Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shaking the Normative Foundations of EU Equality Law: Evolution and Hierarchy between Market Integration and Human Rights Rationales

With the adoption of the Race Equality Directive (2000/43/EC), the Framework Directive (2000/78/EC) and the Gender Directive on goods and services (2004/113/EC), the landscape of EU non-discrimination law has changed dramatically. From a medium to advance market integration, non-discrimination has evolved toward a genuine fundamental right of equality. However, the Court of Justice’s efforts to give substance to this general principle of equal treatment have met political backlash. At the same time, while advancing the principle of equal treatment, the reforms have also instilled hierarchy within equality. More than sixteen years after the first comprehensive reforms, in a climate of political mistrust towards the EU, it is unlikely that new legislation will level off the ground. Today, how has the interplay of market-based and fundamental-rights-based rationales transformed the advancement of the principle of non-discrimination in Europe? This paper first examines the shift operated in the EU transformative equality enterprise, from a legislative and adjudicative focus towards a focus on enforcement, as a response to pushback. Second, the paper argues that the interplay between an instrumental market-based and an imperative rights-based understanding of equality, underlying this pushback, has transformed non-discrimination into a hybrid but effective principle. The third section, however, puts forward that the existence and effectiveness of this principle of non-discrimination is threatened by several lines of hierarchy within the European equality monument.
The Anticonvulsant Effects of Ketogenic Diet on Epileptic Seizures and Potential Mechanisms

Background: Epilepsy is a syndrome of brain dysfunction induced by the aberrant excitability of certain neurons. Despite advances in surgical technique and anti-epileptic drug in recent years, recurrent epileptic seizures remain intractable and lead to a serious morbidity in the world. The ketogenic diet refers to a high-fat, low-carbohydrate and adequate-protein diet.Currently, its beneficial effects on epileptic seizure reduction have been well established. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying the anti-epileptic effects of ketogenic diet are still poorly understood. In this article, the possible roles of ketogenic diet on epilepsy were discussed. Methods: Data was obtained from the websites including Web of Science, Medline, Pubmed,Scopus, based on these keywords: “Ketogenic diet” and “epilepsy”. Results: As shown in both clinical and basic studies, the therapeutic effects of ketogenic diet might involve neuronal metabolism, neurotransmitter function, neuronal membrane potential and neuron protection against ROS. Conclusion: In this review, we systematically reviewed the effects and possible mechanisms of ketogenic diet on epilepsy, which may optimize the therapeutic strategies against epilepsy.
Exercise counteracts lipotoxicity by improving lipid turnover and lipid droplet quality

The incidence of obesity and metabolic disease, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), is rising globally. Dietary lipid over supply leads to lipid accumulation at ectopic sites, such as skeletal muscle. Ectopic lipid storage is highly correlated with insulin resistance and T2D, likely due to a loss of metabolic flexibility – the capacity to switch between fat and glucose oxidation upon insulin stimulation – and cellular dysfunction because of lipotoxicity. However, muscle lipid levels are also elevated in endurance‐trained athletes, presenting a paradoxical phenotype of increased intramuscular lipids along with high insulin sensitivity – the ‘athletes’ paradox’. This review focuses on recent human data to characterize intramuscular lipid species in order to elucidate some of the underlying mechanisms driving skeletal muscle lipotoxicity. There is evidence that lipotoxicity is characterized by an increase in bioactive lipid species, such as ceramide. The athletes’ paradox supports the notion that regular physical exercise has health benefits that might originate from the alleviation of lipotoxicity. Indeed, exercise training alleviates intramuscular ceramide content in obese individuals without a necessary decrease in ectopic lipid storage. Furthermore, evidence shows that exercise training elevates markers of lipid droplet dynamics such as the PLIN proteins, and triglyceride lipases ATGL and HSL, as well as mitochondrial efficiency, potentially explaining the improved lipid turnover and a reduction in the accumulation of lipotoxic intermediates observed with the athelets’ paradox.
Implementing innovations within organizations: a systematic review and research agenda

Abstract Contemporary organizations often adopt innovations as their top priority to survive severe global competition and the rapidly changing business environment. Although organizational gains from using an innovation (i.e. innovation success) appear to largely depend on the correct decision to adopt an effective innovation, ultimately, innovation success cannot be obtained until individuals consistently use or implement the innovation (i.e. implementation success). Considering the importance of innovation implementation, we scrutinize the factors influencing the implementation process and outcomes for all innovation types (e.g., technological and process, service and product, and administrative innovation). Specifically, we conduct a systematic review of the existing studies on innovation implementation and categorize the factors into four groups: innovation characteristics, social factors, organizational factors, and individual factors. Drawing on the findings obtained from our investigation and our insights shaped during the systematic review process, we suggest three future research agendas: (a) consider individual factors as the primary predictors of an individual’s implementation behavior toward innovation; (b) examine the possibility that innovations change during their implementation and that multiple forms of implementation outcomes can result; and (c) uncover the implementation mechanism of organizations that continuously adopt and implement innovations over a prolonged period.
ImmunoScore Signature: A Prognostic and Predictive Tool in Gastric Cancer

