Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Offline Social Relationships and Online Cancer Communication: Effects of Social and Family Support on Online Social Network Building

ABSTRACT This study investigates how social support and family relationship perceptions influence breast cancer patients’ online communication networks in a computer-mediated social support (CMSS) group. To examine social interactions in the CMSS group, we identified two types of online social networks: open and targeted communication networks. The open communication network reflects group communication behaviors (i.e., one-to-many or “broadcast” communication) in which the intended audience is not specified; in contrast, the targeted communication network reflects interpersonal discourses (i.e., one-to-one or directed communication) in which the audience for the message is specified. The communication networks were constructed by tracking CMSS group usage data of 237 breast cancer patients who participated in one of two National Cancer Institute-funded randomized clinical trials. Eligible subjects were within 2 months of a diagnosis of primary breast cancer or recurrence at the time of recruitment. Findings reveal that breast cancer patients who perceived less availability of offline social support had a larger social network size in the open communication network. In contrast, those who perceived less family cohesion had a larger targeted communication network in the CMSS group, meaning they were inclined to use the CMSS group for developing interpersonal relationships.
Interaction between splotch (Sp) and curly tail (ct) mouse mutants in the embryonic development of neural tube defects.

The mouse mutations splotch (Sp) and curly tail (ct) both produce spinal neural tube defects with closely similar morphology, but achieve this by different embryonic mechanisms. To determine whether the mutants may interact during development, we constructed mice carrying both mutations. Double heterozygotes exhibited tail defects in 10% of cases, although the single heterozygotes do not express this phenotype. Backcrosses of double heterozygotes to ct/ct produced offspring with an elevated incidence of neural tube defects, both spina bifida and tail defects, compared with a control backcross in which Sp was not involved. Use of the deletion allele Sp2H permitted embryos carrying a splotch mutation to be recognised by polymerase chain reaction assay. This experiment showed that only embryos carrying Sp2H develop spina bifida in the backcross with ct/ct, suggesting that the genotype Sp2H/+, ct/ct is usually lethal around the time of birth as a result of severe disturbance of neurulation. The interaction between Sp and ct was investigated further by examining embryos in the backcross for developmental markers of the Sp/Sp and ct/ct genotypes. Sp/Sp embryos characteristically lack neural crest derivatives, such as dorsal root ganglia, and die on day 13 of gestation. Double mutant embryos from the backcross did not exhibit either of these characteristics suggesting that homozygosity for ct does not cause Sp/+ embryos to develop as if they were of genotype Sp/Sp. The angle of ventral curvature of the posterior neuropore region is enhanced in affected ct/ct embryos whereas it was found to be reduced in Sp/Sp embryos compared with their normal littermates. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Neurodevelopmental Outcome After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Very Young Children: Role for Subcortical Lesions

Traumatic brain injury is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in children younger than 15 years of age. To evaluate the role of subcortical lesions on neurodevelopmental outcomes, long-term outcomes of 50 children with severe traumatic brain injury before 4 years of age (accidental injury, n = 21, nonaccidental injury, n = 29) were reviewed retrospectively and compared with late magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings: no visible lesions, cortical lesions, or subcortical lesions. Subcortical lesions occurred in both accidental and nonaccidental traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injury severity (initial Glasgow Coma Scale or coma duration) was significantly associated with subcortical lesions. Long-term motor or visual deficiencies occurred in one third of patients and cognitive deficiencies in 52.1%. Although deficiencies occurred without visible MRI lesions, global outcome scores, motor delay, visual impairment, head growth slowing, global intellectual quotients, and planning performances were significantly worse in patients with subcortical lesions. An alarming deterioration in intellectual quotient over time was noted. It was concluded that neurodevelopmental outcomes are worrisome after severe traumatic brain injury in young children, and subcortical lesions affect the prognosis.
Why do Working Youth Work where They do?

Youth in the United States work predominantly in low-end jobs in the service sector – often in “dead end jobs” or “McJobs” located in restaurants, malls, retail outlets, warehouses, offices, movie theaters, theme parks and so on. Working minors are especially concentrated in low-end service work, with over a third finding employment in restaurants and grocery stores alone (National Research Council 1998). Many youth in their late teens and twenties likewise find themselves continuing in jobs much the same as those they had while in high school. Indeed, low-end service work has become naturalized as an extended rite of passage for American youth. Whole segments of service sector employment are widely stereotyped and easily identifiable as being appropriately “youth” forms of work. Why do working youth work where they do? How did youth employment in America come to look the way it does today? In this paper, I point to four key factors. Contemporary youth work in low-end service jobs because: (1) this is where youth have always worked; (2) there has been a broad shift in our society from an industrial to a post-industrial economy; (3) structural transformations within the low-end service sector have favored the employment of youth; and (4) the rise of consumerism and commodification of youth via mass advertising have increased both the supply and
Neural Network Autoregressive With Exogenous Input Assisted Multi-Constraint Nonlinear Predictive Control of Autonomous Vehicles

