Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppressive effect of exogenous miR‐16 and miR‐34a on tumorigenesis of breast cancer cells

Recent investigations have shown tumor‐suppressive roles for miR‐16 and miR‐34a. They also share some features in regard to targeting cancer cell signaling pathways which they control. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to further scrutinize whether exogenous induction of mature miR‐34a and miR‐16 can collaborate in breast tumor suppression. MDA‐MB‐231 and SK‐BR‐3 human breast cancer cell lines were cultured and transfected twice with hsa‐miR‐16‐5p and hsa‐miR‐34a‐5p mimics individually or in combination. The cells were analyzed for apoptosis rate and cell cycle indices by flow cytometry. Also, the expression of several invasion and the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition markers was evaluated at gene and protein levels by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. Assessment of invasiveness and migratory potential of the transfected cells was performed using three‐dimensional spheroid formation and wound‐healing assay, respectively. In both cell lines, miR‐16 and miR‐34a induced apoptosis and cell‐cycle arrest and also suppressed invasion and migration. Some of these effects, like cell‐cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis, were significantly higher when using both microRNAs than when using them individually for transfection of the cells. Our results are indicating that miR‐16 and miR‐34a can collaborate in breast tumor suppression.
Atrial Fibrillation and Dementia: Exploring the Association, Defining Risks and Improving Outcomes

AF is strongly associated with a spectrum of cranial injuries including stroke and dementia. Dementia risk is seen in patients with and without a prior stroke and includes idiopathic forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. The initiation, use and efficacy of anticoagulation have been shown in multiple observational trials to have an impact on dementia risk. Cerebral hypoperfusion during AF can result in cognitive decline and patients with cranial atherosclerosis may have unique susceptibility. Therapies to carefully control the ventricular rate and catheter ablation have been shown in observational trials to lower dementia risk. There is a need for further research in multiple areas and the observational trials will require prospective trials confirmation. Recent guidelines for AF have advocated the initiation of effective anticoagulation, the treatment of associated disease conditions that may influence the progression of AF and catheter ablation, with long-term management of risk factors to lower risk of dementia.
Emerging Roles of miRNAs in Brain Development and Perinatal Brain Injury

In human beings the immature brain is highly plastic and depending on the stage of gestation is particularly vulnerable to a range of insults that if sufficiently severe, can result in long-term motor, cognitive and behavioral impairment. With improved neonatal care, the incidence of major motor deficits such as cerebral palsy has declined with prematurity. Unfortunately, however, milder forms of injury characterized by diffuse non-cystic white matter lesions within the periventricular region and surrounding white matter, involving loss of oligodendrocyte progenitors and subsequent axonal hypomyelination as the brain matures have not. Existing therapeutic options for treatment of preterm infants have proved inadequate, partly owing to an incomplete understanding of underlying post-injury cellular and molecular changes that lead to poor neurodevelopmental outcomes. This has reinforced the need to improve our understanding of brain plasticity, explore novel solutions for the development of protective strategies, and identify biomarkers. Compelling evidence exists supporting the involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, as important post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression with functions including cell fate specification and plasticity of synaptic connections. Importantly, miRNAs are differentially expressed following brain injury, and can be packaged within exosomes/extracellular vesicles, which play a pivotal role in assuring their intercellular communication and passage across the blood–brain barrier. Indeed, an increasing number of investigations have examined the roles of specific miRNAs following injury and regeneration and it is apparent that this field of research could potentially identify protective therapeutic strategies to ameliorate perinatal brain injury. In this review, we discuss the most recent findings of some important miRNAs in relation to the development of the brain, their dysregulation, functions and regulatory roles following brain injury, and discuss how these can be targeted either as biomarkers of injury or neuroprotective agents.
Seasonal Activity of Adult Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in a Focus of Dirofilariasis and West Nile Infection in Northern Iran

Background: Mosquito-borne arboviruses such as West Nile, dengue, Rift Valley fever, and Sindbis viruses and the nematode Dirofilaria are reported in Iran, but there is little information on the seasonal activity of their vectors in the country. We aimed to determine the seasonal activity of adult mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in a focus of dirofilariasis and West Nile infection in Guilan Province, northern Iran. Methods: Collections were carried out using light traps in seven counties at least two times from random sites and every two weeks from a fixed site (Pareh Village, Rudbar County) during Aug–Dec 2015 and Apr–Oct 2016. Results: Overall, 16327 adult mosquitoes comprising 18 species representing seven genera were identified. The most prevalent species were Cx. theileri (23.59%), Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (20.75%), Cx. pipiens (19.37%), Ae. vexans (18.18%), An. pseudopictus (10.92%) and An. maculipennis s.l. (5.48%). Aedes pulcritarsis and Cx. perexiguus were found for the first time in Guilan Province. The active season of adult mosquitoes extended from early May to early Oct in the fixed site. There was no significant regression between the abundance of adult mosquitoes and the meteorological data during active season in the fixed site (P> 0.05, R2= 0.31). Conclusion: Though no significant regression between the abundance of mosquitoes and the meteorological data was observed during active season, temperature and rice fields had a great influence in starting and ending active season in the region.
Dance Across Cultures: Joint Action Aesthetics in Japan and the UK

