Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EMOTION REGULATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON DECISION MAKING

One thing that may affect our decision making is emotions, and emotions are something we can regulate, this is referred to as emotion regulation. Therefore the aim of this thesis is to investigate to what extent the use of emotion regulation strategies can influence our decision making, and how this process plays out at the neural level. The findings within this thesis will suggest that the emotion regulation strategy reappraisal, compared to suppression, influences our decision making to some extent. At the neural level, findings within this thesis will indicate that neural changes may occur when individuals regulate their emotions in relation to making decisions. For instance, decreased activity within the striatum was associated with making less risky decisions when using the emotion regulation strategy reappraisal. On the other hand, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex may be important in mediating the neural systems of emotional states and working memory in order to enable decision making. This thesis will also cover some prominent theories of emotion and decision making. Emotion regulation, as well as strategies for emotion regulation, will be explained.
SLAM-ITseq: sequencing cell type-specific transcriptomes without cell sorting

ABSTRACT Cell type-specific transcriptome analysis is an essential tool for understanding biological processes in which diverse types of cells are involved. Although cell isolation methods such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) in combination with transcriptome analysis have widely been used so far, their time-consuming and harsh procedures limit their applications. Here, we report a novel in vivo metabolic RNA sequencing method, SLAM-ITseq, which metabolically labels RNA with 4-thiouracil in a specific cell type in vivo followed by detection through an RNA-seq-based method that specifically distinguishes the thiolated uridine by base conversion. This method has successfully identified the cell type-specific transcriptome in three different tissues: endothelial cells in brain, epithelial cells in intestine and adipocytes in white adipose tissue. As this method does not require isolation of cells or RNA prior to the transcriptomic analysis, SLAM-ITseq provides an easy yet accurate snapshot of the transcriptional state in vivo. Highlighted Article: A novel in vivo metabolic RNA sequencing method, SLAM-ITseq, enables cell type-specific transcriptome analysis without time-intensive cell or RNA sorting steps, making it accessible to a broader research area.
Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio as a New Predictive Index of Neurological Outcomes in Patients with Acute Intracranial Hemorrhage: A Retrospective Study

Background Systemic inflammation plays a critical role in the pathophysiological process of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Recently, the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has become a research focus that indicates inflammation in various diseases. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the predictive value of PLR in patients with acute ICH. Material/Methods This study was performed in a single teaching hospital. Glasgow coma scale at hospital discharge (GCSdis) and modified Rankin score (MRS) at 6 months were recorded as short-term and long-term neurological outcomes. Ordered and binary logistic regression methods were used to explore the associations. Results Finally, data on 183 ICH patients were included. A knot of PLR around 100 was detected and applied in the extended ordered logistic regression models. For PLR >100, PLR on ICU admission was significantly associated with worse GCSdis (from Model 1: OR: 1.004, 95% CI 1.001–1.007 to Model 4: OR: 1.006, 95% CI 1.002–1.009) while the PLR on Emergency Department (ED) admission was insignificant. For PLR ≤100, neither the PLR on ICU or ED admission was associated with GCSdis level. In the quartile grouping analysis, PLR Q2 was used as a reference level. Both Q3 and Q4 on ICU admission were significantly associated with lower GCSdis level (OR, 3.30; 95%CI 1.38–7.88; and OR, 3.79; 95%CI 1.54–9.33, respectively), while Q1 was insignificant. All 4 quartiles of PLR on ED admission were not associated with GCSdis. Conclusions Only higher PLR value on ICU admission but not on ED admission was associated with worse GCSdis.
Conditional Generators of Words Definitions

We explore recently introduced definition modeling technique that provided the tool for evaluation of different distributed vector representations of words through modeling dictionary definitions of words. In this work, we study the problem of word ambiguities in definition modeling and propose a possible solution by employing latent variable modeling and soft attention mechanisms. Our quantitative and qualitative evaluation and analysis of the model shows that taking into account words’ ambiguity and polysemy leads to performance improvement.
Adherence of mental therapy for mental disorder patients to drug health treatment [corrected].

OBJECTIVE To assess the adherence of mental disorder patients to drug therapy for mental health treatment and the association between demographic, socioeconomic, clinical and pharmacotherapeutic variables to treatment adherence. METHOD A cross-sectional study conducted with mental disorder patients in two Psychosocial Care Centers in Curitiba/Paraná in 2014. Data from structured interviews and medical records were submitted to descriptive and bivariate analysis. RESULTS 300 patients with mental disorders participated in the study. 51% of participants adhered to the drug therapy, the highest adherence was among males with no family history of mental disorder, diagnosed with schizophrenia, with disease duration of less than 1 year, who did not forget to take the medicine not even once in the previous month and who relied on family participation. Adherence was lower among the interviewees with individual income lower than one minimum wage, perception of regular and poor health, diagnosis of depression associated with another disorder, treatment time in the service over 2 years and with a history of attempted suicide. CONCLUSION Low adherence to the drug therapy was observed. The variables associated with adherence were gender, individual income, family history of mental disorder, perception about their health, diagnosis of mental disorder, duration of illness and treatment, suicide attempt, failing to take the medication at least once in the previous month and family participation.
Plasma PCSK9 correlates with apoB-48-containing triglyceride-rich lipoprotein production in men with insulin resistance[S]

