Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internet Use Among Chinese College Students: Implications for Sex Education and HIV Prevention

The Internet has gained great popularity among Chinese college students, but studies on Internet use behaviors and their relationship with sexual risk perception and behaviors have been limited. A survey was conducted among 1,845 college students in an eastern province of China, in order to assess the pattern of Internet use among Chinese college students, to examine the relationship of Internet use and HIV knowledge and susceptibility, and to explore the relationship of online risk behaviors with sexual status, sexual intention, and sexual perceptions. Data suggest that many students used the Internet frequently and often spent long hours online. Differences between genders and across grades were observed in the patterns of students' Internet use. Male students reported much higher rates of visiting pornographic websites or engaging in other online risk behaviors. Students' HIV knowledge or susceptibility did not differ by the extent of Internet use, but online risks were positively associated with their sexual status, sexual intention, and sexual perceptions. Students who were sexually active, planned to have sex, or possessed permissive attitudes toward pre-marital sex were more likely to report online risk behaviors such as visiting pornographic sites, cyberbullying, or distributing erotic materials via the Internet. The data underscore the importance to provide students with appropriate guidance on their Internet use, especially for reducing online risks and utilizing Internet as a source for sex education and HIV prevention.
Chapter 8 Religious coping and depression Religious coping and depression in multicultural Amsterdam : A comparison between native and Dutch citizens and Turkish , Moroccan and Surinamese / Antillean migrants

Background Depressive patients can derive consolation as well as struggle from their religion. Outside the Western-Christian cultures these phenomena have not received much empirical exploration. The current study aims to describe how positive and negative religious coping strategies relate to depressive symptoms in different ethnic groups in The Netherlands. Methods Interview data were derived from the second phase of the Amsterdam Health Monitor, a population based survey, with stratification for ethnicity (native Dutch N = 309, Moroccan 180, Turkish 202, Surinamese/Antillean 85). Religious coping was assessed using a 10-item version of Pargament’s Brief RCOPE; depression assessment included the SCL-90-R and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results The positive religious coping items constituted a sub-scale, but the five negative religious coping items had to be examined as representing separate coping strategies. Across the ethnic groups, negative religious coping strategies had several associations with depressive symptoms, subthreshold depression, and major depressive disorder: the most robust association was found for the item ‘wondered whether God has abandoned me’. Other significant associations were found for interpreting situations as punishment by God, questioning whether God exists, and expressing anger to God. Limitations Due to the two-phase design and low participation in this urban sample, the non-response was substantial. Therefore, the study focused on associations, not on prevalences. Conclusion The more or less universal finding about ‘feeling abandoned by God’ may suggest how depression represents an existential void, irrespective of the religious background. Religious coping and depression| 125
Tracking Progress Toward EU Biodiversity Strategy Targets: EU Policy Effects in Preserving its Common Farmland Birds

Maximizing the area under biodiversity‐related conservation measures is a main target of the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. We analyzed whether agrienvironmental schemes (AES) within EU common agricultural policy, special protected areas for birds (SPAs), and Annex I designation within EU Birds Directive had an effect on bird population changes using monitoring data from 39 farmland bird species from 1981 to 2012 at EU scale. Populations of resident and short‐distance migrants were larger with increasing SPAs and AES coverage, while Annex I species had higher population growth rates with increasing SPAs, indicating that SPAs may contribute to the protection of mainly target species and species spending most of their life cycle in the EU. Because farmland birds are in decline and the negative relationship of agricultural intensification with their population growth rates was evident during the implementation of AES and SPAs, EU policies seem to generally attenuate the declines of farmland bird populations, but not to reverse them.
Inhibition of BCR/ABL Protein Expression by miR-203 Sensitizes for Imatinib Mesylate

Selective inhibition of BCR/ABL expression by RNA interference has been demonstrated as an effective strategy in CML treatment and a reversal to imatinib resistance. microRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNAs involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation. miR-203 is supposed to directly regulate ABL and BCR/ABL expression, however, the role of miR-203 in imatinib-resistant cells is not clear. Here, we report that overexpression of miR-203 in BaF3-BCR/ABL cells with T315I mutant inhibited cell growth and colony formation ability. Furthermore, miR-203 increased sensitivity to imatinib in BaF3-BCR/ABLT315I cells, thereby antagonizing the main mechanism of resistance to imatinib.
Difference in Virulence of Mycobacterium avium Isolates Sharing Indistinguishable DNA Fingerprint Determined in Murine Model of Lung Infection

