Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HuR mediated post-transcriptional regulation as a new potential adjuvant therapeutic target in chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.

AIM To investigate the expression of HuR in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and to assess the effects of HuR silencing on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and the in vitro response to gemcitabine (GEM) treatment in pancreatic cell lines. METHODS We compared the expression of HuR, COX-2, and HO-1 in PDA and normal pancreatic tissue using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot. In addition, the HuR, COX-2 and HO-1 were analyzed in four types of cancer cell lines (MiaPaca2, Su.86.86, Capan-1, and Capan-2) with and without GEM treatment. Immunocytofluorescence analysis was used to investigate HuR localization in cells. Cell viability and response to GEM after HuR silencing were determined with the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-Yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide test and the crystal violet clonogenic assay, respectively. To measure apoptosis, activation of caspases 3/7 was evaluated using immunofluorescence. RESULTS In PDA tissue obtained from patients not treated with GEM, HuR mRNA expression was 3.2 times lower (P < 0.05) and COX-2 and HO-1 mRNA expression was 2.3-fold and 7.2-fold higher (P < 0.05), respectively, than normal pancreatic tissue (from organ donor). qRT-PCR analysis showed that HuR, COX-2, and HO-1 mRNA were overexpressed in all cancer cell lines treated with the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) dose of GEM compared with control cells (P < 0.05). Western blot analysis revealed that COX-2 and HO-1 levels were significantly decreased in cancer cells after HuR silencing. Furthermore, HuR silencing increased the response to GEM treatment and decreased cell viability by 11.6%-53.7% compared to control cell lines. Caspases 3 and 7 were activated after HuR silencing and GEM treatment in all pancreatic cancer cell lines. In comparison, treatment with GEM alone did not activate caspases 3 and 7 in the same cell lines. CONCLUSION HuR mediated post-transcriptional upregulation of COX-2 and HO-1 expression after GEM treatment in pancreatic cancer cells. HuR silencing significantly increased the effectiveness of GEM treatment in vitro.
Assessing Dynamic Service Discovery in the Network Centric Battlefield

In the network centric battlefield it is crucial that participating services can be discovered and used on an asneeded basis. Opportunistic service discovery in dynamic environments imposes some important requirements on the underlying service discovery system. In this paper, we discuss requirements for dynamic service discovery in the network centric battlefield, showing that current technologies for Web Service discovery are insufficient in this kind of environments. We then discuss design aspects of a service discovery architecture, advocating an autonomous federated registry topology and use of aliveness information. Finally, we briefly sketch some of the ingredients of a suitable service discovery infrastructure for a network centric battlefield.
TrEKer: Tracing error propagation in operating system kernels

Modern operating systems (OSs) consist of numerous interacting components, many of which are developed and maintained independently of one another. In monolithic systems, the boundaries of and interfaces between such components are not strictly enforced at runtime. Therefore, faults in individual components may directly affect other parts of the system in various ways. Software fault injection (SFI) is a testing technique to assess the resilience of a software system in the presence of faulty components. Unfortunately, SFI tests of OSs are inconclusive if they do not lead to observable failures, as corruptions of the internal software state may not be visible at its interfaces and, yet, affect the subsequent execution of the OS beyond the duration of the test. In this paper we present TREKER, a fully automated approach for identifying how faulty OS components affect other parts of the system. TREKER combines static and dynamic analyses to achieve efficient tracing on the granularity of memory accesses. We demonstrate TrEKer's ability to support SFI oracles by accurately tracing the effects of faults injected into three widely used Linux kernel modules.
Momentum and Market Instability

This paper establishes a strong link between the profitability of the momentum strategy and market instability, as gauged by flight-to-quality episodes. Momentum gains are shown to be roughly ten times larger during flight episodes. Further, flights are significantly associated with larger momentum profits even after controlling for indicators of asset performance, volatility, illiquidity, market state, and monetary policy. This paper's results also show that illiquidity shocks appear to diversely affect different types of flights, as predicted in Vayanos (2004). Finally, monetary policy announcements, past and contemporaneous, are shown to decrease the incidence of market instability.
Factors Influencing Organ Donation and Transplantation in State of Qatar

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and determinants of organ donation and transplantation in Qatari population. Design: This is a cross-sectional study to determine the knowledge, attitude towards organ donation in Peninsula Arabian Gulf country. Setting: Primary Health Care (PHC) Centers and communitybased study in Qatar. Subjects: A multistage sampling design was used and a representative sample of 1600 Qataris and non-Qataris, males and females aged 17 years and above were included from October 2003 to May 2004. 1305 (81.5%) subjects participated and gave consent for the study Measurements: Participants completed a questionnaire assessing their knowledge, attitudes and awareness for organ donation. Results: A total of 1305 of 1600 enrolled subjects participated in this study, giving a response rate of 81.5%. 67.8% of male and 70.4% of female subjects were found to be aware and having an idea on organ donation and transplantation. 61.4% of males and 70.4% of females disagreed the idea of importing organs from outside. Male respondents (31.7%) were generally less accepting the idea of organ donation than females (39.5%). More males (79.9%) than female respondents (87.6%) did not agree organ donation for money. Conclusion: Intense efforts to improve public awareness and knowledge about organ donation and transplantation are necessary to maximize donation and the overall success of transplantation.
ILLNESS BEHAVIOUR QUESTIONNAIRE (IBQ): TRANSLATION AND ADAPTATION IN INDIA

SUMMARY The Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) of Pilowsky and Spence (1981), which was developed as a self report instrument to record aspects of “Illness Behaviour” particularly those attitudes that suggest inappropriate or maladaptive modes of responding to one's state of health (Pilowsky 1971), was translated into Hindi and adapted. Factor analysis of the data revealed four meaningful factors which correspond with the four out of seven factor reported by original authors.
Flumazenil in cirrhotic patients in hepatic coma: A randomized double‐blind placebo‐controlled crossover trial

Previous reports have suggested that “endogenous” benzodiazepines could contribute to neural inhibition in hepatic encephalopathy. RO 15‐1788 (flumazenil), a specific antagonist of brain benzodiazepine receptors, could thus reverse the neurological symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy. To test this possibility, we conducted a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled crossover trial of the efficacy of flumazenil in cirrhotic patients in hepatic coma. Seventy‐seven cirrhotic patients in hepatic coma were evaluated. Fifty‐six were excluded from the trial because of multiorgan failure or because coma was precipitated by prior use of benzodiazepines, and 21 patients were randomly assigned to the flumazenil group (11 patients) or the placebo group (10 patients). Treatment was administered intravenously as a 20‐ml solution (placebo or 2 mg flumazenil); seven patients were crossed over. Clinical status was assessed blindly by two observers, using a modified Glasgow scale, every 15 min for 6 hr. Electroencephalogram tracings obtained before and after drug administration were evaluated blindly by two independent observers. Serum concentrations of benzodiazepines before treatment were measured by means of a fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Improvement in neurological symptoms was observed in six patients treated with flumazenil, whereas none in the placebo group showed improvement (p < 0.05; Fisher's exact test). Improvements in electroencephalogram tracings were demonstrated in four patients treated with flumazenil, compared with two patients in the placebo group (p = NS). Benzodiazepines were found in the serum of four patients treated with flumazenil (two responders and two nonresponders); all of these patients had received pharmaceutical benzodiazepines 4 to 6 days before the trial. We conclude that flumazenil is effective in a subset of highly selected cirrhotic patients with severe hepatic encephalopathy and that this beneficial effect is not related to the presence of benzodiazepines in the blood. (Hepatology 1994;19:32–37).
In-hospital mortality risk factors in community acquired pneumonia: evaluation of immunocompetent adult patients without comorbidities.

OBJECTIVE several scores were developed in order to improve the determination of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) severity and its management, mainly CURB-65 and SACP score. However, none of them were evaluated for risk assessment of in-hospital mortality, particularly in individuals who were non-immunosuppressed and/or without any comorbidity. In this regard, the present study was carried out. METHODS we performed a cross-sectional study in 272 immunocompetent patients without comorbidities and with a diagnosis of CAP. Performance of CURB- 65 and SCAP scores in predicting in-hospital mortality was evaluated. Also, variables related to death were assessed. Furthermore, in order to design a model of in-hospital mortality prediction, sampled individuals were randomly divided in two groups. The association of the variables with mortality was weighed and, by multiple binary regression, a model was constructed in one of the subgroups. Then, it was validated in the other subgroup. RESULTS both scores yielded a fair strength of agreement, and CURB-65 showed a better performance in predicting in-hospital mortality. In our casuistry, age, white blood cell counts, serum urea and diastolic blood pressure were related to death. The model constructed with these variables showed a good performance in predicting in-hospital mortality; moreover, only one patient with fatal outcome was not correctly classified in the group where the model was constructed and in the group where it was validated. CONCLUSION our findings suggest that a simple model that uses only 4 variables, which are easily accessible and interpretable, can identify seriously ill patients with CAP.
Factors contributing to the early failure of small new charity start-ups