Objective: We postulated that the ImmunoScore (IS) could markedly improve the prediction of postsurgical survival and chemotherapeutic benefits in gastric cancer (GC). Summary Background Data: A prediction model for GC patients was developed using data from 879 consecutive patients. Methods: The expression of 27 immune features was detected in 251 specimens by using immunohistochemistry, and a 5-feature-based ISGC was then constructed using the LASSO Cox regression model. Testing and validation cohorts were included to validate the model. Results: Using the LASSO model, we established an ISGC classifier based on 5 features: CD3invasive margin (IM), CD3center of tumor (CT), CD8IM, CD45ROCT, and CD66bIM. Significant differences were found between the high-ISGC and low-ISGC patients in the training cohort in 5-year disease-free survival (45.0% vs. 4.4%, respectively; P <0.001) and 5-year overall survival (48.8% vs. 6.7%, respectively; P <0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that the ISGC classifier was an independent prognostic factor. A combination of ISGC and tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) had better prognostic value than TNM stage alone. Further analysis revealed that stage II and III GC patients with high-ISGC exhibited a favorable response to adjuvant chemotherapy. Finally, we constructed 2 nomograms to predict which patients with stages II and III GC might benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery. Conclusions: The ISGC classifier could effectively predict recurrence and survival of GC, and complemented the prognostic value of the TNM staging system. Moreover, the ISGC might be a useful predictive tool to identify stage II and III GC patients who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
Arguments in Advertising - Or, What Yoghurt can Teach us about Sustainable Transport

1. INTRODUCTION In this paper I present some considerations regarding how we ought to use the tools of argumentation theory in the analysis of persuasive communication material, with implications for the way such material can be modelled for use with persuasive technology or artificial deliberative intelligences. I focus here on how a refined understanding of the underlying argumentative structure of a traditional TV commercial (in particular, the Danone Yoghurt commercial In Soviet Georgia, previously discussed by Douglas Walton (2010)), reveals some limitations on how far an argumentative analysis can take us in understanding the persuasive power of advertisements like this. Specifically, I will argue that understanding advertisements as arguments using standard analytical tools fails to capture their motivational force, and hence will fail to predict their effectiveness in achieving behaviour change in their audience. The issues raised, concerned with the way adverts of various kinds engage the desires of their audience, turn out to be especially relevant for understanding how advertisements and marketing material function effectively in achieving behaviour change in domains such as encouraging the use of sustainable transport, where persuading people to cut down on personal car use rests largely on making certain altruistic desires more relevant for their decision-making than other desires to, for instance, use the most convenient and efficient means of getting from A to B. If computational models of advertisements as instances of natural argument are to be used as a means of generating arguments to effect behaviour change in domains such as personal transport, it is necessary that they are able to correctly predict behavioural effects. As such, I argue in this paper that there is a need to develop a means to model the non-argumentative features of communication material that make certain desires more or less relevant to individuals’ motivational frameworks.
Glucose and norepinephrine challenges during abomasal infusion of cis or trans octadecenoates in Holstein cows.

This experiment determined the effects of infusion of mixtures of fat containing predominantly cis-C18:1 or trans-C18:1 fatty acids into the abomasum on responses of cows to glucose and norepinephrine challenges administered i.v. Six lactating Holstein cows, each with a rumen cannula, were arranged in two Latin squares with 21-d periods. The common basal diet contained 40% forage and 60% concentrate. Treatments were the uninfused control, 750 g/d of a cis fat mixture (65% high oleic sunflower oil and 35% cocoa butter), and 750 g/d of a trans fat mixture (93% shortening and 7% corn oil) infused into the abomasum via a tube that passed through the rumen cannula. Glucose challenges (0.4 mg/kg of BW, administered i.v.) were conducted on d 18, and norepinephrine challenges (0.7 microgram/kg of BW, administered i.v.) were conducted on d 19 of each experimental period. Despite a lower percentage of fat in milk for trans than for cis treatment, disappearance rates of glucose, secretion of insulin after glucose challenge, and appearance rates of NEFA and triglycerides after norepinephrine challenge were similar between treatments. Thus, these data support the hypothesis that trans-C18:1 fatty acids affect the synthesis of milk fat in the mammary gland of lactating cows.
Age and Early Graft Function Relate With Risk-Benefit Ratio of Allogenic Islet Transplantation Under Antithymocyte Globulin-Mycophenolate Mofetil-Tacrolimus Immune Suppression