This paper focuses on the controller design for path-tracking problem of autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) by employing a multi-constraint nonlinear predictive control (NMPC) schema. It is aimed to improve the transient performance of the vehicle and to consider a rollover prevention criterion in the proposed method. The path-tracking problem is transformed into the yaw stabilization issue, and a feedback control law with input saturation is developed to decrease the steady-state errors. Furthermore, the yaw-rate signal is generated for the desired path-tracking performance. The major contributions of the present paper are, first, developing a neural network autoregressive with exogenous input system to assist in obtaining an accurate and explicit model in order to contribute to the control of the system over the prediction horizon; second, describing a Frenet–Serret differential geometry based path-following agenda and developing AGV dynamic model by incorporating the vehicle vertical mode of motion to prevent vehicle rollover during critical maneuvers, and finally, achieving an enhanced yaw stabilization and transient tracking performance considering saturated input signal by employing the proposed system identification algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed control system is verified by comparing with the traditional NMPC method by employing a high fidelity CarSim/MATLAB framework.
DECONSTRUCTING RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER INEQUALITY IN PERSONAL EARNINGS

Tilly (1998) and Hogan (2001) argue that race, class, and gender inequality are qualitatively different relations of categorical inequality, established and sustained by the same mechanisms: exploitation, opportunity hoarding, emulation, and accommodation, though which women and blacks are included or excluded from the production and distribution of the necessities of life and work. We use Current Population Survey data to estimate an Ordinary Least Squares regression model predicting logged 2000 earnings for working respondents, using age, educational credentials, family and work status, class, and labor market measures as predictors. Then we use the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to test predictions derived from Tilly’s (1998) theory, explaining how family, race, class, and gender relations produce distinctive advantages and disadvantages in the pursuit of personal earnings. We find evidence of agency as well as structural constraint in kin, class, occupation, and labor market systems.
Temporal 3D ConvNets: New Architecture and Transfer Learning for Video Classification

The work in this paper is driven by the question how to exploit the temporal cues available in videos for their accurate classification, and for human action recognition in particular? Thus far, the vision community has focused on spatio-temporal approaches with fixed temporal convolution kernel depths. We introduce a new temporal layer that models variable temporal convolution kernel depths. We embed this new temporal layer in our proposed 3D CNN. We extend the DenseNet architecture - which normally is 2D - with 3D filters and pooling kernels. We name our proposed video convolutional network `Temporal 3D ConvNet'~(T3D) and its new temporal layer `Temporal Transition Layer'~(TTL). Our experiments show that T3D outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods on the HMDB51, UCF101 and Kinetics datasets. The other issue in training 3D ConvNets is about training them from scratch with a huge labeled dataset to get a reasonable performance. So the knowledge learned in 2D ConvNets is completely ignored. Another contribution in this work is a simple and effective technique to transfer knowledge from a pre-trained 2D CNN to a randomly initialized 3D CNN for a stable weight initialization. This allows us to significantly reduce the number of training samples for 3D CNNs. Thus, by finetuning this network, we beat the performance of generic and recent methods in 3D CNNs, which were trained on large video datasets, e.g. Sports-1M, and finetuned on the target datasets, e.g. HMDB51/UCF101. The T3D codes will be released
New delay-dependent stability criteria using improved double integral inequality for singular systems

This paper deals with the problem of delay-dependent stability for singular time-delay systems. By applying Wirtinger-based integral inequalities and a tighter double integral inequality and using augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, a sufficient delay-dependent criterion is derived on the basis of linear matrix equalities(LMIs). Numerical examples are computed to obtain the upper bound of the maximum time-delay and illustrate the strength and less conservativeness of method proposed in this study.
Randomized, Investigator-Blinded, Multicenter, Comparative Study of Gatifloxacin Versus Amoxicillin/Clavulanate in Recurrent Otitis Media and Acute Otitis Media Treatment Failure in Children