Background Opportunistic Mycobacterium avium typically causes disease in immunocompromised patients and in some groups of apparently healthy individuals. The high virulence of some bacterial lineages increases the disease risk. High-resolution molecular genotyping studies of M. avium clinical isolates demonstrated that some genotype patterns were more prevalent than others, suggesting that close genetic relatedness of these successful isolates sharing a similar genotype could determine similar biological properties associated with high virulence. Methods and Findings In this study, we aimed to compare the virulence and pathogenic properties of two epidemiologically unrelated M. avium isolates sharing an indistinguishable DNA fingerprint in a well-characterized model of pulmonary infection in mice, resistant or susceptible to mycobacteria. The mice, C57BL/6 wild- type or IFN-gamma gene disrupted (GKO), respectively, were intratracheally infected with two isolates, H27 (human blood isolate) and P104 (pig lymph node isolate), and the lungs were examined for bacterial loads, histopathology and cytokine gene expression. The obtained data demonstrated significant differences in the virulence properties of these strains. Although the H27 strain grew significantly faster than P104 in the early stage of infection, this bacterium induced protective immunity that started to reduce bacterial numbers in the wild- type mice, whereas the P104 strain established a chronic infection. In the GKO mice, both strains were capable of causing a chronic infection, associated with higher bacterial burdens and severe lung pathology, in a similar manner. Conclusions/Significance The results demonstrated that the studied isolates differed in the pathogenic properties although were indistinguishable by actually widely used genotyping techniques demonstrating that the genotype similarity does not predict similarity in virulence of M. avium isolates.
Cross-linguistic differences and similarities in image descriptions

Automatic image description systems are commonly trained and evaluated on large image description datasets. Recently, researchers have started to collect such datasets for languages other than English. An unexplored question is how different these datasets are from English and, if there are any differences, what causes them to differ. This paper provides a cross-linguistic comparison of Dutch, English, and German image descriptions. We find that these descriptions are similar in many respects, but the familiarity of crowd workers with the subjects of the images has a noticeable influence on the specificity of the descriptions.
Raised Serum Sialic Acid Concentration in NIDDM Patients With and Without Diabetic Nephropathy

OBJECTIVE Raised serum sialic acid concentration is a strong predictor of cardiovascular mortality in the general white population. A progressive increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality takes place in relation to increasing albuminuria in NIDDM patients. Therefore, we investigated the potential association between serum sialic acid and micro- and macroangiopathy in NIDDM patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied a prevalence cohort of all white NIDDM patients < 76 years of age attending a diabetic clinic during 1 year. Of the patients, 319 had normoalbuminuria, 148 had microalbuminuria, and 75 had macroalbuminuria (diabetic nephropathy was in 47 of 75 patients); 66 nondiabetic age- and sex-matched subjects acted as a control group. Blood samples were taken for measurements of sialic acid, lipids, creatinine, and HbA1c. Retinopathy was assessed by funduscopy. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease was based on Minnesota-coded electrocardiograms and the World Health Organization cardiovascular questionnaire. RESULTS A progressive raise in serum sialic acid was demonstrated with an increasing urinary albumin excretion rate: [median (range)] 2.02 (1.55–2.63); 2.42 (1.47–6.48); 2.67 (1.57–5.86), and 2.95 (1.52–7.86) mmol/l in nondiabetic subjects, NIDDM patients with normoalbuminuria, microalbuminuria, and diabetic nephropathy, respectively (P < 0.05 or less for differences between groups). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that serum cholesterol concentration, serum HDL cholesterol concentration, BMI, albuminuria, smoking, and cardiovascular disease correlate independently with logarithmic (10) serum sialic acid concentration. CONCLUSIONS Our study revealed a progressive raise in serum sialic acid with increasing urinary albumin excretion rate in NIDDM patients. Furthermore, several modifiable cardiovascular risk factors were associated with serum sialic acid.
Green manufacturing—performance of a biodegradable cutting fluid

ABSTRACT Huge quantity of petroleum and mineral-based cutting fluids mixed with carcinogenic additives to increase their performance is used every year in the manufacturing industry. Application of such fluids poses a serious hazard to the environment, workers, and personnel who directly or indirectly come in contact with them. Disposal of these cutting fluids without neutralization has a high potential of contaminating the water bodies and affects the aquatic life. Various vegetable-based cutting fluids have been formulated from edible oils, but less work is reported on non-edible oils. In this work, non-edible neem oil was used as a base oil and a food grade emulsifier was used. Thus, the cutting fluid is totally biodegradable. Various cutting fluids were formulated, and then, experiments were done on EN8 with uncoated carbides on lathe machine and various results reported. The neem oil has inherent anti-microbial properties and thus prevents microbial contamination for a long period of time. This newly developed cutting fluid does not require any neutralization before disposal.
Climate change influences on the potential geographic distribution of the disease vector tick Ixodes ricinus