Background Induction therapy with a T cell–depleting agent followed by mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus is presently the most frequently used immune suppression (IS) regimen in islet transplantation. This study assesses its safety and tolerability in nonuremic type 1 diabetic recipients. Methods Fifty-one patients (age, between 29 and 63 years) with high glycemic variability and problematic hypoglycemia received intraportal islet grafts under anti-thymocyte globulin-mycophenolate mofetil-tacrolimus protocol. They were followed up for over 48 months for function of the implant and adverse events. Results Severe hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis were absent in patients with functioning graft. Immune suppressive therapy was maintained for 48 months in 29 recipients with sustained function (group A), whereas 16 patients stopped earlier due to graft failure (group B) and in 6 for other reasons. Group A was significantly older at the time of implantation and achieved higher graft function at posttransplantation month 6 under similar dose of IS. Prevalence of IS-related side effects was similar in groups A and B, occurring predominantly during the first year posttransplantation. IS-related serious adverse events (SAE) were reported in 47% of patients, with 4 presenting with cytomegalovirus infection and 4 (age, 42-59 years) diagnosed with cancer. Except in 1 patient with cancer, all SAEs resolved after appropriate treatment. Conclusions These risk/benefit data serve as a basis for clinical decision-making before entering an intraportal islet transplantation protocol. A longer benefit is observed in recipients of higher age (≥40 years), but it is not associated with more side effects and SAE.
The performance of microfinance institutions: "Do macro conditions matter?"

This paper analyzes whether the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) is associated with the macro conditions these institutions are confronted with. The analysis focuses on the macroeconomic, financial development, institutional and political variables as potentially important features of the macro conditions influencing the performance of MFIs. We measure performance in terms of the cost-efficiency of MFI operations. We find that economic growth and financial development are clearly and robustly associated with MFI efficiency. For institutional and political conditions, the picture is less obvious: while some dimensions of the institutional and political environment seem to be associated with efficiency, the general conclusion is that we cannot find a clear relationship between the two dimensions and the efficiency of MFIs.
Effects of ganoderic acid A on lipopolysaccharide-induced proinflammatory cytokine release from primary mouse microglia cultures

For several thousand years, Ganoderma lucidum (Ling-Zhi in Chinese and Reishi in Japanese) has been widely used as a traditional medication for the prevention and treatment of various diseases in Asia. Its major biologically active components, ganoderic acids (GAs), exhibit significant medicinal value due to their anti-inflammatory effects. Dysregulation of microglial function may cause seizures or promote epileptogenesis through release of proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. At present, only little information is available on the effects of GAs on microglia-mediated inflammation in vitro and/or in vivo. The present study aimed to investigate the role of GA-A on microglia-mediated inflammation in vitro. In addition, the effect of GA-A on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-evoked alterations in mitochondrial metabolic activity of microglia was evaluated. The results of the present study demonstrated that GA-A significantly decreased LPS-induced IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α release from mouse-derived primary cortical microglial cells in a concentration-dependent manner. GA-A treatment reduced LPS-induced expression of nuclear factor (NF)-κB (p65) and its inhibitor, demonstrating that non-toxic suppression of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α production by GA-A is, at least in part, due to suppression of the NF-κB signaling pathway. In addition, the LPS-induced stimulation of mitochondrial activity of microglial cells was abolished by co-treatment with GA-A. Thus, GA-A treatment may be a potential therapeutic strategy for epilepsy prevention by suppressing microglia-derived proinflammatory mediators.
Fetal Serum Metabolites Are Independently Associated with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Background/Aims: Gestational diabetes (GDM) might be associated with alterations in the metabolomic profile of affected mothers and their offspring. Until now, there is a paucity of studies that investigated both, the maternal and the fetal serum metabolome in the setting of GDM. Mounting evidence suggests that the fetus is not just passively affected by gestational disease but might play an active role in it. Metabolomic studies performed in maternal blood and fetal cord blood could help to better discern distinct fetal from maternal disease interactions. Methods: At the time of birth, serum samples from mothers and newborns (cord blood samples) were collected and screened for 163 metabolites utilizing tandem mass spectrometry. The cohort consisted of 412 mother/child pairs, including 31 cases of maternal GDM. Results: An initial non-adjusted analysis showed that eight metabolites in the maternal blood and 54 metabolites in the cord blood were associated with GDM. After Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure and adjustment for confounding factors for GDM, fetal phosphatidylcholine acyl-alkyl C 32: 1 and proline still showed an independent association with GDM. Conclusions: This study found metabolites in cord blood which were associated with GDM, even after adjustment for established risk factors of GDM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating an independent association between fetal serum metabolites and maternal GDM. Our findings might suggest a potential effect of the fetal metabolome on maternal GDM.
Lumbosacral foraminal ratios and areas using MRI in medium-sized dogs

