Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Remembering the silver lining: Reappraisal and positive bias in memory for emotion

Reappraisal and distraction, unlike suppression, are known to decrease the intensity of negative emotion in the short term. Little is known about long-term characteristics associated with emotion regulation strategies, however. In a longitudinal study, we examined the relation between the strategies people reported using to regulate emotions during a stressful situation and their later memory for their emotions. Students in Italy rated the intensity of positive and negative emotions they were experiencing as they prepared for their high school exit exam. They also rated the extent to which they were regulating emotion using reappraisal, distraction, and suppression. Six weeks later, students recalled their pre-exam emotions. The more students reported engaging in reappraisal before the exam, the more they overestimated positive emotion and underestimated negative emotion when recalling their experience. The association between reported reappraisal and memory bias was partially mediated by positive changes over time in students’ appraisals of the exam preparation experience. Reports of engaging in distraction and suppression were not associated with memory bias. Because remembered emotion guides future choices, these findings suggest that reappraisal is a highly adaptive strategy for coping with stressful situations, not only in the short run, but also in the long run.
Association study of CREB1 polymorphisms and suicidality in MDD: results from a European multicenter study on treatment resistant depression

Purpose: Mood disorders are present in more than 90% of suicides, and a genetic vulnerability to suicidality is well established. Numerous lines of evidence relate the transcription factor Cyclic adenosine monophosphate Response Element Binding protein (CREB1) to suicide, and to the aetiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Our aim was to test for association between CREB1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and both suicide risk (SR) and a personal history of suicide attempt (SA) in MDD patients. Materials and Methods: A sample of 250 MDD patients collected in the context of a European multicenter resistant depression study and treated with antidepressants over a period of at least 4 weeks were genotyped for five CREB1 SNPs (rs2709376, rs2253206, rs7569963, rs7594560, and rs4675690). To assess suicidality, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) were applied. Results: Neither single-marker nor haplotypic association were found between SR and/or a personal history of SA with any of the investigated SNPs after multiple testing correction. For females, an association between rs2709376 and a personal history of SA was found (p = 0.016), however not resisting multiple testing correction. Conclusions: Although we found significant CREB1 single marker association with a personal history of SA in female MDD patients, this finding could not be confirmed in haplotypic analyses after multiple testing correction. Larger well-defined cohorts are required to confirm or refute a possible association of CREB1 and SA in female MDD patients.
Training Dietitians in Motivational Interviewing

Objective: To evaluate the transfer of Motivational Interviewing (MI) skills to dietietic practice in a clinical setting, and the effect of this on patient behaviour. This involved a replication of Britt and Balmpied (2010), except with dietitians providing the MI rather than nurses educators as in the earlier study. The current study, therefore, is a both a test of replication and generalisation. Method: Two dietitians were trained in MI and effects of this training were evaluated on both practitioner and patient behaviour when MI was delivered in a clinical settting with patients experiencing diabetes self-management difficulties. Comparisons were made between the dietitians’ and participants’ behaviour during baseline (standard Patient Education, n=6 participants) and after the dieitians were trained in MI (n=5 participants). Data were collated from transcripts of all sessions independently coded using the therapist and client behaviour counts from the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code to derive therapist and client behaviour counts. Results: MI training was effective relative to baseline performance. Conclusions: When trained in MI, the practitioners behaved in ways consistent with MI, and this appears to have evoked in-session behaviour from the participants consistent with emergent MI theory.
Species boundaries and nomenclature of Rhizopus arrhizus (syn. R. oryzae)