Background Ixodes ricinus is a species of hard tick that transmits several important diseases in Europe and North Africa, including Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis. Climate change is affecting the geographic distributions and abundances of arthropod vectors, which in turn influence the geographic distribution and epidemiology of associated vector-borne diseases. To date, few studies have investigated effects of climate change on the spatial distribution of I. ricinus at continental extents. Here, we assessed the potential distribution of I. ricinus under current and future climate conditions to understand how climate change will influence the geographic distribution of this important tick vector in coming decades. Method We used ecological niche modeling to estimate the geographic distribution of I. ricinus with respect to current climate, and then assessed its future potential distribution under different climate change scenarios. This approach integrates occurrence records of I. ricinus with six relevant environmental variables over a continental extent that includes Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Future projections were based on climate data from 17 general circulation models (GCMs) under 2 representative concentration pathway emissions scenarios (RCPs), for the years 2050 and 2070. Result The present and future potential distributions of I. ricinus showed broad overlap across most of western and central Europe, and in more narrow zones in eastern and northern Europe, and North Africa. Potential expansions were observed in northern and eastern Europe. These results indicate that I. ricinus populations could emerge in areas in which they are currently lacking, posing increased risks to human health in those areas. However, the future of I. ricinus ticks in some important regions such the Mediterranean was unclear owing to high uncertainty in model predictions.
Id1 and NF-κB promote the generation of CD133+ and BMI-1+ keratinocytes and the growth of xenograft tumors in mice

Id1 and NF-κB are highly expressed in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Whether they have a synergistic role in the carcinogenesis of OSCC is unclear. The current study was designed to demonstrate the synergy of both Id1 and NF-κB in the underlying disease mechanisms of OSCC using in vitro and in vivo animal models. Id1 and NF-κB strengthened the expression of both CD133 and BMI-1 in OSCC cell cultures. CD133+ and BMI-1+ keratinocytes from OSCC tissues and cell cultures initiated the growth of xenograft tumors in SCID/Beige mice. Id1 and NF-κB regulate the expression of CD133 and BMI-1 in an additive or synergistic manner in OSCC, which is associated with the generation of naïve and self-renewable keratinocytes and initiate the growth of xenograft tumors in vivo.
YASSPP: Better kernels and coding schemes lead to improvements in protein secondary structure prediction

The accurate prediction of a protein's secondary structure plays an increasingly critical role in predicting its function and tertiary structure, as it is utilized by many of the current state‐of‐the‐art methods for remote homology, fold recognition, and ab initio structure prediction. We developed a new secondary structure prediction algorithm called YASSPP, which uses a pair of cascaded models constructed from two sets of binary SVM‐based models. YASSPP uses an input coding scheme that combines both position‐specific and nonposition‐specific information, utilizes a kernel function designed to capture the sequence conservation signals around the local window of each residue, and constructs a second‐level model by incorporating both the three‐state predictions produced by the first‐level model and information about the original sequence. Experiments on three standard datasets (RS126, CB513, and EVA common subset 4) show that YASSPP is capable of producing the highest Q3 and SOV scores than that achieved by existing widely used schemes such as PSIPRED, SSPro 4.0, SAM‐T99sec, as well as previously developed SVM‐based schemes. On the EVA dataset it achieves a Q3 and SOV score of 79.34 and 78.65%, which are considerably higher than the best reported scores of 77.64 and 76.05%, respectively. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Gendered Expectations: Examining How Peers Shape Female Students' Intent to Pursue STEM Fields

Building on prior psychological and sociological research on the power of local environments to shape gendered outcomes in STEM fields, this study focuses on the critical stage of adolescence to explore the potential negative impact of exposure to exclusionary messages from peers within girls' science classrooms, as well as the positive potential impact of inclusionary messages. Specifically, utilizing longitudinal data from a diverse sample of adolescent youth, analyses examine how the presence of biased male peers, as well as confident female peers, shape girls' subsequent intentions to pursue different STEM fields, focusing specifically on intentions to pursue the male-dominated fields of computer science and engineering, as well as more gender equitable fields. Results reveal that exposure to a higher percentage of 8th grade male peers in the classroom who endorsed explicit gender/STEM stereotypes significantly and negatively predicted girls' later intentions to pursue a computer science/engineering (CS/E) major. Yet results also reveal that exposure to a higher percentage of confident female peers in the science classroom positively predicted such intentions. These results were specific to CS/E majors, suggesting that peers are an important source of messages regarding whether or not girls should pursue non-traditional STEM fields. This study calls attention to the importance of examining both positive and negative sources of influence within the local contexts where young people live and learn. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.
Perceptual Learning of Time-Compressed Speech: More than Rapid Adaptation