Summary Objective: To examine conventional magnetic resonance imaging planes of the lumbosacral foramina to obtain objective measurements of foraminal size in mediumsized (20–28 kg) normal dogs. Method: Ten canine cadavers were evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging in neutral, flexed and extended position. Foraminal ratios, areas and lumbosacral angles were calculated and their relationship to body weight was evaluated. Results: Foraminal ratios were found to be independent of body weight in medium sized dogs (p >0.42). Foraminal areas were dependent on body weight (p <0.05). Flexion and extension were shown to significantly change both the foraminal ratio and area. Clinical significance: Lumbosacral foraminal stenosis is common in working dogs. Foraminal ratios were evaluated in mediumsized dogs and were found to be independent of body weight, which may provide objective evaluation of surgical decompression techniques if calculated pre- and post-surgery. Foraminal areas were not independent of body weight.
Absent mandate? The role of positional issues in Canadian elections

Absent Mandate? The Role of Positional Issues in Canadian Elections Yannick Dufresne Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto 2015 Positional issues are political issues that generate disagreement among citizens and divide the electorate. Voting theories conventionally assume that positional issues have little effect on how individuals vote and that parties have little incentive to develop issue-based electoral strategies. Such a characterization of electoral dynamics is particularly prevalent in Canada. An enduring view holds that Canadian parties engage in “brokerage politics” wherein they avoid taking clear policy stances in order to avoid alienating segments of a fragmented electorate. This thesis challenges the conventional characterization of Canadian electoral dynamics by revisiting the role and impact of positional issues on electoral strategy. First, the results show that once measurement accuracy is improved and the heterogeneity of issue effects is taken into consideration, positional issues have non-negligible effects on individual vote choice. Second, the thesis demonstrates that the behaviour of Canadian political parties does not fully correspond to the brokerage party model. Parties can and do engage in behaviour prescribed by political marketing theory, to which positional issues are central. Positional issues are at the core of an exchange between citizens who care about a small set of issues and political parties who target these citizens using micro-campaigns. Ultimately, this thesis shows that political parties can use positional issues to increase their room for electoral manoeuvre.
Richer Semantic Visual and Language Representation for Video Captioning

Translating and summarizing a video into natural language is an interesting and challenging visual task. In this work, a novel framework is built to generate sentences for videos with more coherence and semantics. A long short term memory (LSTM) network with an improved factored way is first developed, which takes inspiration of the conventional factored way and a common practice of presenting multi-modal features at the first time in LSTM for video captioning. An LSTM network with the combination of improved factored and un-factored ways is exploited, and a voting strategy is employed to predict the words. Then, the residual is used to enhance the gradient signals which is learned from residual network (ResNet), and a deeper LSTM network is constructed. Furthermore, several convolutional neural network (CNN) features from deep models with different architectures are fused to catch more comprehensive and complementary visual information. Experiments are conducted on the MSR-VTT2016 and MSR-VTT2017 grand challenge datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of each presented techniques as well as the superiority compared to other state-of-the-art methods.
Liver transplantation for sclerosing cholangitis

The clinical course of 37 patients who underwent 46 liver transplantations for primary (n = 33) and secondary (n = 4) sclerosing cholangitis was reviewed. The median follow‐up was 37 months. The patient and graft survivals for patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis at 1, 2, and 5 years were 96.9%, 91.6%, 87.9%, and 83.1%, 74.2%, 65.2%, respectively. In the patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), prior surgery except for simple cholecystectomy was associated with significantly greater operative time and blood loss. No cholangiocarcinoma was identified at the time of transplantation. Human leukocyte antigen typing for PSC patients was heavily weighed toward B8 (58.8%) compared with control (11.8%). Sixty‐two percent of patients with PSC also had inflammatory bowel disease. Moderate or severe rejection requiring OKT3, “rescue therapy” with FK506, or retransplantation was relatively higher in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (70%) versus patients without inflammatory bowel disease (36.4%) and a matched control group (37.5%). Progressive inflammatory bowel disease was seen in 6 of 19 patients, with 3 developing cancer and a dysplasia. Two patients in the entire group died of sepsis and 3 of colon cancer (2 recurrent and 1 primary). These data demonstrate that excellent survival results can be achieved in this group of patients. Rejection is frequent and often severe and steroid refractory. Colon cancer represents the most frequent cause of death in PSC patients after liver transplantation and demands constant attention. (Hepatology 1995;22:451–457.)