Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
APPLE Project: 2-y findings of a community-based obesity prevention program in primary school age children.

BACKGROUND Developing effective strategies for obesity prevention in children is urgently required. OBJECTIVE We determined the effectiveness of a 2-y controlled community-based intervention to prevent excessive weight gain in 5-12-y-old children by enhancing opportunities for healthy eating and noncurricular physical activity. DESIGN Children (n = 730) from 4 intervention and 3 control schools underwent measurements of height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, diet, and physical activity at baseline and at 1 and 2 y. Intervention components included nutrition education that targeted reductions in sweetened drinks and increased fruit and vegetable intake and activity coordinators who managed an activity program that focused on noncurricular lifestyle-based activities (eg, community walks). RESULTS Body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) z score was significantly lower in intervention children than in control children by a mean of 0.09 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.18) after 1 y and 0.26 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.32) at 2 y, but the prevalence of overweight did not differ. Waist circumference was significantly lower at 2 y (-1 cm), and systolic blood pressure was reduced at 1 y (-2.9 mm Hg). An interaction existed between intervention group and overweight status (P = 0.029), such that mean BMI z score was reduced in normal-weight (-0.29; 95% CI: -0.38, -0.21) but not overweight (-0.02; 95% CI: -0.16, 0.12) intervention children relative to controls. Intervention children consumed fewer carbonated beverages (67% of control intake; P = 0.04) and fruit juice or drinks (70%; P = 0.03) and more fruit (0.8 servings/3 d; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION A relatively simple approach, providing activity coordinators and basic nutrition education in schools, significantly reduces the rate of excessive weight gain in children, although this may be limited to those not initially overweight. This trial was registered at Australian Clinical Trials Registry as #12605000578606.
Supine exercise restores arterial blood pressure and skin blood flow despite dehydration and hyperthermia.

We determined whether the deleterious effects of dehydration and hyperthermia on cardiovascular function during upright exercise were attenuated by elevating central blood volume with supine exercise. Seven trained men [maximal oxygen consumption (V˙o 2 max) 4.7 ± 0.4 l/min (mean ± SE)] cycled for 30 min in the heat (35°C) in the upright and in the supine positions (V˙o 2 2.93 ± 0.27 l/min) while maintaining euhydration by fluid ingestion or while being dehydrated by 5% of body weight after 2 h of upright exercise. When subjects were euhydrated, esophageal temperature (Tes) was 37.8-38.0°C in both body postures. Dehydration caused equal hyperthermia during both upright and supine exercise (Tes = 38.7-38.8°C). During upright exercise, dehydration lowered stroke volume (SV), cardiac output, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and cutaneous vascular conductance and increased heart rate and plasma catecholamines [30 ± 6 ml, 3.0 ± 0.7 l/min, 6 ± 2 mmHg, 22 ± 8%, 14 ± 2 beats/min, and 50-96%, respectively; all P < 0.05]. In contrast, during supine exercise, dehydration did not cause significant alterations in MAP, cutaneous vascular conductance, or plasma catecholamines. Furthermore, supine versus upright exercise attenuated the increases in heart rate (7 ± 2 vs. 9 ± 1%) and the reductions in SV (13 ± 4 vs. 21 ± 3%) and cardiac output (8 ± 3 vs. 14 ± 3%) (all P< 0.05). These results suggest that the decline in cutaneous vascular conductance and the increase in plasma norepinephrine concentration, independent of hyperthermia, are associated with a reduction in central blood volume and a lower arterial blood pressure.
Novel Templating Route Using Pt Infiltrated Block Copolymer Microparticles for Catalytic Pt Functionalized Macroporous WO3 Nanofibers and Its Application in Breath Pattern Recognition

We propose a new route for transferring catalysts onto macroporous metal oxide nanofibers (NFs) using metallic nanoparticles (NPs) infiltrated block copolymer microparticles as sacrificial templates. Pt decorated polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) copolymer microparticles (Pt-BCP MPs), produced from oil-in-water emulsions, were uniformly dispersed within electrospun PVP/W precursor composite NFs. The macropore-loaded WO3 NFs (macroporous Pt-WO3 NFs), which are additionally functionalized by Pt NPs (10 nm), were achieved by decomposition of polymeric components and oxidization of W precursor after high-temperature calcination. In particular, macropores with the similar size distribution (50–300 nm) with BCP MPs were also formed on interior and exterior of WO3 NFs. Chemical sensing performance of macroporous Pt-WO3 NFs was investigated for pattern recognition of simulated breath gas components at highly humid ambient (95% RH). The result revealed that superior hydrogen sulfide sensitivity (Rair.
Prediction of Drug–Target Interaction Networks from the Integration of Protein Sequences and Drug Chemical Structures

Knowledge of drug–target interaction (DTI) plays an important role in discovering new drug candidates. Unfortunately, there are unavoidable shortcomings; including the time-consuming and expensive nature of the experimental method to predict DTI. Therefore, it motivates us to develop an effective computational method to predict DTI based on protein sequence. In the paper, we proposed a novel computational approach based on protein sequence, namely PDTPS (Predicting Drug Targets with Protein Sequence) to predict DTI. The PDTPS method combines Bi-gram probabilities (BIGP), Position Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSM), and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Relevance Vector Machine (RVM). In order to evaluate the prediction capacity of the PDTPS, the experiment was carried out on enzyme, ion channel, GPCR, and nuclear receptor datasets by using five-fold cross-validation tests. The proposed PDTPS method achieved average accuracy of 97.73%, 93.12%, 86.78%, and 87.78% on enzyme, ion channel, GPCR and nuclear receptor datasets, respectively. The experimental results showed that our method has good prediction performance. Furthermore, in order to further evaluate the prediction performance of the proposed PDTPS method, we compared it with the state-of-the-art support vector machine (SVM) classifier on enzyme and ion channel datasets, and other exiting methods on four datasets. The promising comparison results further demonstrate that the efficiency and robust of the proposed PDTPS method. This makes it a useful tool and suitable for predicting DTI, as well as other bioinformatics tasks.
Reducing Chronic Visuo-Spatial Neglect Following Right Hemisphere Stroke Through Instrument Playing

Unilateral visuo-spatial neglect is a neuropsychological syndrome commonly resulting from right hemisphere stroke at the temporo-parietal junction of the infero-posterior parietal cortex. Neglect is characterized by reduced awareness of stimuli presented on patients’ contralesional side of space. Inspired by evidence of increased spatial exploration of patients’ left side achieved during keyboard scale-playing, the current study employed a music intervention that involved making sequential goal-directed actions in the neglected part of space, in order to determine whether this would bring about clinically significant improvement in chronic neglect. Two left neglect patients completed an intervention comprising four weekly 30-min music intervention sessions involving playing scales and familiar melodies on chime bars from right to left. Two cancellation tests [Mesulam shape, Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT) star], the neglect subtest from the computerized TAP (Test of Attentional Performance) battery, and the line bisection test were administered three times during a preliminary baseline phase, before and after the four intervention sessions during the intervention phase to investigate short-term effects, and 1 week after the last intervention session to investigate whether any changes in performance would persist. Both patients demonstrated significant short-term and longer-lasting improvements on the Mesulam shape cancellation test. One patient also showed longer-lasting effects on the BIT star cancellation test and scored in the normal range 1 week after the intervention. These findings provide preliminary evidence that active music-making with a horizontally aligned instrument may help neglect patients attend more to their affected side.
Weakening the Detecting Capability of CNN-based Steganalysis

Recently, the application of deep learning in steganalysis has drawn many researchers' attention. Most of the proposed steganalytic deep learning models are derived from neural networks applied in computer vision. These kinds of neural networks have distinguished performance. However, all these kinds of back-propagation based neural networks may be cheated by forging input named the adversarial example. In this paper we propose a method to generate steganographic adversarial example in order to enhance the steganographic security of existing algorithms. These adversarial examples can increase the detection error of steganalytic CNN. The experiments prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Genetic polymorphisms of tumor necrosis factor-alpha modify the association between dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and fasting HDL-cholesterol and apo A-I concentrations.

BACKGROUND Heterogeneity in circulating lipid concentrations in response to dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may be due, in part, to genetic variations. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a proinflammatory cytokine that can induce hyperlipidemia and is known to be modulated by dietary PUFAs. OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine whether TNF-alpha genotypes modify the association between dietary PUFA intake and serum lipid concentrations. DESIGN The study involved 53 men and 56 women aged 42-75 y with type 2 diabetes. Dietary intakes were assessed with the use of a 3-d food record, and blood samples were collected to determine fasting serum lipids. DNA was isolated from blood for genotyping by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for the TNF-alpha -238G-->A and -308G-->A polymorphisms. RESULTS PUFA intake was positively associated with serum HDL cholesterol in carriers of the -238A allele (beta = 0.06 +/- 0.03 mmol/L per 1% of energy from PUFAs; P = 0.03), but negatively associated in those with the -238GG genotype (beta = -0.03 +/- 0.01, P = 0.03) (P = 0.004 for interaction). PUFA intake was inversely associated with HDL cholesterol in carriers of the -308A allele (beta = -0.07 +/- 0.02, P = 0.002), but not in those with the -308GG genotype (beta = 0.02 +/- 0.02, P = 0.13) (P = 0.001 for interaction). A stronger gene x diet interaction was observed when the polymorphisms at the 2 positions (-238/-308) were combined (P = 0.0003). Similar effects were observed for apolipoprotein A-I, but not with other dietary fatty acids and serum lipids. CONCLUSION TNF-alpha genotypes modify the relation between dietary PUFA intake and HDL-cholesterol concentrations. These findings suggest that genetic variations affecting inflammation may explain some of the inconsistencies between previous studies relating PUFA intake and circulating HDL.
Tractable Inference in Hybrid Bayesian Networks with Deterministic Conditionals using Re-approximations

