Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A preliminary study on clinical problems in acupuncture treatment for cancer pains

In this study, recent literatures and clinical research experience were collected and analyzed. The main problems of acupuncture in the treatment of cancer pains were summarized and listed as follows. (1) Cancer pains have complex causes and diverse symptoms, and some mixed pains need other drugs for adjuvant treatment. (2) Limited degree of pain control. For mild to moderate pains (pains with a numerical rating scale [NRS] score of <4 points), good results can be achieved; while for severe pains (pains with an NRS score of ≥ 4 points), drug treatment must be concurrently performed. (3) Analgesia timeliness. After treatment, the majority of patients felt that their pains gradually aggravated. Hence, these patients were returned to pre-treatment level at 4-6 h after treatment. (4) Diverse selection of acupoints. In China, most researchers use the TEAS method, where they select acupoints based on syndrome differentiation; and researchers sometimes use local acupoint selection as adjuvant means. Most foreign researchers treat cancer pain using the TENS method. (5) It is difficult to conduct randomized double-blind controlled studies of this treatment. Because, the treatment of acupuncture is easier to be identified by patients with acupuncture or electro-acupuncture experience.
On the Benefits of Giving Social Support

People who are socially integrated and have strong social ties live happier, longer lives. The link between social connection and well-being is commonly explained in terms of the benefits of receiving care and support from others. However, the benefits of giving care and support to others for the support provider are often overlooked. We review emerging findings that suggest when, why, and how giving support to others provides benefits to the self. We identify possible mechanisms by which these benefits arise and outline boundary conditions that influence such benefits. To gain a richer understanding of the association between social ties and well-being, an important future research direction is to not only consider the support receiver but also emphasize the support provider.
Etiopathogenesis of Oral Lichen Planus and Epstein-Barr Virus in North Karnataka , India

Oral Lichen planus (OLP) is a disease of adulthood, and children are rarely affected. It may involve various mucosal surfaces either independently or concurrently (oral, skin, and oral and skin lesions). Prevalence of skin LP in general population is 0.9% -1.2% and prevalence of oral LP is reported between 0.1% and 2.2% (1). The relative risk for oral lichen planus was highest (13.7) among those who smoked and chewed tobacco . The etiopathogenesis appears to be complex, with interactions between genetic, environmental, lifestyle factors, and interestingly with new associations such as with liver disease have emerged. Viral infections have recently been linked with OLP. Herpes Simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Human Herpes virus-6 (HHV-6), EpsteinBarr virus (EBV), Human Papilloma virus (HPV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) are virus types that have been studied in the etiopathogenesis of OLP(2). EBV is associated with infectious mononucleosis, oral hairy leukoplakia (nonmalignant disorders), Burkitt lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) (malignant disorders). The purpose of this study is to screen Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) genotypes and to detect its role in the pathogenesis of Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) using tissue samples. Samples consisted of 80 cases of OLP and 30 age and sex matched controls. The genomic DNA isolated from the tissue samples were electrophoresed on a 0.8% agarose gel. The PCR based detection of EBV sequences in the clinical samples did not produce any amplification using primers F-EBV (TC-70) and R-EBV (TC-72). This investigation showed no EBV positivity in OLP and control subjects but this result cannot reject the role of EBV in oral lesions such as OLP, therefore, further studies need to be done for arriving at definitive conclusions.
The Affective Evolution of Social Norms in Social Networks

Social norms are a core concept in social sciences and play a critical role in regulating a society’s behavior. Organizations and even governmental bodies use this social component to tackle varying challenges in the society, as it is a less costly alternative to establishing new laws and regulations. Social networks are an important and effective infrastructure in which social norms can evolve. Therefore, there is a need for theoretical models for studying the spread of social norms in social networks. In this paper, by using the intrinsic properties of norms, we redefine and tune the Rescorla–Wagner conditioning model in order to obtain an effective model for the spread of social norms. We extend this model for a network of people as a Markov chain. The potential structures of steady states in this process are studied. Then, we formulate the problem of maximizing the adoption of social norms in a social network by finding the best set of initial norm adopters. Finally, we propose an algorithm for solving this problem that runs in polynomial time and experiments it on different networks. Our experiments show that our algorithm has superior performance over other methods.
Quantification of drought tolerance in Ethiopian common bean varieties