Western European and East Asian cultures show marked differences in aesthetic appreciation of the visual arts. East Asian aesthetics are often associated with a holistic focus on balance and harmony, in contrast to Western aesthetics, which often focus on the expression of the individual. In this study, we examined whether cultural differences also exist in relation to the aesthetics of dance. Japanese and British participants completed an online survey in which they evaluated synchronous and asynchronous dance video clips on eight semantic differential scales. We observed that the aesthetics of group dance depend on cultural background. Specifically, British participants preferred asynchronous over synchronous dance whereas Japanese participants equally liked synchronous and asynchronous dance movement. For both cultures, preferences were based on distinct semantic associations with movement synchrony. We argue that cultural differences in aesthetic perception of group dance relate to the culturally specific social signals conveyed by unison movement.
The association between slow cortical potentials preceding antisaccades and disturbances of consciousness in persons with paraphilic sexual behaviour

Abstract Saccade characteristics and slow potentials in antisaccade tasks were studied in 37 people with disorders of sexual interest, depending on the disturbances of self-consciousness. The study found a decreased level of frontal cortex activation in subjects with disorders of self-consciousness; in subjects without disturbances of self-consciousness a high level of frontal cortex activation was observed. The findings demonstrate the important role of the frontal cortex in providing self-consciousness.
SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE FOR THE PREDICTION OF HEATING ENERGY USE by Aleksandra A . SRETENOVI

Prediction of a building energy use for heating is very important for adequate energy planning. In this paper the daily district heating use of one university campus was predicted using the support vector machine model. Support vector machine is the artificial intelligence method that has recently proved that it can achieve comparable, or even better prediction results than the much more used artificial neural networks. The proposed model was trained and tested on the real, measured data. The model accuracy was compared with the results of the previously published models (various neural networks and their ensembles) on the same database. The results showed that the support vector machine model can achieve better results than the individual neural networks, but also better than the conventional and multistage ensembles. It is expected that this theoretically well-known methodology finds wider application, especially in prediction tasks.
L2 grit: Passion and perseverance for second-language learning

As a personality trait, ‘grit’ has been defined as a combination of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Past research in social psychology has found grit as an important predictor of success across different populations in various academic and non-academic areas. Since successful mastery of a second language (L2) is highly dependent on learners’ sustained effort, the notion of grit and its relationship to language achievement gains immediate relevance in second language acquisition (SLA). The present study introduces the notion of grit and examines its relationship with motivational behaviors and language achievement in a sample of English as a foreign language learners (n = 191). Toward these ends, a language-specific grit scale was developed and validated to measure L2 learners’ grit. L2 grit was found to be positively related to students’ language learning motivation and achievement above and beyond domain-general grit. Taken together, and consistent with results of past research in social psychology, we propose that L2 grit be considered among other more established individual differences associated with L2 development.
The Impact of Surgery on Long-Term Survival of Patients with Primary Gastric Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A SEER Population-Based Study

Background The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the long-term survival of patients receiving conservative with surgical treatment to analyze the prognostic factors and the impact of surgery on oncological outcomes of patients with primary gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Methods A total of 2647 patients diagnosed with primary gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphoma from 1998 to 2014 were extracted from SEER database. Propensity matching was performed to compare the clinicopathological characteristics of the two groups. Based on the recursive partitioning analysis, the patients were divided into three risk subgroups: low risk, intermediate risk, and high risk. Results After propensity score matching, patient characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups. The 5-year cancer-specific survival rates of the surgical group and the conservative treatment group were, respectively, 60% and 59.2% (P = 0.952) before propensity matching and 64.2% and 58.6% (P = 0.046) after propensity matching. According to the multivariate analysis, age, tumor stage, and chemotherapy and surgery were independent risk factors for long-term survival. The 5-year cancer-specific survival rates differed significantly between the low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk patients (76.2% vs. 57.4% vs. 25.5%, respectively, P < 0.001). The 5-year cancer-specific survival rate of the surgical group was significantly higher than that of the conservative treatment group in the low-risk patients. However, it did not differ significantly in the intermediate-risk and high-risk patients (P > 0.05). Conclusions A prognostic model was constructed based on the independent risk factors of age, tumor stage, and chemotherapy. The prognostic model indicated that low-risk patients (age < 75 years, stage I/II, with/without chemotherapy) undergoing surgical treatment may benefit from long-term survival, while intermediate- and high-risk patients (age ≥ 75 years, stage I/II, with/without chemotherapy or III/IV patients, with/without chemotherapy) gain no significant benefit from surgery.
Fine-scale substrate heterogeneity does not affect arthropod communities on green roofs