Rhizopus arrhizus (Mucorales, Mucoromycotina) is the prevalent opportunist worldwide among the mucoralean species causing human infections. On the other hand the species has been used since ancient times to ferment African and Asian traditional foods and condiments based on ground soybeans. As producer of organic acids and hydrolytic enzymes it is widely applied in food industry and biotechnology. Using a set of 82 strains we studied phylogenetic and biological species boundaries within Rhizopus arrhizus s.l. to test the taxonomic status of R. delemar that was recently separated from R. arrhizus. Sequence analyses based on the internal transcribed spacer region, the gene of the largest subunit of the RNA polymerase II, a part of the actin gene, and the translation elongation factor 1‐α as well as amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis were performed. Phenotypic characters such as enzyme profiles and growth kinetics were examined and the mating behavior was tested. Molecular analyses supported the existence of two phylogenetic species. However, the results of the mating test suggest that the mating barrier is still not complete. No physiological, ecological or epidemiological distinction could be found beside the difference in the production of organic acids. Consequently the status of varieties is proposed for the two phylogenetic species. Because the description of the first described R. arrhizus is considered to be conclusive we recommend the use of Rhizopus arrhizus var. arrhizus and var. delemar.
Exponential stability of Markovian jumping stochastic Cohen-Grossberg neural networks with mixed time delays and impulses

This paper is mainly concerned with the exponential stability of a class of Markovian jumping stochastic CohenGrossberg neural networks with mixed time delays and impulses. Three types of impulses are considered: the impulses are input disturbances, the impulses are neutral type, and the impulses are stabilizing. For each type of impulses, the sufficient conditions for exponential stability in form of matrix inequalities have been derived with regard to suitable classes of impulse time sequences.
Survival of patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in indonesia: a single institution review.

OBJECTIVE To describe for the first time the survival of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) in Indonesia, according to clinicopathological characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective study of bladder TCC survival in a single institution, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Indonesia's national tertiary referral centre, between the years 1995 and 2005. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine the overall survival (OS). RESULTS The evaluable data covered 254 cases of primary bladder TCC, in which 95 (37.4%) were non muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), and 159 cases (62.6%) were muscle-invasive (MIBC). Of these, 105 cases (41.4%) with a follow-up period up to five years were eligible for survival analysis. The mean age was 56.5 +/- 12.1 years old, with a male to female ratio of 6:1. The 5-year OS for all bladder TCC was 27.6%, with a mean survival time of 32.6 months. For NMIBC, the 5-year OS was 53.8% with a mean survival of 54.5 months. For MIBC, the 5-year OS was 19% with a mean survival of 25.4 months. Regarding pathological stage, the 5-year OS for stage 0, I, II, III, and IV was 83.3%, 45%, 30%, 18.8%, and 9.1%, respectively. CONCLUSION The overall survival of bladder TCC in Indonesia is low compared to other countries. Possible explanations include the high number of advanced-stage tumours at initial presentation, under-staging, significant number of treatment refusal by our patients, and the non-standardized use of adjuvant therapy in our centre.
Soy Isoflavones in the Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Epidemiological studies suggest an inverse association between soy intake and prostate cancer (Pca) risk. We have previously observed that soy isoflavone genistein induces apoptosis and inhibits growth of both androgen-sensitive and androgen-independent Pca cells in vitro. To determine the clinical effects of soy isoflavones on Pca we conducted a pilot study in patients with Pca who had rising serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Patients with Pca were enrolled in the study if they had either newly diagnosed and untreated disease under watchful waiting with rising PSA (group I) or had increasing serum PSA following local therapy (group II) or while receiving hormone therapy (group III). The study intervention consisted of 100 mg of soy isoflavone (Novasoy®) taken by mouth twice daily for a minimum of 3 or maximum of 6 mo. Forty-one patients were enrolled (4 in group I, 18 in group II, and 19 in group III) and had a median PSA level of 13.3 ng/ml. Thirty-nine patients could be assessed for response. Soy isoflavone supplementation was given for a median of 5.5 (range 0.8-6) mo per patient. Although there were no sustained decreases in PSA qualifying for a complete or partial response, stabilization of the PSA occurred in 83% of patients in hormone-sensitive (group II) and 35% of hormone-refractory (group III) patients. There was a decrease in the rate of the rise of serum PSA in the whole group (P = 0.01) with rates of rise decreasing from 14 to 6% in group II (P = 0.21) and from 31 to 9% in group III (P = 0.05) following the soy isoflavone intervention. Serum genistein and daidzein levels increased during supplementation from 0.11 to 0.65 αM (P = 0.00002) and from 0.11 to 0.51 αM (P = 0.00001), respectively. No significant changes were observed in serum levels of testosterone, IGF-1, IGFBP-3, or 5-OHmdU. These data suggest that soy isoflavones may benefit some patients with Pca.
MR evaluation of response to targeted treatment in cancer cells