Background Time-compressed speech, a form of rapidly presented speech, is harder to comprehend than natural speech, especially for non-native speakers. Although it is possible to adapt to time-compressed speech after a brief exposure, it is not known whether additional perceptual learning occurs with further practice. Here, we ask whether multiday training on time-compressed speech yields more learning than that observed during the initial adaptation phase and whether the pattern of generalization following successful learning is different than that observed with initial adaptation only. Methodology/Principal Findings Two groups of non-native Hebrew speakers were tested on five different conditions of time-compressed speech identification in two assessments conducted 10–14 days apart. Between those assessments, one group of listeners received five practice sessions on one of the time-compressed conditions. Between the two assessments, trained listeners improved significantly more than untrained listeners on the trained condition. Furthermore, the trained group generalized its learning to two untrained conditions in which different talkers presented the trained speech materials. In addition, when the performance of the non-native speakers was compared to that of a group of naïve native Hebrew speakers, performance of the trained group was equivalent to that of the native speakers on all conditions on which learning occurred, whereas performance of the untrained non-native listeners was substantially poorer. Conclusions/Significance Multiday training on time-compressed speech results in significantly more perceptual learning than brief adaptation. Compared to previous studies of adaptation, the training induced learning is more stimulus specific. Taken together, the perceptual learning of time-compressed speech appears to progress from an initial, rapid adaptation phase to a subsequent prolonged and more stimulus specific phase. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the Reverse Hierarchy Theory of perceptual learning and suggest constraints on the use of perceptual-learning regimens during second language acquisition.
Monolithically Integrated Gain-Flattened Ring Mode-Locked Laser for Comb-Line Generation

We demonstrate broadband comb-line generation from an integrated multiple quantum well InGaAsP/InP passively mode-locked laser (MLL) with a gain flattening filter (GFF) based on an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The intracavity filter flattens the nonuniform gain profile of the semiconductor material providing a more uniform net cavity gain. The GFF MLL has a -10 dB comb span of 15 nm (1.88 THz), the widest spectral width yet demonstrated for an integrated QW MLL at 1.55 μm . The measured optical linewidth at the center of the comb is 29 MHz, the -20 dB RF linewidth 500 KHz, while the output spectrum is phase-locked to produce 900 fs pulses at a repetition rate of 30 GHz with 4.6 ps integrated jitter from 100 Hz to 30 MHz.
Multiple Synchronous Outbreaks of Puumala Virus, Germany, 2010

To investigate 2,017 cases of hantavirus disease in Germany, we compared 38 new patient-derived Puumala virus RNA sequences identified in 2010 with bank vole–derived small segment RNA sequences. The epidemic process was driven by outbreaks of 6 Puumala virus clades comprising strains of human and vole origin. Each clade corresponded to a different outbreak region.
Postmortem Study of Validation of Low Signal on Fat-Suppressed T1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging as Marker of Lipid Core in Middle Cerebral Artery Atherosclerosis

Background and Purpose— High signal on T1-weighted fat-suppressed images in middle cerebral artery plaques on ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging was verified to be intraplaque hemorrhage histologically. However, the underlying plaque component of low signal on T1-weighted fat-suppressed images (LST1) has never been explored. Based on our experience, we hypothesized that LST1 might indicate the presence of lipid core within intracranial plaques. Methods— 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging was performed in the postmortem brains to scan the cross sections of bilateral middle cerebral arteries. Then middle cerebral artery specimens were removed for histology processing. LST1 presence was identified on magnetic resonance images, and lipid core areas were measured on the corresponding histology sections. Results— Total 76 middle cerebral artery locations were included for analysis. LST1 showed a high specificity (96.9%; 95% confidence interval, 82.0%–99.8%) but a low sensitivity (38.6%; 95% confidence interval, 24.7%–54.5%) for detecting lipid core of all areas. However, the sensitivity increased markedly (81.2%; 95% confidence interval, 53.7%–95.0%) when only lipid cores of area ≥0.80 mm2 were included. Mean lipid core area was 5× larger in those with presence of LST1 than in those without (1.63±1.18 mm2 versus 0.32±0.31 mm2; P=0.003). Conclusions— LST1 is a promising imaging biomarker of identifying intraplaque lipid core, which may be useful to distinguish intracranial atherosclerotic disease from other intracranial vasculopathies and to assess plaque vulnerability for risk stratification of patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease. In vivo clinical studies are required to explore the correlation between LST1 and clinical outcomes of patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease.