Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of counseling on quality of life for individuals with cancer and their families

This study examined the effect of counseling on the quality of life of individuals with cancer and their family members. Three convenience samples were drawn from a hospital in Southwest Florida. Group A consisted of new participants to a Revised “I Can Cope” Program, which now included a counseling component. Group B consisted of former Revised “I Can Cope” Program participants who elected to attend an ongoing support group. Group C consisted of individuals who did not attend either the “I Can Cope” Program or support group. Measures were taken throughout this study to answer research questions. Although there were no statistically significant findings, several conclusions were drawn. Counseling was not found to have an effect on the quality of life of these individuals. Coping strategies were not found to vary between groups of individuals who received education and/or counseling and those who did not. Individuals who had previously received counseling reported it to be a positive experience. Individuals were found to receive support from family members and friends. This study provided an initial basis for further investigation in the areas of counseling and quality of life.
Radiation of a source on a convex NURBS surface

In this paper we propose a technique for computing the ray caustic distance parameter on an arbitrary convex surface described by Non-Uniform Rational B-splines (NURBS) surface representation. The ray caustic distance parameter is essential for evaluating the UTD surface diffracted fields that are diffracted from a convex surface. Examples validating the accuracy of the numerical approach proposed are presented.
Molecular cloning of the avian erythroblastosis virus genome and recovery of oncogenic virus by transfection of chicken cells

Avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) causes erythroblastosis and sarcomas in birds and transforms both erythroblasts and fibroblasts to neoplastic phenotypes in culture. The viral genetic locus required for oncogenesis by AEV is at present poorly defined; moreover, we know very little of the mechanism of tumorigenesis by the virus. To facilitate further analysis of these problems, we used molecular cloning to isolate the genome of AEV as recombinant DNA in a procaryotic vector. The identity of the isolated DNA was verified by mapping with restriction endonucleases and by tests for biological activity. The circular form of unintegrated AEV DNA was purified from synchronously infected quail cells and cloned into the EcoRI site of lambda gtWES x B. A restriction endonuclease cleavage map was established. By hybridization with complementary DNA probes representing specific parts of avian retrovirus genomes, the restriction map of the cloned AEV DNAs was correlated with a genetic map. These data show that nucleotide sequences unique to AEV comprise at least 50% of the genome and are located approximately in the middle of the AEV genome. Our data confirm and extend previous descriptions of the AEV genome obtained by other procedures. We studied in detail two recombinant clones containing AEV DNA: the topography of the viral DNA in the two clones was virtually identical, except that one clone apparently contained two copies of the terminal redundancy that occurs in linear viral DNA isolated from infected cells; the other clone probably contained only one copy of the redundant sequence. To recover infectious virus from the cloned DNA, we developed a procedure for transfection that compensated for the defectiveness of AEV in replication. We accomplished this by ligating cloned AEV DNA to the cloned DNA of a retrovirus (Rous-associated virus type 1) whose genome could complement the deficiencies of AEV. Ligation of the two viral DNAs was facilitated by using a neutral fragment of DNA as linker between otherwise noncompatible termini. Cloned AEV DNA gave rise to infectious AEV capable of transforming fibroblasts and bone marrow cells in culture and of inducing both sarcomas and erythroleukemia in chickens. We conclude that the cloned DNAs represent the authentic genome of AEV undisturbed by the cloning procedure. Molecular cloning offers a powerful approach to the identification and characterization of retrovirus genomes.
Molecular genetic evidence supporting a novel human hepatocellular carcinoma tumor suppressor locus at 13q12.11

A novel 1‐cM (1.8 Mb) homozygous deletion (HD) on 13q12.11 was identified in a human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line, SK‐Hep‐1, after high‐density genetic marker scan and Southern blotting analysis. A loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis indicated that LOH frequency of the HD region in 48 pairs of HCC tissues was 52%. Interestingly, the occurrence of LOH in the 13q12.11 HD region is significantly associated with early‐onset HCC, inferred from Fisher's exact test (P = 0.0047) and Mann‐Whitney test (P = 0.023). Since the novel 1‐cM (1.8 Mb) HD region is gene‐rich with more than 37 predicted transcripts, we used a candidate gene approach by examining down‐regulation of known tumor suppressor genes (TSGs), including LATS2, TG737, CRYL1, and GJB2, in HCC tissues. We detected only 14% down‐regulation of the LAST2 gene that flanks the outside of the HD, in HCC tissues, by quantitative RT‐PCR assays. However, we observed significant down‐regulation of the TG737, CRYL1, and GJB2 genes located within the HD in 59, 64, and 71% of HCC tissues, respectively. Together, our results indicated that the identified 13q12.11 HD region contained at least three significant down‐regulated TSGs, and preferential LOH in early‐onset HCC patients is a putative tumor suppressor locus in HCC. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Culture, indigenous knowledge and development

Science must become a shared asset benefitting all people. Scientific research and its applications can yield significant returns towards economic growth and sustainable development, including poverty alleviation. Scientists have a responsibility to practice and apply the sciences in a manner that is inclusive of the participation of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities. The paper discusses the issues of ethics and responsibility in the utilisation of local knowledge.
A logic model program evaluation: Examining the outcomes of academic performance and persistence towards graduation of at-risk students enrolled in the Academic Center

First Name:Darci Middle Name:Lynn Last Name:McCannon-Humphrey Adviser's First Name:Peggy Adviser's Last Name:Placier Co-Adviser's First Name: Co-Adviser's Last Name: Graduation Term:FS 2011 Department:Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis Degree:PhD Title:A LOGIC MODEL PROGRAM EVALUATION: EXAMINING THE OUTCOMES OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND PERSISTENCE TOWARDS GRADUATION OF AT-RISK STUDENTS ENROLLED IN THE ACADEMIC CENTER.
Which Institutions Matter Most for Growth

In this paper we revisit the debate over the relative contribution of different types of institutions in economic growth. We find that the existing study (Acemoglu and Johnson 2005) linking property rights institutions and contracting institutions to long-run growth suffers from identification problems. It appears that the historical instruments used to predict the contribution of history in shaping current institutions are as good a predictor of current schooling as they are for current institutions. We use GMM and control for schooling to tackle these problems. The results show that strong 'market creating institutions' characterized by the adequate protection of private property and contract enforcement are growth enhancing. The 'market stabilizing institutions' that ensures macroeconomic stability and does not undertake distortionary policies boosts investor confidence and are also good for growth. We notice that there is a growth maximizing level of 'market regulation' beyond which it increases red tape and kills the incentive for investment. The effect of 'market legitimizing institutions' is statistically insignificant.
Recommendation Product Based on Customer Categorization with K-Means Clustering Method

Nowadays, web shopping is more than selling product. Many web shopping have basic analytics system to analyze customer data, transaction data including demographics, age and gender. They add many features in web shopping to maintain customer loyalty. In this research, we made a web shopping that can analyze customer shopping behavior. We used FM (Frequency and monetary) analysis based on a “transaction” data set. We categorize the customer based on how often they buy, how much they buy and how much the value of purchased item. We use K-Means algorithm to cluster the customer based on their transaction. Analyzing and understanding customers’ buying behavior can help the store to know what they are looking for. Therefore, at every customer web page that is in the same cluster will appear recommended products accordance with the transaction that has been done. Recommendation Products are presented is the prediction of the type of goods that may be chosen by the customer. So that the recommendation products that appear on web pages between customers will be different. The data used for this test is “Istana Accessories” store data from January to June 2014. The results show that recommendation product from K-Means algorithm successfully obtained and displayed on the customer page.
Specific inhibition of plasma kallikrein modulates chronic granulomatous intestinal and systemic inflammation in genetically susceptible rats

The kallikrein‐kinin (K‐K) (contact) system is activated during acute and chronic relapsing phases of enterocolitis induced in genetically susceptible Lewis rats by intramural injection of peptidogly‐can‐polysaccharide (PG‐APS). Using the selective plasma kallikrein inhibitor P8720, we investigate whether activation of the K‐K system plays a primary role in chronic granulomatous intestinal and systemic inflammation in this model. Group I (negative control) received human serum albumin intramurally. Group II (treatment) received PG‐APS intramurally and P8720 orally. Group III (positive control) received PG‐APS intramurally and albumin orally. P8720 attenuated the consumption of the contact proteins, high molecular weight kininogen (P < 0.03), and factor XI (P < 0.04) in group II vs. group III. P8720 decreased chronic intestinal inflammation measured by blinded gross (P < 0.01) and histologic (P < 0.0005) scores as well as systemic complications (arthritis, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, leukocytosis, and acute‐phase reaction) (P < 0.01) in group II as compared with group III. We conclude that relapsing chronic enterocolitis and systemic complications are in part due to plasma K‐K system activation, and that inhibition of this pathway is a potential therapeutic approach to human inflammatory bowel disease and associated extraintestinal manifestations. —Stadnicki, A. , Sartor, R. B. , Janardham, R. , Majluf‐Cruz, A. , Kettner, C. A. , Adam, A. A. , Colman, R. W. Specific inhibition of plasma kallikrein modulates chronic granulomatous intestinal and systemic inflammation in genetically susceptible rats. FASEB J. 12, 325–333 (1998)
EXOU-INDUCED VASCULAR HYPERPERMEABILITY AND PLATELET ACTIVATION IN THE COURSE OF EXPERIMENTAL PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA PNEUMOSEPSIS

To address the question whether ExoU, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytotoxin with phospholipase A2 activity, can induce hemostatic abnormalities during the course of pneumosepsis, mice were instilled i.t. with the ExoU-producing PA103 P. aeruginosa or with a mutant obtained by deletion of the exoU gene. Control animals were instilled with sterile vehicle. To assess the role of ExoU in animal survival, mice were evaluated for 72 h. In all the other experiments, animals were studied at 24 h after infection. PA103-infected mice showed significantly higher mortality rate, lower blood leukocyte concentration, and higher platelet concentration and hematocrit than animals infected with the bacterial mutant, as well as evidences of increased vascular permeability and plasma leakage, which were confirmed by our finding of higher protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids and by the Evans blue dye assay. Platelets from PA103-infected mice demonstrated features of activation, assessed by the flow cytometric detection of higher percentage of P-selectin expression and of platelet-derived microparticles as well as by the enzyme immunoassay detection of increased thromboxane A2 concentration in animal plasma. Histopathology of lung and kidney sections from PA103-infected mice exhibited evidences of thrombus formation that were not detected in sections of animals from the other groups. Our results demonstrate the ability of ExoU to induce vascular hyperpermeability, platelet activation, and thrombus formation during P. aeruginosa pneumosepsis, and we speculate that this ability may contribute to the reported poor outcome of patients with severe infection by ExoU-producing P. aeruginosa.
The Great Sleep Recession: Changes in Sleep Duration Among US Adolescents, 1991–2012

BACKGROUND: Average nightly sleep times precipitously decline from childhood through adolescence. There is increasing concern that historical shifts also occur in overall adolescent sleep time. METHODS: Data were drawn from Monitoring the Future, a yearly, nationally representative cross-sectional survey of adolescents in the United States from 1991 to 2012 (N = 272 077) representing birth cohorts from 1973 to 2000. Adolescents were asked how often they get ≥7 hours of sleep and how often they get less sleep than they should. Age-period-cohort models were estimated. RESULTS: Adolescent sleep generally declined over 20 years; the largest change occurred between 1991–1995 and 1996–2000. Age-period-cohort analyses indicate adolescent sleep is best described across demographic subgroups by an age effect, with sleep decreasing across adolescence, and a period effect, indicating that sleep is consistently decreasing, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There was also a cohort effect among some subgroups, including male subjects, white subjects, and those in urban areas, with the earliest cohorts obtaining more sleep. Girls were less likely to report getting ≥7 hours of sleep compared with boys, as were racial/ethnic minorities, students living in urban areas, and those of low socioeconomic status (SES). However, racial/ethnic minorities and adolescents of low SES were more likely to self-report adequate sleep, compared with white subjects and those of higher SES. CONCLUSIONS: Declines in self-reported adolescent sleep across the last 20 years are concerning. Mismatch between perceptions of adequate sleep and actual reported sleep times for racial/ethnic minorities and adolescents of low SES are additionally concerning and suggest that health education and literacy approaches may be warranted.
The Long Horizon Behavior of Asset Prices in Heterogeneous Economies

We give a complete description of long horizon behavior of asset returns in economies populated by heterogeneous agents with arbitrary discount factors and risk aversions. We find that for every type of asset there is a corresponding dominant agent who determines the long run rate of return on the asset. For example, there is a (generically) unique agent who eventually consumes everything at infinite horizon and determines the long run short term interest rate. There is another agent who determines the expected return rate on holding equity forever. There is a third agent who determines the very long end of the interest rate term structure. It is shown that a large equity premium will result if the preferences of these dominant agents are sufficiently different. The interplay between these dominant agents generates countercyclical dynamics of equity premium and conditional variance of equity returns as well as procyclical dynamics of price-dividend ratios. We obtain sharp bounds (from above and below) for the yield curve, giving a complete answer to a question posed by Dumas (1989). Surprisingly, we find that discount factors and risk aversions of the dominant agents are positively correlated, in line with existing social experiments.
The role of silent intervals for sentence intelligibility in fluctuating noise in hearing-impaired listeners

Fluctuating interfering noises are highly suitable for speech audiometry because of the large inter-individual variability in intelligibility results. This study explores the maximum duration of silent intervals in the masker as an important factor underlying sentence intelligibility in fluctuating noise. Three versions of speech-simulating fluctuating interfering noises based on the icra noises (Dreschler et al, ) were explored: The original noise which simulates one interfering speaker and contains pause durations up to two seconds, as well as two modified versions with pause durations limited to 250 ms and 62.5 ms, respectively. In addition, a stationary speech-shaped noise was used. Test-retest reliability as well as speech reception threshold (SRT) and speech intelligibility function slope were determined with hearing-impaired subjects. All fluctuating noises differentiated very well between subjects. Partial rank correlation analysis showed that SRTs in fluctuating noise with longest maximum pause durations mostly depended on SRTs in quiet. SRTs in fluctuating noises with smaller maximum pause durations correlated both with SRTs in quiet and in stationary noise. Sumario Los ruidos fluctuantes de interferencia son muy apropiados en logoaudiometría debido a la gran variabilidad inter-individuos en los resultados de inteligibilidad. Este estudio explora la duración máxima de intervalos de silencio en el enmascarador, como un importante factor subyacente en la inteligibilidad de frases en medio de ruido fluctuante. Se exploraron tres versiones de ruidos fluctuantes de interferencia simulando lenguaje, con base en los ruidos icra (Dreschler y col., 2001): el ruido original que simula la interferencia de un hablante y contiene pausas de hasta 2 segundos de duración, y también dos versiones modificadas con pausas de duración limitadas a 250 mseg y 62.5 mseg, respectivamente. Además, se utilizó un ruido estacionario moldeado como lenguaje. Se determinó la confiabilidad test-retest al igual que la pendiente de las funciones del SRT y la inteligibilidad del lenguaje, en sujetos hipoacúsicos. Todos los ruidos fluctuantes se diferenciaron muy bien entre los sujetos. Un análisis de correlación de rango parcial mostró que los SRT en ruido fluctuante con las duraciones más prolongadas de pausa máxima, dependían del SRT en silencio. Los SRT en ruido fluctuante con duraciones menores de pausa máxima, correlacionaron tanto con los SRT en silencio como con el ruido estacionario.
Combinations of ZAP-70, CD38 and IGHV mutational status as predictors of time to first treatment in CLL