The development of molecular technologies, together with progressive sophistication of molecular imaging methods, has allowed the further elucidation of the multiple mutations and dysregulatory effects of pathways leading to oncogenesis. Acting against these pathways by specifically targeted agents represents a major challenge for current research efforts in oncology. As conventional anatomically based pharmacological endpoints may be inadequate to monitor the tumor response to these targeted treatments, the identification and use of more appropriate, noninvasive pharmacodynamic biomarkers appear to be crucial to optimize the design, dosage and schedule of these novel therapeutic approaches. An aberrant choline phospholipid metabolism and enhanced flux of glucose derivatives through glycolysis, which sustain the redirection of mitochondrial ATP to glucose phosphorylation, are two major hallmarks of cancer cells. This review focuses on the changes detected in these pathways by MRS in response to targeted treatments. The progress and limitations of our present understanding of the mechanisms underlying MRS‐detected phosphocholine accumulation in cancer cells are discussed in the light of gene and protein expression and the activation of different enzymes involved in phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis and catabolism. Examples of alterations induced in the MRS choline profile of cells exposed to different agents or to tumor environmental factors are presented. Current studies aimed at the identification in cancer cells of MRS‐detected pharmacodynamic markers of therapies targeted against specific conditional or constitutive cell receptor stimulation are then reviewed. Finally, the perspectives of present efforts addressed to identify enzymes of the phosphatidylcholine cycle as possible novel targets for anticancer therapy are summarized. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cabergoline compared to levodopa in the treatment of patients with severe restless legs syndrome: Results from a multi‐center, randomized, active controlled trial

We report the first large‐scale double‐blind, randomly assigned study to compare two active dopaminergic therapies for Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), the dopamine agonist cabergoline (CAB) and levodopa/benserazide (levodopa). Patients with idiopathic RLS were treated with fixed daily doses of 2 or 3 mg CAB or 200 or 300 mg levodopa for 30 weeks. Efficacy was assessed by changes in the IRLS (International RLS Severity Scale) and by time to discontinuation of treatment due to loss of efficacy or augmentation. 361 of 418 screened patients (age 58 ± 12 years, 71% females) were randomly assigned and treated (CAB: n = 178; levodopa: n = 183) in 51 centers of four European countries. Baseline IRLS total score was 25.7 ± 6.8. The baseline‐adjusted mean change from baseline to week 6 in IRLS sum score was d = −16.1 in the CAB group and d = −9.5 in the levodopa group (d = −6.6, P < 0.0001). More patients in the levodopa group (24.0%) than in the CAB group (11.9%, P = 0.0029, log‐rank test) discontinued because of loss of efficacy (14.2% vs. 7.9%, P = 0.0290) or augmentation (9.8% vs. 4.0%, P = 0.0412). Adverse events (AEs) occurred in 83.1% of the CAB group and in 77.6% of the levodopa group. In both groups, most frequent AEs were gastrointestinal symptoms (CAB: 55.6%, levodopa: 30.6%, P < 0.0001). This first large‐scale active controlled study in RLS showed superior efficacy of cabergoline versus levodopa after a 30‐week long‐term therapy. Tolerability was found more favorable with levodopa than with cabergoline. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society
Insecticidal Activity Associated with the Outer Membrane Vesicles of Xenorhabdus nematophilus

ABSTRACT Xenorhabdus nematophilus secretes a large number of proteins into the culture supernatant as soluble proteins and also as large molecular complexes associated with the outer membrane. Transmission electron micrographs of X. nematophilus cells showed that there was blebbing of the outer membrane from the surface of the bacterium. The naturally secreted outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) were purified from the culture supernatant of X. nematophilus and analyzed. Electron microscopy revealed a vesicular organization of the large molecular complexes, whose diameters varied from 20 to 100 nm. A sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profile of the vesicles showed that in addition to outer membrane proteins, several other polypeptides were also present. The membrane vesicles contained lipopolysaccharide, which appeared to be of the smooth type. Live cells of X. nematophilus and the OMV proteins derived from them exhibited oral insecticidal activity against neonatal larvae of Helicoverpa armigera. The proteins present in the OMVs are apparently responsible for the biological activity of the OMVs. The soluble proteins left after removal of the OMVs and the outer membrane proteins also showed low levels of oral toxicity to H. armigera neonatal larvae. The OMV protein preparations were cytotoxic to Sf-21 cells in an in vitro assay. The OMV proteins showed chitinase activity. This is the first report showing toxicity of outer membrane blebs secreted by the insect pathogen X. nematophilus into the extracellular medium.
Pathophysiology of the cysteinyl leukotrienes and effects of leukotriene receptor antagonists in asthma

Cysteinyl leukotrienes, synthesized de novo from cell membrane phospholipids, are proinflammatory mediators that play an important role in the pathophysiology of asthma. These mediators are among the most potent of bronchoconstrictors and cause vasodilation, increased microvascular permeability, exudation of macromolecules and edema. The cysteinyl leukotrienes also have potent chemoattractant properties for eosinophils, causing an influx of eosinophils into the airway mucosa, which further fuels the inflammatory process. In addition, the cysteinyl leukotrienes are potent secretagogues and reduce ciliary motility, which may hinder mucociliary clearance. Asthmatic patients demonstrate increased production of cysteinyl leukotrienes during naturally occurring asthma and acute asthma attacks as well as after allergen and exercise challenge. The leukotriene receptor antagonists montelukast, zafirlukast and pranlukast inhibit bronchoconstriction in asthmatic patients undergoing allergen, exercise, cold air or aspirin challenge. They attenuate the hallmarks of asthmatic inflammation, including eosinophilia in the airway mucosa and peripheral blood. Moreover, exhaled nitric oxide concentrations, another correlate of airway inflammation, are decreased during montelukast treatment in children. Cysteinyl leukotriene synthesis is not blocked by corticosteroid therapy. This important observation suggests that the leukotriene receptor antagonists represent a novel therapeutic approach, one that may provide benefits that are additive with corticosteroid therapy. This supposition is supported by clinical observations that treatment with leukotriene receptor antagonists significantly improve asthma control when added to inhaled corticosteroid therapy. Moreover, the bronchodilator properties of the leukotriene receptor antagonists are additive with those of β agonists. These data provide strong support for the use of leukotriene receptor antagonists for treating asthma.
Examining linguistic content and skill impression structure for job interview analytics in hospitality

First impressions are critical to professional interactions especially in the context of employment interviews. This work investigates connections between linguistic content and first impressions in job interviews and the structure of ten soft skills and overall impressions. Towards this, we transcribe 169 role-played job interviews conducted at a hospitality school and analyze the linguistic content using off-the-shelf software. To understand the structure of the soft skill impressions, we conduct a principal component analysis. We then develop methods to automatically infer impressions using verbal and nonverbal features and their combination. Results indicate low predictive power of verbal cues for overall impression (R2 = 0.11). Combined verbal and nonverbal cues explain up to 34% of variance, a marginal improvement over R2 = 0.32 using only nonverbal cues. The use of principal components reveals a major component associated to overall positive and negative impressions that when used as labels for supervised learning results in a regression performance of R2 = 0.41.
Impact of chemical heterogeneity on protein self-assembly in water