Understanding the level of drought tolerance of the varieties available in each country is of paramount importance for breeding common bean for drought adaptation. The goal of this study was to evaluate 25 common bean genotypes of which 24 were released/recommended varieties for production by farmers and one was a drought tolerant check. The genotypes were planted at two sites in Ethiopia, Hawasssa and Amaro, using variable sowing dates, one that was early to avoid drought and one that was late to expose the crop to drought. The experiments were repeated over two years in Hawassa and one year in Amaro. This resulted in treatments with high and low total seasonal rainfall and six environments for analysis. The impact of drought stress on the trait expression of the varieties was not uniform across traits assessed and varieties tested. The effect of drought on photosynthate translocation and partitioning traits was much greater than on yield component traits in the varieties studied. This indicating less breeding efforts has been made in improving the varieties ability to mobilize photosynthate to the developing grain as compared to the yield component traits. Drought tolerant varieties like Hawassa Dume maintained better photosynthate translocation and partitioning than the drought sensitive varieties like Brown Speckled bean. Hawassa Dume also showed better yield stability and performed well under both drought stress and nonstress conditions. Our results indicate the relevance of high levels of photosynthate translocation and partitioning as an effective selection objective for improving drought tolerance in common bean. The information generated on the drought tolerance of the available varieties should help in the design of a breeding strategy that incorporates adaptation traits with commercial characteristics preferred by common bean farmers for varieties to be grown in diverse environments.
Coming to Your Senses: on Controls and Evaluation Sets in Polysemy Research

The point of departure of this article is the claim that sense-specific vectors provide an advantage over normal vectors due to the polysemy that they presumably represent. This claim is based on performance gains observed in gold standard evaluation tests such as word similarity tasks. We demonstrate that this claim, at least as it is instantiated in prior art, is unfounded in two ways. Furthermore, we provide empirical data and an analytic discussion that may account for the previously reported improved performance. First, we show that ground-truth polysemy degrades performance in word similarity tasks. Therefore word similarity tasks are not suitable as an evaluation test for polysemy representation. Second, random assignment of words to senses is shown to improve performance in the same task. This and additional results point to the conclusion that performance gains as reported in previous work may be an artifact of random sense assignment, which is equivalent to sub-sampling and multiple estimation of word vector representations. Theoretical analysis shows that this may on its own be beneficial for the estimation of word similarity, by reducing the bias in the estimation of the cosine distance.
The Challenges of Understanding Fluid in Fluid Density

Teachers’ understanding of science concepts must be deeper than just factual knowledge. They need to understand how the facts are connected and relate to the natural world. Weather, ocean currents, and tectonic movement are all phenomena listed in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Although understanding density of fluids within fluids is not directly mentioned in the NGSS, students need to understand fluid density in order to explain these common yet complex phenomena. We extended a familiar science activity of making a density column in order to help teachers understand the expectations of NGSS. Understanding the causes of the phenomena is critical for teachers. We found when students do not understand, they are more likely to substitute concrete or active causal factors, such as weight or force. We issued to our teachers the following challenge: “Make a density column with these 4 mystery liquids. ” As our students were in the process of determining the correct order to add the liquids, we noticed they confused mass and viscosity with density. In light of the expectations of the NGSS, we need to change the way teachers are prepared. They need time and space to practice connecting the concepts in practice. Therefore, teachers need help to connect the concepts to past experiences as well as time to reflect and revise. Teachers need to develop a mindset as a lifelong learner powered by their reflections and drive to help students understand science.
Volatility Regimes for the VIX Index