ZAP-70, CD38 and IGHV mutations have all been reported to have prognostic impact in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), both individually and in paired combinations. We aimed to determine whether the combination of all three factors provided more refined prognostic information concerning the treatment-free interval (TFI) from diagnosis. ZAP-70, CD38 and IGHV mutations were evaluated in 142 patients. Combining all three factors, the ZAP-70−/CD38−/Mutated group showed the longest median TFI (62 months, n = 37), ZAP-70+/CD38+/Unmutated cases the shortest (11 months, n = 37) and cases discordant for ≥1 factor, an intermediate TFI (27 months, n = 68) (p = 0.006). Analysis of discordant cases revealed values that were otherwise masked when measuring single prognostic factors. The presence or absence of cytogenetic abnormalities did not explain the variability among discordant cases. Simultaneous analysis of ZAP-70, CD38 and IGHV mutations in CLL provides more discriminatory prediction of TFI than any factor alone.
Toxicology of Nanomaterials Used in Nanomedicine

With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are being widely used in many industries as well as in medicine and pharmacology. Despite the many proposed advantages of nanomaterials, increasing concerns have been expressed on their potential adverse human health effects. In recent years, application of nanotechnology in medicine has been defined as nanomedicine. Techniques in nanomedicine make it possible to deliver therapeutic agents into targeted specific cells, cellular compartments, tissues, and organs by using nanoparticulate carriers. Because nanoparticles possess different physicochemical properties than their fine-sized analogues due to their extremely small size and large surface area, they need to be evaluated separately for toxicity and adverse health effects. In addition, in the field of nanomedicine, intravenous and subcutaneous injections of nanoparticulate carriers deliver exogenous nanoparticles directly into the human body without passing through the normal absorption process. These nanoparticulate carriers themselves may be responsible for toxicity and interaction with biological macromolecules within the human body. Second, insoluble nanoparticulate carriers may accumulate in human tissues or organs. Therefore, it is necessary to address the potential health and safety implications of nanomaterials used in nanomedicine. Toxicological studies for biosafety evaluation of these nanomaterials will be important for the continuous development of nanomedical science. This review summarizes the current knowledge on toxicology of nanomaterials, particularly on those used in nanomedicine.
Banking Competition, Financial Dependence and Productivity Growth in Europe

This study empirically analyses the links between banking competition and manufacturing productivity growth for a sample of 10 European countries during the period 1999–2009. To test this relationship, which from a theoretical point of view is unclear, we use a difference-in-difference methodology similar to the one proposed by Rajan and Zingales (1998). We find that the total factor productivity of the most financially dependent industries grows more slowly in economies where banking competition is fiercer. We explain this result with the fact that bank market power, i.e., low competition, would promote relationship banking, as theoretically argued, for example, by Petersen and Rajan (1995). Relationship banking would allow banks to reduce information asymmetries, which would benefit small and/or young firms, improving the allocation of funds. Banks may select more of the best firms, which would increase total factor productivity of the industries that are more dependent on external finance.
Thermal sensor allocation and full-system temperature characterization for thermal-aware mesh-based NoC system by using compressive sensing technique

As the complexity of multicore system grows with respect to the technology development, the large power density of multicore systems makes the thermal problems become severer. To prevent the multicore systems from overheating, in the practical way, some thermal sensors, sensing temperature at few selected locations, are embedded in the system. Then, the sensing temperatures are used to perform dynamic thermal managements (DTMs). However, searching the appropriate locations for those number limited thermal sensors is an NP-hard problem, which is time-consuming to find the optimal sensor allocations. In this paper, we demonstrate that the on-chip thermal gradients lead to sparse signals in the frequency domain. Based on this sparse-signal characteristic, we first apply the compressive sensing theory to find the thermal sensor allocations. Compressive sensing technique aims to recover the original signal from the fewer samples than the required by the Nyquist theorem. By using low-complexity random thermal sensor allocation method and Stagewise Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (StOMP)-based full-system temperature characterization, we can reduce 49% average error of full-system temperature characterization. Besides, under a constraint of full-system temperature characterization error, the proposed method can reduce 53% average number of adopted thermal sensors.