Hydrophobicity is thought to underlie self-assembly in biological systems. However, the protein surface comprises hydrophobic and hydrophilic patches, and understanding the impact of such a chemical heterogeneity on protein self-assembly in water is of fundamental interest. Here, we report structural and thermodynamic investigations on the dimer formation of full-length amyloid-β proteins in water associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Spontaneous dimerization process—from the individual diffusive regime at large separations, through the approach stage in which two proteins come close to each other, to the structural adjustment stage toward compact dimer formation—was captured in full atomic detail via unguided, explicit-water molecular dynamics simulations. The integral-equation theory of liquids was then applied to simulated protein structures to analyze hydration thermodynamic properties and the water-mediated interaction between proteins. We demonstrate that hydrophilic residues play a key role in initiating the dimerization process. A long-range hydration force of enthalpic origin acting on the hydrophilic residues provides the major thermodynamic force that drives two proteins to approach from a large separation to a contact distance. After two proteins make atomic contacts, the nature of the water-mediated interaction switches from a long-range enthalpic attraction to a short-range entropic one. The latter acts both on the hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues. Along with the direct protein–protein interactions that lead to the formation of intermonomer hydrogen bonds and van der Waals contacts, the water-mediated attraction of entropic origin brings about structural adjustment of constituent monomer proteins toward the formation of a compact dimer structure.
Cognitive Enhancing Agents: Current Status in the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

ABSTRACT: Extensive recent literature on drugs used to enhance cognitive functioning, reflects the growing social problem of dementia. Many clinical trials have been undertaken with variable success. In most cases the disorder studied has been Alzheimer's disease. The pharmacological approach has been designed to rectify the presumed pathophysiological processes characteristic of the condition. Agents tested include cerebral vasodilators, cerebral metabolic enhancers, nootropics, psychostimulants, neuropeptides and neurotransmitters with a special emphasis on drugs used to enhance cholinergic function. Ethical and practical issues concerning clinical drug trials in dementia will be discussed.
Sentential Context and the Interpretation of Familiar Open-Compounds and Novel Modifier-Noun Phrases

Two experiments investigated the influence of sentential context on the relative ease of deriving a particular meaning for novel and familiar compounds. Experiment 1 determined which of two possible meanings was preferred for a set of novel phrases. Experiment 2 used both novel (e.g., brain sponge) and familiar compounds (e.g., bug spray). The compounds appeared in a sentential context that supported either the dominant or subdominant meaning. Next, participants saw either the dominant or subdominant definition and indicated whether it was plausible. When the definition was consistent with the preceding sentence, the participants were more likely to consider the definition plausible regardless of whether the compound was novel or familiar, although this difference was more pronounced for novel phrases than for familiar phrases. In terms of response times, the effect of sentential context also depended on the degree of dominance. The data suggest that the interpretation of compounds is affected by at least two sources of information: sentential context and the relative dominance of the preferred meaning.
Hemodynamic response to visual stimulation in newborn infants using functional near‐infrared spectroscopy

Brain activity is associated with physiological changes, which alter the optical properties of tissue. These changes can be detected by near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Aim of the study was to determine changes in cerebral oxygenation in response to stimulation in the visual cortex in newborn infants during spontaneous sleep in the first days of life. We used an in‐house developed multichannel NIRS imaging instrument, the MCP‐II, to measure changes in concentration of oxyhemoglobin (O2Hb) and deoxyhemoglobin (HHb) in specific brain areas. In 10 out of 15 subjects, a significant increase in O2Hb and/or a significant decrease in HHb were found in one or more channels over the occipital cortex. During stimulation, O2Hb increased by a mean of 0.98 μmol/l, HHb decreased by a mean 0.17 μmol/l, and total‐Hb increased by a mean of 0.81 μmol/l. The hemodynamic response to visual stimulation in the occipital cortex in newborn infants is similar to adults. The increase in O2Hb and the simultaneous decrease in HHb during stimulation suggest an increase in cerebral blood flow (CBF) that overcompensates for the increased oxygen consumption (CMRO2) in the activated cortical area. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.