Background: Recurrent otitis media and acute otitis media treatment failure are commonly encountered in the pediatric population. Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of gatifloxacin with amoxicillin/clavulanate for the treatment of acute otitis media treatment failure and recurrent otitis media. Methods: Three hundred fifty-four children 6 months–7 years with recurrent otitis media and/or acute otitis media failure were stratified according to age (younger than 2 years versus 2 years or older) and then randomly assigned to 10 days of treatment with gatifloxacin 10 mg/kg once daily or amoxicillin/clavulanate 90 mg/6.4 mg in 2 divided doses. Tympanocentesis was performed in 116 children with acute otitis media treatment failure and 52 with recurrent otitis media at study entry to validate the clinical diagnosis and provide microbiologic data. The primary outcome measure was clinical resolution of infection at the test-of-cure visit 3–10 days after completing treatment. Results: Clinical resolution of acute otitis media was observed in 79.0% (49 of 62) of clinically evaluable children younger than 2 years and 90.3% (56 of 62) of those 2 years or older who were treated with gatifloxacin as compared with 77.6% (45 of 58) of children younger than 2 years and 79.7% (47 of 59) of children 2 years or older treated with amoxicillin/clavulanate. In patients with acute otitis media treatment failure, clinical response rates for children younger than 2 years and those 2 years or older were 87.5% (21 of 24) and 97.0% (32 of 33) with gatifloxacin versus 63.6% (14 of 22) and 83.9% (26 of 31) with amoxicillin/clavulanate. The corresponding clinical response rates in patients with recurrent otitis media were 79.2% (19 of 24) and 85.7% (18 of 21) with gatifloxacin and 90.5% (19 of 21) and 76.0% (19 of 25) with amoxicillin/clavulanate. Clinical success in those subjects having pretreatment middle ear fluid pathogens was similar for the 2 regimens [80.0% (24 of 30) gatifloxacin, 77.1% (27 of 35) amoxicillin/clavulanate]. Emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant strains was not observed. Both drugs were generally well-tolerated. Diarrhea was the most common drug-related adverse event (10% gatifloxacin, 18% amoxicillin/clavulanate). No evidence of abnormal joint or gait findings was found during a 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: Gatifloxacin once daily is at least as effective and well-tolerated as amoxicillin/clavulanate twice daily in children with acute otitis media treatment failure or recurrent otitis media. There was no evidence of arthrotoxicity or emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria in gatifloxacin-treated children.
Role of AMP-activated Protein Kinase in Cyclic AMP-dependent Lipolysis In 3T3-L1 Adipocytes*

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a phylogenetically conserved intracellular energy sensor that has been implicated as a major regulator of glucose and lipid metabolism in mammals. However, its possible role in mediating or influencing the adrenergic control of lipolysis in adipocytes remains uncertain. In this study, we utilized the murine cultured preadipocyte line 3T3-L1 to examine this question. Treatment of adipocytes with isoproterenol or forskolin promoted the phosphorylation of AMPK at a critical activating Thr-172 residue in a dose- and time-dependent manner. This correlated well with a stimulation of the activity of AMPK, as measured in the immune complex. Analogs of cAMP mimicked the effect of isoproterenol and forskolin on AMPK phosphorylation. Treatment of adipocytes with insulin reduced both basal and forskolin-induced AMPK phosphorylation via a pathway dependent on phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase. Overexpression of a dominant-inhibitory mutant of AMPK blocked isoproterenol-induced lipolysis by ∼50%. These data indicate that there exists a novel pathway by which cAMP can lead to the activation of AMPK, and in adipocytes, this is required for maximal activation of lipolysis.
Microstructure of NiFe Epitaxial Thin Films Grown on MgO Single-Crystal Substrates

NiFe epitaxial thin films were prepared on MgO(100) and MgO(110) single-crystal substrates heated at 300° C by ultra-high vacuum molecular beam epitaxy. In the early stage of film growth on MgO(100) substrate, formation of NiFe (112¿0) epitaxial thin film with hcp structure is observed by in-situ RHEED. With increasing the film thickness, fcc-NiFe(100) phase appears and the RHEED intensity from fcc-NiFe(100) crystal increases. X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy indicate that the resulting film structure is fcc-NiFe(100), suggesting that the metastable hcp-NiFe (112¿0) phase is observable only during film growth process. On the contrary, NiFe(110) fcc single-crystal film grows epitaxially on MgO(110) substrate. Atomically sharp boundaries are recognized between NiFe thin films and MgO substrates, where misfit dislocations are periodically introduced in the films at the NiFe/MgO interfaces reducing the lattice mismatches. Out-of-plane and in-plane lattice spacings of these films agree with the values of bulk NiFe crystal with very small errors of less than 0.5%, suggesting that the strains in the NiFe films are very small.
The Constitutional Right to Information