Green roofs, which are roofs with growing substrate and vegetation, can provide habitat for arthropods in cities. Maintaining a diversity of arthropods in an urban environment can enhance the functions they fill, such as pest control and soil development. Theory suggests that the creation of a heterogeneous environment on green roofs would enhance arthropod diversity. Several studies have examined how arthropod diversity can be enhanced on green roofs, and particularly whether substrate properties affect the arthropod community, but a gap remains in identifying the effect of substrate heterogeneity within a green roof on the arthropod community. In this paper, it is hypothesized that creating heterogeneity in the substrate would directly affect the diversity and abundance of some arthropod taxa, and indirectly increase arthropod diversity through increased plant diversity. These hypotheses were tested using green roof plots in four treatments of substrate heterogeneity: (1) homogeneous dispersion; (2) mineral heterogeneity—with increased tuff concentration in subplots; (3) organic heterogeneity—with decreased compost concentrations in subplots; (4) both mineral and organic heterogeneity. Each of the four treatments was replicated twice on each of three roofs (six replicates per treatment) in a Mediterranean region. There was no effect of substrate heterogeneity on arthropod diversity, abundance, or community composition, but there were differences in arthropod communities among roofs. This suggests that the location of a green roof, which can differ in local climatic conditions, can have a strong effect on the composition of the arthropod community. Thus, arthropod diversity may be promoted by building green roofs in a variety of locations throughout a city, even if the roof construction is similar on all roofs.
Economic Disintegration? Political, Economic, and Legal Drivers and the Need for ‘Greening Embedded Trade Liberalism’

This contribution uses the examples of Great Britain’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) and US withdrawal from multilateral trade and environmental agreements for exploring political, economic, environmental, social, and legal reasons driving the backlash against economic integration agreements. In both examples, populist battle-cries for ‘taking back control’ and for lowering regulatory standards were followed by governmental attempts at evading parliamentary control over executive foreign policy powers to violate, or withdraw from, multilateral agreements. Anglo-Saxon neo-liberalism, President Trump’s mercantilist power politics, authoritarian state-capitalism (e.g. in China), and European ordo-liberalism reflect systemic divergences that may justify broad interpretations of WTO ‘exceptions’ (e.g. for WTO trade remedies and climate change mitigation). Europe’s multilevel, democratic constitutionalism protecting ‘social market economies’ was comparatively more effective in limiting protectionism and carbon emissions inside Europe’s common market. The EU’s ‘new green deal’ for a carbon-neutral ‘green economy’ was made possible by stronger, social, and democratic support based on ‘constitutional interpretations’ of Europe’s ordo-liberalism assisting adversely affected workers, producers, traders, investors, and other citizens to adjust economic and environmental activities to climate change mitigation. EU leadership for WTO-consistent climate change rules requires ‘greening embedded liberalism’ by interpreting the WTO ‘sustainable development’ objectives in conformity with the 2015 Paris Agreement, the UN ‘sustainable development goals’, and human rights (e.g. as legal basis for climate change litigation in Europe).
Mobile Phone App for Self-Monitoring of Eating Rhythm: Field Experiment

Background Temporal aspects of eating are an integral part of healthy eating, and regular eating has been associated with good diet quality and more successful weight control. Unfortunately, irregular eating is becoming more common. Self-monitoring of behavior has been found to be an efficient behavioral change technique, but the solution should be simple enough to ensure long-lasting adherence. Objective This study aimed to explore the influence of self-monitoring of daily eating pattern with mobile phone app on eating rhythm, eating behavior tendencies, and the underlying motives and attitudes related to eating. Methods A mobile phone app, Button, was developed for effortless self-monitoring of eating rhythm. The feasibility of the app was tested in a 30-day intervention. The participants (N=74) recorded their eating occasions during the intervention by pressing a button in the app widget. Results The average interval between meals increased (96 [SD 24] min during the first 10 days vs 109.1[SD 36.4] during the last 10 days) and the number of daily eating occasions decreased (4.9 [SD 0.9] during the first 10 days vs 4.4 [SD 0.9] during the last 10 days). The tendencies for cognitive restraint, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating increased. Eating-related attitudes and motives remained largely unchanged. Conclusions These results indicate that a simple self-monitoring tool is able to draw a user’s attention to eating and is a potential tool to aid people to change their eating rhythm.
The physical literacy and children with autism

ABSTRACT Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have problems such as inactivity and the lack of communication need interventions that enable them to participate in society just like their peers. The purpose of this study was to investigate ‘I can have physical literacy’ programme (ICPL) on physical literacy (PL) in children with ASD. This study was a quasi-experimental study with the pre-test, post-test design, and control group. The intervention programme was based on ICPL and the Canadian assessment of physical literacy (CAPL). The results showed that physical competence (p=.005), daily behaviour (p=.003), motivation and confidence (p=.005), knowledge (p=.001), and PL (p=.005). The intervention is based on the PL effect on physical competence to engage in physical activity (PA), and also embraces more than the body and development of physical skills which includes other factors.
RNA Sequencing Reveals Small and Variable Contributions of Infectious Agents to Transcriptomes of Postmortem Nervous Tissues From Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease Subjects, and Increased Expression of Genes From Disease-Activated Microglia

Nervous tissues from both humans with neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) and animals with genetic models of human NDD, such as rare monogenic causes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and Parkinson’s disease (PD), show activated microglia, suggesting a potential causal role for inflammation in pathogenesis of NDD. We performed paired-end (PE) RNA sequencing (RNA seq) of total RNA’s extracted from frozen sections of cervical spinal cords from ALS and CTL subjects, frontal cortical gray matter ribbons of AD and CTL subjects, and ventral midbrains of PD and CTL subjects. Trimmed PE reads were aligned against the hg38 human transcriptome using Tophat2/Bowtie2 (ALS) or HISAT2 (AD and PD) and quantitated with Cufflinks. PE reads were also aligned using Bowtie2 against genomes from representative species of Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella sp. T6 (parasitic infectious agents), Babesia microti and Borrelia burgdorferi (tick-vector borne agents), and Treponema denticola and Porphyromonas gingivalis, agents causing chronic gingivitis. Primary aligned reads of each agent in each tissue sample were quantitated with SAMtools. We found small percentages (<0.1%) of transcriptomes aligned with B. microti, B. burgdorferi, T. denticola, and P. gingivalis genomes and larger percentages aligned with T. gondii (0.1–0.2%) and Trichinella sp. T6 (1.0–1.1%) genomes. In AD specimens, but in no others, primary aligned transcriptome percentages, although small, approached significance for being greater in AD compared to CTL samples for B. burgdorferi (p = 0.067) and P. gingivalis (p = 0.068). Genes’ expressions in postmortem tissues of AD and ALS but not PD revealed significant changes among disease-associated microglial (DAM) genes. Infectious agents’ transcripts can be detected in RNA seq reads of both NDD and CTL tissues and vary from agent to agent. Expressions of Stage 1 and Stage 2 DAM genes significantly changed, suggesting the presence of Stages 1 and 2 DAM in our NDD tissue samples.
A Study of the Impact of Information Technology Investment on Firm Performance

This paper examines the role of information technology investment in the American railroad industry during the 1990s, a period during which railroad productivity dramatically increased. With the onset of deregulation and the resulting market forces driving down rates, the productivity increases have been essential for the survival of the railroads. It is the premise of this paper that investment in information technology has played an important, but under-explored role in these productivity improvements. The purpose of this paper is to take an in-depth look at the link between railroad information technology (IT) investment and the industry's recent realized productivity improvements to better understand the role and expected returns of IT investments. The study's methodology includes an in-depth examination of a single major railroad's complete software development applications portfolio. Although there is only one firm included, this railroad is among the largest within the industry and alone represents approximately 15% of the industry's total revenue.
Unfolded Protein Response Pathways Correlatively Modulate Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Responses in Rat Retinal Müller Cells

Background Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) in the retinal Müller cells is a key factor contributing to the retinal inflammation and vascular leakage in diabetic retinopathy (DR). This study was to investigate the underlying mechanisms through which the 3 main unfolded protein response (UPR) pathways regulate ERS and to examine the expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in Müller cells in vitro. Methods Rat Müller cell lines were stimulated with high glucose to mimic a diabetic environment in vitro. PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) were downregulated or upregulated with shRNA or overexpression plasmids. The transfected Müller cells were cultivated in high glucose medium for 48 hours. Expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1), ATF6, and VEGF was examined with immunofluorescence and western blot. Results Our data indicated that ERS was found in both high glucose and osmotic control groups. Overexpression or downregulation of UPR pathways effectively increased or reduced the production of GRP78, ATF4, XBP1, ATF6, and VEGF, respectively. These 3 signaling pathways had similar regulatory effects on VEGF. Conclusion The 3 UPR-mediated inflammatory pathways were dependent on each other. Inhibition any of these signaling pathways in UPR might be a potential therapeutic target for DR.