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish the main causes of early failure of small recently established fundraising charities. Design/methodology/approach – Heads and ex-heads of small recently established British charities that had either shut down within two years of registration with the Charity Commission or had survived for two years following registration were surveyed to determine the sorts of issue they believed were particularly problematic at the time their charities were formed or shortly thereafter. The research combined ideas from human capital theory, organisational ecology, and the survivor principle to investigate the mortality of new charity start-ups. Information was obtained from the ex-heads of 182 charities that had been removed from the Charity Commission’s register and from 356 heads of charities that were still in operation. Findings – Participants in both groups reported that they had experienced major difficulties relating to funding, the development of plans, lack of .
Brain Size Is Not Correlated with Forelimb Dexterity in Fissiped Carnivores (Carnivora): A Comparative Test of the Principle of Proper Mass

To test the hypothesis that brain size and forelimb dexterity are positively correlated, the relative brain size of 41 species of fissiped (terrestrial) carnivores (Order: Carnivora) was examined with respect to their forelimb use during feeding. With the use of a newly derived dexterity index, the forelimb dexterity executed by each of the species was calculated as a single, continuous variable which was then regressed against the residuals of brain size. To account for confounding effects of phylogenetic inertia, the analysis was performed with independent contrasts analysis using a speciational model of evolutionary change (i.e. equal branch lengths). The results suggest that relative brain size and isocortex size are not correlated with the dexterity of the proximal or distal segments or a combination of the two (total forelimb dexterity). The presence of species with widely different brain sizes and similar dexterities, and vice versa, suggests that an increase in the amount of neural substrate might not be necessary for the production of finely coordinated forelimb movements. It is suggested that this outcome is representative of the plasticity of both mammalian brain size and behavior and that variations in brain size and forelimb dexterity could be linked to disparate ecological and phylogenetic factors which act in concert to promote or constrain neural development and behavior in different species.
Longitudinal associations between cycling to school and weight status.

OBJECTIVE The objective of the present study was to assess the longitudinal association between cycling to school and weight status in two cities where cycling to school is common - Kristiansand (Norway) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands). METHODS Data from two studies ENDORSE (Rotterdam) and YOUTH IN BALANCE (Kristiansand) were used. Both studies were longitudinal with two years between time (T) 1 and T2 measurements, and with mean age at T1 of 13.2 and 13.4 years, respectively. The sample was categorized into the following groups according to responses about main mode of commuting to school at the two time points: NO cycling, STARTED cycling, STOPPED cycling and CONTINUED cycling. Measured weight and height were obtained at both time points, and weight status (overweight vs. not overweight) was calculated using international classification criteria for BMI. The two datasets were analyzed separately and together. RESULTS In multilevel logistic regression models of the combined sample, adjusting for weight status at Time 1, those who stopped cycling had greater odds of being overweight at T2 (OR = 3.19; 95% CI = 1.41? 7.24) while those continued cycling had lower odds of being overweight (OR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.21? 0.88), separately compared to the other three groups together. The same trend was observed in both study samples. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that there are longitudinal associations between cycling to school and weight status in two cities where cycling to school is common, implying that interventions aiming at reducing overweight/obesity among adolescents might consider the promotion of sustained cycling behaviour.
Computational and experimental evidence for the structural preference of phenolic C-8 purine adducts.

The structural and spectral properties of (ortho and para) C8-aryl-purine adducts formed from carbon attachment by phenolic toxins were investigated through DFT calculations and UV-vis absorbance and emission studies. The global minima of both the deoxyadenosine (dA) and deoxyguanosine (dG) adducts adopted a syn conformation about the glycosidic bond due to the presence of an O5'-H.N3 hydrogen bond, where the anti minima are 20-30 kJ mol-1 higher in energy. While the nucleobase adducts are planar, the presence of the deoxyribose sugar induces a twist about the carbon-carbon bond connecting the phenol and nucleobase rings. ortho-Phenolic adducts are less twisted than the corresponding para adducts due to stabilization provided by an intramolecular O-H.N7 bond. Solvation calculations, in combination with UV-vis studies, demonstrate that the structural preference is solvent dependent, where solvents with hydrogen-bonding abilities disrupt the intramolecular O-H.N7 hydrogen bond such that a greater degree of twist is observed, and less polar solvents stabilize the planar structure. Indeed, the ratio of twisted to planar conformers is estimated to be as large as 50:50 in some aprotic solvents. Thus, the combined experimental and computational approach has provided a greater understanding of the structure of the ortho- and para-dA and dG C-bonded phenoxyl adducts as the first step to understanding the biological consequences of this form of DNA damage.
Deep Learning the Physics of Transport Phenomena