Freedom of Information Laws have swept the democratic world in the past twenty years, yet the normative level of these laws and the balance between the public's Right to Know and other legal or constitutional rights vary from one country to the other. In this article, the authors review the justifications underlying the global recognition of the right to access information, and go on to argue that these same justifications support constitutional, rather than mere legal, recognition of the right. Such status has been granted to this right in several countries through explicit inclusion in the constitution, and in several others through constitutional courts' interpretation of it. But in the United States and many other countries this is yet to be done. Towards the end of the article, authors suggest a model for constitutional articles defining a constitutional right to Freedom of Information.
Daytime urinary incontinence in primary school children: a population-based survey.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and severity of, and risk factors for, daytime urinary incontinence in children starting primary school. DESIGN AND SETTING Population-based cross-sectional survey of new entrant primary school children in Sydney, Australia. METHODS A random cluster sample of 2020 primary school children was surveyed by using a daytime incontinence questionnaire with known substantial repeatability (mean kappa = 0.70). RESULTS The questionnaire was returned for 1419 (70%) children with a mean age of 5.9 years; 16.5% of children had experienced one or more episodes of wetting in the last 6 months (mild), 2.0% had wet twice or more per week (moderate), and 0.7% were wet every day (severe) (overall prevalence of 19.2%). On multivariate analysis, recent emotional stress (odds ratio 5.7), a history of daytime wetting along the paternal line (odds ratio 9.3), and a history of wetting among male siblings (odds ratio 5.3) were independent risk factors for moderate to severe daytime wetting. Expressed as population attributable risk, 59% and 28% of moderate-severe and mild daytime wetting, respectively, can be attributed to these 3 factors. Only 16% of families with affected children had sought medical help. CONCLUSIONS Daytime urinary incontinence in the first year of primary school is more common than previously reported, and only a small proportion of affected children seek medical help. Emotional stress and family history are likely to be major causal factors.
Raymond Pearl memorial lecture, 1988: Evolution of mitochondrial DNA in human and other organisms

Within the last ten years complete sequencing of mitochondrial DNA in human and several other species, sequencing of nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal and transfer RNAs in many species of bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, and population studies of restriction enzyme polymorphism in the mtDNAs of insects, mammals and sixteen species of primates produced a wide range of new data and theory in molecular evolutionary genetics. These data support the endosymbiotic origin of the eukaryotic cell, the evolution of the Genus Homo with Pan as the closest related living genus, and the origin of modern Homo sapiens by gradualistic, anagenetic, regional phyletic transformation from Homo erectus.
[Assessment of growth factor levels in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and the beginning of diabetic microangiopathy].

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was the evaluation of growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP-3) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in adolescents with type 1 diabetes as well as the relationship between the concentration of examined proteins and the early development of diabetic microangiopathy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study included 68 patients aged 15.54+/-2.9 years with type 1 diabetes. They were divided into groups: I - adolescents with the beginning of vascular complications, II - without complications. Controls consisted of healthy adolescents. GH, IGF-1, IGFBP-3 and VEGF were determined with use of ready kits. RESULTS The increased levels of GH were found in diabetic adolescents in comparison with controls (10.11+/-16.21 vs. 2.89+/-4.03 micro IU/ml, p<0.05). The levels of IGF 1 were lower in adolescents with type 1 diabetes than in controls (283.48+/-117.36 vs. 427.95+/-177.48 ng/ml, p<0.05), as well as the levels of IGFBP-3 (5555.21+/-1158 vs. 6622.18+/-1110 pg/ml, p<0.05). Significantly higher concentration of VEGF was revealed in diabetic adolescents in comparison with controls (328.68+/-251 vs. 132.19+/-85 pg/ml, p<0.05). The highest levels of VEGF were reported in diabetic patients with retinopathy in comparison with patients without complications. CONCLUSIONS The impaired activity of GH-IGF-1-IGFBP-3 axis may be responsible for the development of diabetic microangiopathy. The evaluation of VEGF concentration can be a sensitive early marker of microangiopathy.
The effect of loading and ethnicity on annual changes in cortical bone of the radius and tibia in pre-pubertal children

Abstract Background: It is unclear what effect habitual physical activity or ethnicity has on annual changes in bone size and strength in pre-pubertal children. Aim: To determine whether the annual relative change in bone size and strength differed between high and low bone loaders and also between black and white pre-pubertal children. Subjects and methods: Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) scans of the 65% radius and tibia were completed on 41 black and white children (15 boys, 26 girls) between the ages of 8–11 years, at baseline and 1 year later. Children were categorised into either a high or low bone loading group from a peak bone strain score obtained from a bone-specific physical activity questionnaire. Total area (ToA), cortical area (CoA), cortical density (CoD), strength-strain index (SSI), periosteal circumference (PC), endosteal circumference (EC) and cortical thickness (CT) were assessed. Results: There was no difference in annual relative change in radial or tibia bone size and strength between the low and high bone loaders. Black children had a greater annual relative change in CoD (p = 0.03) and SSI (p = 0.05) compared to the white children. Conclusion: Children who performed high bone loading activities over a 1-year period had similar bone growth to children who did low bone loading activities over the same period. Rapid maturational growth over this period may have resulted in bone adapting to the strains of habitual physical activity placed on it. Black children may have greater tibial bone strength compared to white children due to a greater annual increase in cortical density.