Intestinal triglyceride (TG)-rich lipoproteins (TRLs) are important in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in insulin resistance (IR). We investigated the association of plasma proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) concentrations with apoB-48-containing TRL metabolism in 148 men displaying various degrees of IR by measuring in vivo kinetics of TRL apoB-48 during a constant-fed state after a primed-constant infusion of L-[5,5,5-D3]leucine. Plasma PCSK9 concentrations positively correlated with TRL apoB-48 pool size (r = 0.31, P = 0.0002) and production rate (r = 0.24, P = 0.008) but not the fractional catabolic rate (r = −0.04, P = 0.6). Backward stepwise multiple linear regression analysis identified PCSK9 concentrations as a positive predictor of TRL apoB-48 production rate (standard β = +0.20, P = 0.007) independent of BMI, age, T2D/metformin use, dietary fat intake during the kinetic study, and fasting concentrations of TGs, insulin, glucose, LDL cholesterol, or C-reactive protein. We also assessed intestinal expression of key genes involved in chylomicron processing from duodenal samples of 71 men. Expression of PCSK9 and HMG-CoAR genes was positively associated (r = 0.43, P = 0.002). These results support PCSK9 association with intestinal secretion and plasma overaccumulation of TRL apoB-48 in men with IR.
Transplantation of kidneys from DCD and DBD donors who died after ligature asphyxiation: The UK experience

There is uncertainty about whether hypoxic injury accompanying donor death from ligature asphyxiation influences renal transplant outcomes, particularly for recipients of kidneys donated after circulatory death (DCD). The UK Registry analysis was undertaken to determine transplant outcomes in recipients of kidneys from donors who died following ligature asphyxiation. From 2003 to 2016, 2.7% (n = 521) of potential organ donors died following ligature asphyxiation (mostly suicide by hanging). Of these, 409 (78.5%) donated kidneys for transplantation (46.9% donation after brain death [DBD] and 53.1% DCD donors) resulting in 650 kidney transplants. Compared to other deceased donors, those dying from ligature asphyxiation were younger, more often male, and had less hypertension. Unadjusted patient and graft survival were superior for recipients of both DBD and DCD kidneys from donors dying after ligature asphyxiation, although after adjustment for donor/recipient variables, transplant outcomes were similar. A case–control matched analysis confirmed transplant outcomes for those who received kidneys from donors dying after ligature asphyxiation were similar to controls. Although caution is required in interpreting these findings because of potential selection bias, kidneys from donors dying of ligature asphyxiation suffer an additional warm ischemic insult that does not apparently adversely influence transplant outcomes, even for kidneys from DCD donors.
Feminist Theories of Technology

Feminist theories of technology have come a long way over the last quarter of a century. The expanding engagement at the intersection of feminist scholarship and science and technology studies (STS) has enriched both fields immeasurably, and I will largely focus my reflections on the literature associated with these sites. I begin by highlighting the continuities as well as the differences between contemporary and earlier feminist debates on technology. Current approaches focus on the mutual shaping of gender and technology, in which technology is conceptualised as both a source and consequence of gender relations. In avoiding both technological determinism and gender essentialism, such theories emphasise that the gender-technology relationship is fluid and situated. These deliberations highlight how processes of technical change can influence gender power relations. A feminist politics of technology is thus key to achieving gender equality.
Graph-to-Sequence Learning using Gated Graph Neural Networks

Many NLP applications can be framed as a graph-to-sequence learning problem. Previous work proposing neural architectures on graph-to-sequence obtained promising results compared to grammar-based approaches but still rely on linearisation heuristics and/or standard recurrent networks to achieve the best performance. In this work propose a new model that encodes the full structural information contained in the graph. Our architecture couples the recently proposed Gated Graph Neural Networks with an input transformation that allows nodes and edges to have their own hidden representations, while tackling the parameter explosion problem present in previous work. Experimental results shows that our model outperforms strong baselines in generation from AMR graphs and syntax-based neural machine translation.
AutoSpearman: Automatically Mitigating Correlated Software Metrics for Interpreting Defect Models