We have developed a new data-driven paradigm for the rapid inference, modeling and simulation of the physics of transport phenomena by deep learning. Using conditional generative adversarial networks (cGAN), we train models for the direct generation of solutions to steady state heat conduction and incompressible fluid flow purely on observation without knowledge of the underlying governing equations. Rather than using iterative numerical methods to approximate the solution of the constitutive equations, cGANs learn to directly generate the solutions to these phenomena, given arbitrary boundary conditions and domain, with high test accuracy (MAE$<$1\%) and state-of-the-art computational performance. The cGAN framework can be used to learn causal models directly from experimental observations where the underlying physical model is complex or unknown.
Hu‐Bcl‐2 transgenic mice with supernumerary neurons exhibit timing impairment in a complex motor task

Programmed neuronal cell death is common during development, and is thought to be important in the elimination of errors in axonal projection, cell position and sculpting of neuronal circuits. However, the potential importance of programmed cell death for complex behaviour in the adult animal has never been addressed. We studied motor abilities in a strain of transgenic mice with neuronal overexpression of the human Bcl‐2 protein, which have supernumerary neurons due to reduced developmental cell death. Our results show that these mice have a clear deficiency in fine timing of motor coordination without impairment of basic motor functions. This is the first indication that altered developmental cell death and the consequent neuronal surplus can impair complex behaviour in the adult animal.
Immunodominant CD 4 1 T-Cell Epitope within Nonstructural Protein 3 in Acute Hepatitis C Virus Infection

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The Use of Multivariate Techniques for the Unemployment Analysis

The present paper includes the results of an analysis of different aspects which influence the unemployment evolution in Romania; the analysis was conducted using exploratory multidimensional techniques such as Principal Component Analysis, Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis. The present research aims to extend the comprehension of the labor market state, offering a formula which reflects the unemployment multidimensionality, the simultaneous action of more factors and establish a framework for the evaluation of the labor market conditions. There are presented different typologies of unemployment, extracted according to the level of education, the unemployment duration and gender for the period 1996- 2014 for four age groups. The analysis highlights the specific behavior of the young generation and also of the generation over 50 years.
Impact of acute rejection and new-onset diabetes on long-term transplant graft and patient survival.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Development of new therapeutic strategies to improve long-term transplant outcomes requires improved understanding of the mechanisms by which these complications limit long-term transplant survival. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS The association of acute rejection and new-onset diabetes was determined in the first posttransplantation year with the outcomes of transplant failure from any cause, death-censored graft loss, and death with a functioning graft in 27,707 adult recipients of first kidney-only transplants, with graft survival of at least 1 yr, performed between 1995 and 2002 in the United States. RESULTS In multivariate analyses, patients who developed acute rejection or new-onset diabetes had a similar risk for transplant failure from any cause, but the mechanisms of transplant failure were different: Acute rejection was associated with death-censored graft loss but only weakly associated with death with a functioning graft. In contrast new-onset diabetes was not associated with death-censored graft loss but was associated with an increased risk for death with a functioning graft. CONCLUSIONS Acute rejection and new-onset diabetes have a similar impact on long-term transplant survival but lead to transplant failure through different mechanisms. The mechanisms by which new-onset diabetes leads to transplant failure should be prospectively studied. Targeted therapeutic strategies to minimize the impact of various early posttransplantation complications may lead to improved long-term outcomes.
Serum concentrations of allergen-specific IgE in horses with equine recurrent airway obstruction and healthy controls assessed by ELISA.

BACKGROUND Equine recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), also known as heaves, is one of the most common respiratory problems in older horses. When RAO-affected horses stay pastured or in a dust-free environment for a prolonged time, clinical signs as well as airway inflammation wane. A number of environmental, immunologic, infectious, and genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of RAO, and the immunologic basis of this disease is still poorly understood. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the concentrations of allergen-specific IgE in the serum of horses suffering from RAO and healthy controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included a group of 14 adult Polish Konik horses, kept in a standardized environment, and divided into 2 groups: 7 horses which did not have any respiratory problems comprised the control group and 7 horses with a history of RAO constituted the study group. A clinical and laboratory evaluation, endoscopic examination, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were performed in all horses. Sera of all horses were tested against allergens from 9 molds and 3 mites using the Heska Allercept assay. RESULTS In the serologic tests, a statistically significant difference between both groups was found for specific IgE against mites, wherein Tyrophagus putrescentia correlated most clearly with RAO. There was no difference between groups for IgE specific against molds. CONCLUSION On the basis of our observations and results, we conclude that RAO is associated with increased serum concentrations of specific serum IgE against mites, in particular T putrescentia.