This article presents a Markov chain framework to characterize the behavior of the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX index). Two possible regimes are considered: high volatility and low volatility. The specification accounts for deviations from normality and the existence of persistence in the evolution of the VIX index. Since the evolution of the VIX index seems to indicate that its conditional variance is not constant over time, I consider two different versions of the model. In the first one, the variance of the index is a function of the volatility regime, whereas the second version includes ARCH and GARCH specifications for the conditional variance of the index. The empirical results show that the model adjusts quite well to the vola - ti lity regimes corresponding to the VIX index. The information provided by the model may be a useful tool for investment decisions, as well as for hedging purposes regarding the volatility of a certain asset.
Psi vs. survival: A qualitative investigation of mediums’ phenomenology comparing psychic readings and ostensible communication with the deceased

Certain mediums are able to report accurate and specific information about the deceased loved ones (termed ‘discarnates’) of living people (termed ‘sitters’) even without any prior knowledge about the sitters or the discarnates, in the complete absence of any sensory feedback, and without using deception. Despite recent experimental research investigating this phenomenon (e.g. Beischel & Schwartz, 2007), few systematic qualitative studies (e.g. Rock, Beischel & Schwartz, 2008) have been conducted. Consequently, six certified research mediums were asked to describe in as much detail as possible their subjective experiences during discarnate communication and psychic readings for the living. Thematic analysis revealed various comprehensive constituent themes for each experience type. Mediumship and psychic reading experiences were subsequently situated within Grof’s (1975) cartography of the transpersonal dimensions of the psyche. The present study constitutes an initial step towards isolating the phenomenological processes underlying discarnate communication readings. A detailed understanding of these processes may, in turn, assist researchers with regards to determining the source of the purportedly non-local, non-sensory information mediums report.
Clinical and Environmental Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life in Lithuanian Children and Adolescents with Spina Bifida: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of a Nationally Represented Sample

Background and objectives: In pediatric chronic health conditions, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a useful indicator of health, development, and well-being. The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of clinical and environmental factors on the HRQOL of children and adolescents with spina bifida (SB). Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study of the sample of 99 children and adolescents with SB aged 5 to 17 years. The questionnaires used in the study were the Spina Bifida Health-Related Quality of Life instrument (HRQOL-SB), and the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth. Medical data were obtained from the medical records and the clinical examination. Results: A multivariate linear regression revealed that the most potent predictors of the HRQOL in children with SB were the community overall environmental supports (β = 0.504; p = 0.0001), a number of health conditions (β = −0.395; p = 0.0001), access to personal transportation (β = 0.236; p = 0.023), and supplies (β = 0.181; p = 0.031), explaining 80.3% of the variance in the SB-HRQOL scores. The most significant predictors of the HRQOL in adolescents were a number of health conditions (β = −0.387; p = 0.0001), cognitive demands of activities at home (β = 0.345; p = 0.0001), supplies (β = 0.267; p = 0.0001), money (β = 0.303; p = 0.0001), physical layout at school (β = 0.188; p = 0.008), and access to public transportation (β = 0.206; p = 0.019), explaining 89.5% of the variance in the SB-HRQOL scores. Conclusions: Both clinical and environmental factors determined the HRQOL of children and adolescents with SB. Environmental supports and resources contributed to HRQOL more than medical problems, especially in adolescents. The number of associated medical problems, reflecting disease severity, was the more potent clinical predictor compared to an individual health problem.
Conjoined Twinning Incidences in Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868) Eggs in Southern Marmara Sea