The interpretation of defect models heavily relies on software metrics that are used to construct them. However, such software metrics are often correlated in defect models. Prior work often uses feature selection techniques to remove correlated metrics in order to improve the performance of defect models. Yet, the interpretation of defect models may be misleading if feature selection techniques produce subsets of inconsistent and correlated metrics. In this paper, we investigate the consistency and correlation of the subsets of metrics that are produced by nine commonly-used feature selection techniques. Through a case study of 13 publicly-available defect datasets, we find that feature selection techniques produce inconsistent subsets of metrics and do not mitigate correlated metrics, suggesting that feature selection techniques should not be used and correlation analyses must be applied when the goal is model interpretation. Since correlation analyses often involve manual selection of metrics by a domain expert, we introduce AutoSpearman, an automated metric selection approach based on correlation analyses. Our evaluation indicates that AutoSpearman yields the highest consistency of subsets of metrics among training samples and mitigates correlated metrics, while impacting model performance by 1-2%pts. Thus, to automatically mitigate correlated metrics when interpreting defect models, we recommend future studies use AutoSpearman in lieu of commonly-used feature selection techniques.
Disclosure of Same-Sex Behaviors to Health-care Providers and Uptake of HIV Testing for Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Systematic Review

To promote HIV-testing and offer optimal care for men who have sex with men (MSM), health-care providers (HCPs) must first be aware of their patients’ sexual behaviors. Otherwise, HCPs may overlook MSM’s risks for HIV infection and their special health-care needs. For MSM, reporting their same-sex behaviors to HCPs (disclosure to HCPs) may promote their linkage to HIV prevention and treatment cascade and improve their health outcomes. No literature review has been conducted to examine the relationship between disclosure to HCPs and uptake of HIV-testing among MSM. The current study reviewed and synthesized findings from 29 empirical studies published in English by 2016. We summarized the rates of MSM’s disclosure to HCPs, investigated the association between disclosure and HIV-testing among MSM, identified potential facilitators and barriers for disclosure, and discussed the implications of our findings in research and clinical practices. The disclosure rates varied across subgroups and study settings, ranging from 16% to 90% with a median of 61%. Disclosure to HCPs was positively associated with uptake of HIV-testing. African American MSM were less likely to disclose to HCPs. MSM who lived in urban settings with higher education attainment and higher income were more likely to disclose. MSM tended to perceive younger or gay-friendly doctors as safer targets of disclosure. Clinics with LGBT-friendly signs were viewed as safer contexts for disclosure. Having previous communications about substance use, sex, and HIV with HCPs could also facilitate disclosure. The main reasons for nondisclosure included lack of probing from HCPs, concerns on confidentiality breach and stigma, and perceived irrelevance with services. Providing appropriate trainings for HCPs and creating gay-friendly clinical settings can be effective strategies to facilitate disclosures of same-sex behaviors among MSM and meet their specific medical needs. Interventions to promote disclosure should give priorities to MSM from the most marginalized subgroups (e.g., MSM in rural areas, MSM of ethnic minorities).
Left ventricular diastolic function is enhanced after peak exercise in endurance‐trained adolescents as well as in their non‐trained controls

The aims of the study were to explore the temporal change of cardiac function after peak exercise in adolescents, and to investigate how these functional changes relate to maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). The cohort consisted of 27 endurance‐trained adolescents aged 13–19 years, and 27 controls individually matched by age and gender. Standard echocardiography and colour tissue Doppler were performed at rest, and immediately after as well as 15 min after a maximal cardio pulmonary exercise test (CPET) on a treadmill. The changes in systolic and diastolic parameters after exercise compared to baseline were similar in both groups. The septal E/e′‐ratio increased immediately after exercise in both the active and the control groups (from 9·2 to 11·0; P<0·001, and from 8·7 to 10·2; P = 0·008, respectively). In a comparison between the two groups after CPET, the septal E/e′‐ratio was higher in the active group both immediately after exercise and 15 min later compared to the control group (P = 0·007 and P = 0·006, respectively). We demonstrated a positive correlation between VO2max and cardiac function including LVEF and E/e′ immediately after CPET, but the strongest correlation was found between VO2max and LVEDV (r = 0·67, P<0·001) as well as septal E/e′ (r = 0·34, P = 0·013). Enhanced diastolic function was found in both groups, but this was more pronounced in active adolescents. The cardiac functional response to exercise, in terms of LVEF and E/e′, correlates with the increase in VO2 uptake. These findings in trained as well as un‐trained teenagers have practical implications when assessing cardiac function.
MAP1203 Promotes Mycobacterium avium Subspecies paratuberculosis Binding and Invasion to Bovine Epithelial Cells

