end-tidal CO2 and decreases in body temperature and respiratory rates were observed during anesthesia with each anesthetic. There were no significant differences between the effect of the two anesthetics on heart rate, hematocrit, plasma chemistry values or respiration, although each caused minor respiration depression. We concluded that SEVO is a more effective inhalant agent than ISO for use in eagles, showing the most rapidest induction and recovery from anesthesia.
Stages of moral judgment development: Applying item response theory to Defining Issues Test data

ABSTRACT The Defining Issues Test (DIT) has been the dominant measure of moral development. The DIT has its roots in Kohlberg’s original stage theory of moral judgment development and asks respondents to rank a set of stage typed statements in order of importance on six stories. However, the question to what extent the DIT-data match the underlying stage model was never addressed with a statistical model. Therefore, we applied item response theory (IRT) to a large data set (55,319 cases). We found that the ordering of the stages as extracted from the raw data fitted the ordering in the underlying stage model good. Furthermore, difficulty differences of stages across the stories were found and their magnitude and location were visualized. These findings are compatible with the notion of one latent moral developmental dimension and lend support to the hundreds of studies that have used the DIT-1 and by implication support the renewed DIT-2.
Ability Of Mathematical Reasoning in SMK 10th Grade with LAPS- Heuristic using Performance Assessment

The purposes of this research are: (1) Test the learning with LAPS-Heuristic model using performance assessment on 10th grade of Trigonometry material is complete, (2) to test the difference of students' mathematical reasoning ability on 10th grade of Trigonometry material between the learning model of LAPS-Heuristic using performance assessment, LAPS-Heuristic learning model with Expository learning model, (3) test the ability of mathematical reasoning with learning model of LAPS-Heuristik on Trigonometry material of SMK on 10th grade using performance assessment is increase. This is a quantitative research. The population is students of 10th grade of SMK 10 Semarang academic year 2016/2017 and the subject of research is selected by clustering random sampling. The results show that (1) Learning by model LAPS-Heuristic using performance assessment on 10th grade of Trigonometry material is complete (2) there are differences in students' mathematical reasoning ability on 10th grade of Trigonometry materials between LAPS-Heuristic learning model using performance assessment, LAPS-Heuristic learning model, and Expository learning model, (3) The ability of mathematical reasoning with learning model of LAPS-Heuristic on Trigonometry material of SMK class X using performance assessment increased.
Cardiopulmonary function and scoliosis severity in idiopathic scoliosis children

Purpose Idiopathic scoliosis is a structural lateral curvature of the spine of unknown etiology. The relationship between degree of spine curvature and cardiopulmonary function has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between scoliosis and cardiopulmonary characteristics. Methods Ninety children who underwent preoperative pulmonary or cardiac evaluation at a single spine institution over 41 months were included. They were divided into the thoracic-dominant scoliosis (group A, n=78) and lumbar-dominant scoliosis (group B, n=12) groups. Scoliosis severity was evaluated using the Cobb method. In each group, relationships between Cobb angles and cardiopulmonary markers such as forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, left ventricular ejection fraction, pulmonary artery flow velocity, and tissue Doppler velocities (E/E', E'/A') were analyzed by correlation analysis linear regression. Results In group A, 72 patients (92.3%) underwent pulmonary function tests (PFTs), and 41 (52.6%) underwent echocardiography. In group B, 9 patients (75.0%) underwent PFT and 8 (66.7%) underwent echocardiography. Cobb angles showed a significant negative correlation with FVC and FEV1 in group A (both P<0.05), but no such correlation in group B, and a significant negative correlation with mitral E/A ratio (P<0.05) and tissue Doppler E'/A' (P<0.05) in group A, with a positive correlation with mitral E/A ratio (P<0.05) in group B. Conclusion Pulmonary and cardiac function was significantly correlated with the degree of scoliosis in patients with thoracic-dominant scoliosis. Myocardial diastolic function might be impaired in patients with the most severe scoliosis.
The use of complementary and alternative medicine among Malay breast cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND A cross-sectional studywas carried out to determine the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by breast cancer survivors. METHODS A descriptivesurveydesignwasdeveloped. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, cancer clinical treatment history, and use of CAM were obtained through a modified self-administered questionnaire from 116 Malay breast cancer survivors aged 21 to 67 years who were 2 years postdiagnosis and currently undergoing follow-up treatment at breast cancer clinics at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. RESULTS Data suggest that 64% of the participants were identified as CAM users; dietary supplements were the most common form used, followed by prayer and Malay traditional medicine. Within the wide range of dietary supplements, multivitamins were most often taken followed by spirulina, vitamin C, evening primrose oil, and herbal products. Contrary to other findings, the CAM users were found to be older, had secondary education levels, and were from middle-income households. However, there was no significant difference between CAM users and nonusers in this study. Family members played an important role as the main source of information along with doctors/health care providers, friends, and printed materials/mass media. The reasons participants gave for using CAM were mainly to assist in healing the body's inner strength, to cure cancer, and to reduce stress. Only half of the participants consulted with their physicians regarding the safety of CAM use. The participants began to use CAM while undergoing clinical treatments. Most of the participants used CAM for more than a year. About RM100 to RM149 (31.88 USD to 47.50 USD at press time) were spent monthly on CAM by 32% of the participants. The CAM use was found to be effective and beneficial for patients' disease states, and they were contented with the usage of the CAM therapies. Multivariate analysis revealed that thedecision to use or not to use CAM was not dependent on sociodemographic background or cancer clinical treatment history. CONCLUSIONS CAM was commonly used by breast cancer survivors as a coping mechanism to battle the disease.