Conjoined twinning is a rarely existed gross malformation in natural conditions. The term refers to the two individuals united at any part of their bodies. The extraordinary incidences of conjoined twinning cases may reflect important problems on the marine environment. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to report the incidences of Trachurus mediterraneus conjoined twins in Bandırma Bay, Southern Marmara Sea and to discuss the possible causes of them to derive new research questions. Four polyembryonic individuals were collected from three stations of Bandırma Bay Ichthyoplankton Survey in June 2012. The anomalous individuals were observed at the stations, St-9, 10 and 13 (Critical Stations). St-9 was at about 20m depth contour between Karşıyaka town and Dalyan village in western coasts of bay. St-10 and 13 was off Yenice village at about 10 and 30m depth contours respectively in the eastern coasts of the bay. The surface temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and pH of critical stations were seemed to be normal. Therefore the pollution was considered as the most possible reason of these incidences.
The Prevention of Childhood Anxiety in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Communities: A Universal School-Based Trial

This study is the first to examine the efficacy of the FRIENDS for Life program, a school-based, universal prevention program for childhood anxiety, when delivered exclusively to school-children from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Participants (N = 963) were children from Grades 5, 6 and 7 attending one of three public primary schools in Brisbane, Australia. Participants from all three schools completed a teacher-led intervention, delivered during regular classroom time within one school term. Participants completed measures assessing anxiety and depressive symptomatology, self-esteem, coping skills and psychosocial difficulties at pre, post and 12-month follow-up. Self-report data revealed significant decreases in both anxiety and depressive symptomatology at post-intervention which were maintained at followup. Significant reductions in peer problems and conduct problems, along with significant improvements in self-esteem and the use of coping strategies, were also noted over time. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed, along with limitations and directions for future research.
Nitrogen and Potassium Fertilization in a Guava Orchard Evaluated for Five Cycles: Soil Cationic Balance

Soil fertility evaluation through soil analysis traditionally does not consider interaction among elements. To include the interaction effect in interpretation of soil analyses, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of nitrogen fertilization (0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 kg N per plant per cycle) with urea (45 % N) and potassium fertilization (0, 0.55, 1.1, and 2.2 kg K2O per plant per cycle) with potassium chloride (60 % K2O) on soil cationic balance. The experiment was carried out in an irrigated commercial production area of ‘Paluma’ guava, for five consecutive cycles, 2009 through 2012, using the concept of isometric log ratio (ilr) to evaluate soil cationic balance through [K, Ca, Mg | H+Al], [K | Ca, Mg] and [Ca | Mg] balances. The compositional data analysis showed to be a suitable tool to interpret the soil cationic balance given that the soil cationic balances value was changed by nitrogen fertilization and potassium as well as the soil pH value and the concentration of K in the soil. The soil cationic balances also changed by the variations of in climate conditions at period of soil sample. An application rate of 0.55 kg K2O per plant per cycle was considered sufficient to keep K soil concentration above 1.6 mmolc dm-3.
Impact of fluoride on ameloblasts and MAPKs and caspase-12 activity in the tooth germ of rat offspring

Fluoride has been proved to transmit from mother to child; however, the impact of fluoride on ameloblasts has not been fully demonstrated in rat offspring. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of fluoride on ameloblasts in the offspring rat tooth germ. Male and female rats were given 50 (low-fluoride group) or 100 mg/L fluoride-containing water (high-fluoride group) for successive 6 weeks, while those given fluoride-free water served as controls. The offspring rats were sacrificed 3 days after birth, and mandibular tooth germ was collected for the subsequent experiments. Obvious yellow-brown or white streaks were observed in the incisor of rats given fluoride-containing water. Optical microscopy showed vacuolar changes in ameloblasts in the high-fluoride group, while no apparent changes were seen in the low-fluoride group or controls. Transmission electron microscopy displayed scattered vacuoles and enlargement of rough endoplasmic reticulum in the low-fluoride group. TUNEL assay showed yellowbrown granules in ameloblasts in the high-fluoride group, while no granules found in controls or the low-fluoride group. Immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting detected positive p-ERK, p-JNK and p-p38 expression on ameloblasts in controls, and p-ERK and p-JNK expression reduced but p-p38 expression increased with fluoride concentration (P < 0.05), while caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9 and caspase-12 expression reduced with fluoride concentration (P < 0.05). Our findings demonstrate that high-concentration fluoride causes morphological and ultrastructural changes and apoptosis in the tooth germ ameloblasts of rat offspring. In addition, MAPK signaling is linked to dental fluorosis, and caspase-12 may be involved in fluoride-induced ameloblast apoptosis.
Asymmetric priority effects influence the success of invasive forest insects