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease, chronic and ultimately fatal enteritis that affects ruminant populations worldwide. One mode of MAP transmission is oral when young animals ingest bacteria from the collostrum and milk of infected dams. The exposure to raw milk has a dramatic impact on MAP, resulting in a more invasive and virulent phenotype. The MAP1203 gene is upregulated over 28-fold after exposure of the bacterium to milk. In this study, the role of MAP1203 in binding and invasion of the bovine epithelial cells was investigated. By over-expressing the native MAP1203 gene and two clones of deletion mutant in the signal sequence and of missense mutations changing the integrin domain from RGD into RDE, we demonstrate that MAP1203 plays a role in increasing binding in more than 50% and invasion in 35% of bovine MDBK epithelial cells during early phase of infection. Furthermore, results obtained suggest that MAP1203 is a surface-exposed protein in MAP and the signal sequence is required for processing and expression of functional protein on the surface of the bacterium. Using the protein pull-down assay and far-Western blot, we also demonstrate that MAP1203 interacts with the host dihydropyrimidinase-related protein 2 and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase proteins, located on the membrane of epithelial cell and involved in the remodeling of the cytoskeleton. Our data suggests that MAP1203 plays a significant role in the initiation of MAP infection of the bovine epithelium.
Effect of Camphorquinone Concentration in Physical-Mechanical Properties of Experimental Flowable Resin Composites

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of camphorquinone concentration in physical-mechanical properties of experimental flowable composites in order to find the concentration that results in maximum conversion, balanced mechanical strength, and minimum shrinkage stress. Model composites based on BISGMA/TEGDMA with 70% wt filler loading were prepared containing different concentrations of camphorquinone (CQ) on resin matrix (0.25%, 0.50%, 1%, 1.50%, and 2% by weight). Degree of conversion was determined by FTIR. Surface hardness was assessed before and after 24 h ethanol storage and softening rate was determined. Depth of cure was determined by Knoop hardness evaluation at different depths. Color was assessed by reflectance spectrophotometer, employing the CIE-Lab system. Flexural strength and elastic modulus were determined by a three-point bending test. Shrinkage stress was determined in a Universal Testing Machine in a high compliance system. Data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey's test (α = 0.05). The increase in CQ concentration caused a significant increase on flexural strength and luminosity of composites. Surface hardness was not affected by the concentration of CQ. Composite containing 0.25% wt CQ showed lower elastic modulus and shrinkage stress when compared to others. Depth of cure was 3 mm for composite containing 1% CQ and 2 mm for the other tested composites. Degree of conversion was inversely correlated with softening rate and directly correlated with elastic modulus and shrinkage stress. In conclusion, CQ concentration affects polymerization characteristics and mechanical strength of composites. The concentration of CQ in flowable composite for optimized polymerization and properties was 1% wt of the resin matrix, which allows adequate balance among degree of conversion, depth of cure, mechanical properties, and color characteristics of these materials.
The Ability of Different Ketohexoses to Alter Apo-A-I Structure and Function In Vitro and to Induce Hepatosteatosis, Oxidative Stress, and Impaired Plasma Lipid Profile in Hyperlipidemic Zebrafish

In the current study, we have tested the nonenzymatic glycation activities of ketohexoses, such as tagatose and psicose. Although tagatose-treated apoA-I (t-A-I) and psicose-treated apoA-I (p-A-I) exerted more inhibitory activity you cupric ion-mediated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation and oxidized LDL (oxLDL) phagocytosis into macrophage than fructose-treated apoA-I (f-A-I). In the lipid-free state, t-A-I and f-A-I showed more multimerized band without crosslinking. Since t-A-I lost its phospholipid binding ability, the rHDL formation was not as successful as f-A-I. However, injecting t-A-I showed more antioxidant activities in zebrafish embryo under the presence of oxLDL. Three weeks of consumption of fructose (50% of wt in Tetrabit/4% cholesterol) showed a 14% elevation of serum triacylglycerol (TG), while tagatose-administered group showed 30% reduction in serum TG compared to high cholesterol control. Fructose-fed group showed the biggest area of Oil Red O staining with the intensity as strong as the HCD control. However, tagatose-consumed group showed much lesser Oil Red O-stained area with the reduction of lipid accumulation. In conclusion, although tagatose treatment caused modification of apoA-I, the functional loss was not as much severe as the fructose treatment in macrophage cell model, zebrafish embryo, and hypercholesterolemic zebrafish model.
Detection of a new KCNQ1 frameshift mutation associated with Jervell and Lange‐Nielsen syndrome in 2 Iranian families

Jervell‐Lange Nielsen syndrome (JLNS) with autosomal recessive inheritance is a congenital cardiovascular disorder characterized by prolongation of QT interval on the ECG and deafness. We have performed molecular investigation by haplotype analysis and DNA Sanger sequencing in 2 unrelated Iranian families with a history of syncope. Mutational screening of KCNQ1 gene revealed the novel homozygous frameshift mutation c.733‐734delGG (p.G245Rfs*39) in 2 obviously unrelated cases of JLNS which is probably a founder mutation in Iran. The novel mutation detected in this study is the first time reported among Iranian population and will be beneficial in the tribe and region‐specific cascade screening of LQTS in Iran.