1. Settlement timing is often an important factor in interspecific herbivore interactions, as early‐arriving species may encounter higher resource availability and/or avoid induced defences. Despite the general importance of priority effects to the outcome of herbivore interactions, there has been little exploration of such interactions on woody host plants where their impact can only be measured over multiple years.
Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in Syndrome Metabolic Patients, a CaseControl Study

Abstract Background: Owing to the proposal of the increase of oxidative stress (OxS) as an early event in the development of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), the aim of the present study was to evaluate certain OxS biomarkers in patients with MetS compared to healthy people age-matched and younger to assess the relevance of aging in OxS and MetS. Methods: A total of 72 patients, 32 who fulfilled the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria for the MetS and 40 individuals without MetS, 20 age-matched to the MetS patients (Control I) and 20 younger subjects (Control II) were studied. We measured several anthropometric and serum parameters and two kinds of molecules related to OxS: modified molecules by reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as oxidized LDL (oxLDLc), and consumed or inducted molecules (enzymes or antioxidants such as Glutathione reductase GR,) associated with ROS metabolism. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v18.0. Results: Only significant differences were observed in the values of GR between the MetS patients and Control I (50.31 ± 8.15 U/L vs 59.50 ± 9.98 U/L). We found significantly higher levels in the MetS patients compared to Control II of oxLDLc (96.77 ± 23.05 U/L vs 60.17 ± 16.28 U/L), F2 -isoprostanes (3.17 ± 1.78 µg/g creatinine vs 2.04 ± 0.80 µg/g creatinine) and protein cabonils (PC) (0.56 ± 0.26 nmol/mg vs 0.29 ± 0.13 nmol/mg). Conclusions: Results have shown that MetS patients don’t present a superior OxS in comparison to age-related healthy individuals. Finally, aging is more relevant to OxS than MetS per se.
Cycling of high-molecular-weight dissolved organic matter in the Middle Atlantic Bight as revealed by carbon isotopic (13C and 14C) signatures

Carbon isotopes (13C and 14C) and elemental composition (C and N) in two fractions of colloidal organic matter (COM) were measured to study the origin and cycling of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB). COM, (1 kDa-O.2 pm) was 59% of the bulk DOM in surface Chesapeake Bay waters and decreased to 30-35% in waters of the MAB. COMlo (10 kDa-0.2 pm), which was the highmolecular-weight (HMW) component of COM,, comprised 3-l 2% of’ the bulk DOM, with highest concentrations in Chesapeake Bay waters and the lowest in deep waters in the MAB. AL4C values of COM, decreased from nearshore (-2 1 to + 12Yb0) to offshore and from surface (- 166 to -SS%&$ to bottom waters (-400 to -304’? &). Although A14C values of surface-water HMW COM,, were generally high (-2 to -7%0), values for bottom-water COM,, were much lower (- 129 to -709o/oo). The high A14C values in the surface water suggest a particulate origin of pelagic COM, consistent with the contemporary A14C values of particulate organic matter (POM). The very low A14C values of bottom-water COM,, imply that in addition to the pelagic origin, sedimentary organic C may serve as an important source for the benthic colloids in the bottom nepheloid layer. The general flow direction of organic carbon is from POM to HMW and to LMW DOM. Three colloidal end-members were identified in the MAB as well as in the Gulf of Mexico: estuarine colloids with high A14C values, high C : N ratios, and lower 613C values; offshore surface water colloids with intermediate A14C values, lower C : N ratios, and higher a13C values; and offshore deep-water colloids with low A14C values, intermediate C : N ratios, and variable 613C values.