In this paper we study the problem of inference in hybrid Bayesian networks containing deterministic conditionals. The diculties in handling deterministic conditionals for continuous variables can make inference intractable even for small networks. We describe the use of re-approximations to reduce the complexity of the potentials that arise in the intermediate steps of the inference process. We show how the idea behind re-approximations can be applied to the frameworks of mixtures of polynomials and mixtures of truncated exponentials. Finally, we illustrate our approach by solving a small stochastic PERT network modeled as an hybrid Bayesian network.
INDUCED STRAIN ACTUATORS FOR SMART-STRUCTURES APPLICATIONS

The present research proposed a method for investigating the smart materials actuators performances in quasi-static and low frequency dynamic regimes, using a general-to-specific approach. A brief review of the state of the art accounts for current methods of testing linear actuators and active material characterization. With an assumed linear behavior for the smart materials, an extensive review of active materials linear actuators was conducted among actuators manufacturers with the goal of identifying the current attainable specific energy levels. The response of a piezoelectric actuator under large electro-mechanical excitation was modeled using the linear smart material behavior assumption. The thorough quasi-static and dynamic actuator characterization through measurements indicated a strong dependence of the actuator stiffness and piezoelectric properties on the electromechanical loading conditions. The comparison of the model with the measured behavior was discussed and it provided further useful information as to the actuation systems design incorporating active materials actuators. The comparison also allowed the identification of key parameters of the induced strain actuator electromechanical model. These parameters were necessary to perform design optimization towards maximum mechanical energy transfer and minimum power requirements.
A Stereo Machine Vision System for measuring three- dimensional crack-tip displacements when it is subj ected to elastic-plastic deformation

The SMVS described in this paper measures three-dimensional displacement components at the desired poi nts on the object surface using the triangulation metho d. An automatic calibration method has been developed based on intrinsic and extrinsic parameters. To measure t he three dimensional displacement components along the crack flank of a cracked specimen under simultaneous in and out-of-plane (i.e., mixed modes I, II and III) loading using a universal testing machine, a pair o f grips have specially been designed; for which the authors have been awarded a patent. The application of the SMVS to a typical cracked specimen, made of PMMA, has shown that the in-plane and out-of-plane displaceme nts along the crack flank can be measured with an e rror less than 11%.
A study of micro fiber dispersion using digital image analysis

A Study of Micro Fiber Dispersion Using Digital Image Analysis. (August 2003) Jooned Hendrarsakti, B.S., Texas A&M University; M.S., Texas A&M University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Kenneth D. Kihm Dr. Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi The area of the digital image processing is getting more attention in the hope that it will increase the accuracy of any scientific measurements, such as in determining an object velocity, temperature, and size. While human vision is excellent to recognize and differentiate objects, it has been proven to be a poor tool when it comes to measure the object performance. One of many digital image processing applications is texture analysis whose purpose is to evaluate image patterns. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the use of texture analysis as a tool to micro fiber dispersion measurement. Micro fiber dispersion can be found in many applications such as in paper and industry powder engineering. Three cases related to micro fiber dispersion were investigated in this study. The first case was the experimental study of the dispersion in open water channel. Sets of synthetic fibers were put into water channel to simulate a process that can be found in papermaking industry. The research investigated the effect of three operating parameters: fluid velocity, fiber consistency, and fiber aspect ratio to fiber dispersion. Using two-factorial experimental design technique, the main and interaction effects of these parameters were evaluated. The study found that increasing fluid velocity, fiber aspect ratio, and consistency decreased the dispersion level. The study also found that the effect of individual parameters is more pronounced than the role of the interactive terms on the fiber flocculation.
Comparison of energy expenditure estimates from 4 physical activity questionnaires with doubly labeled water estimates in postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND Physical activity energy expenditure (EE) is an important determinant of health, and epidemiologists have used various methods, such as physical activity and energy intake recalls and records, to estimate energy cost. However, most epidemiologic studies have not validated these methods against the doubly labeled water (DLW) technique for measuring EE. OBJECTIVE The aim was to compare EE estimated by 4 physical activity questionnaires with that obtained with the DLW technique in free-living postmenopausal women. DESIGN We measured EE in kcal/d using the DLW method, the Harvard Alumni questionnaire, the Five City Project questionnaire, the Cross-Cultural Activity Participation Study (CAPS) Four Week Activity Recall, and the CAPS Typical Week Activity Survey in 65 healthy postmenopausal women. RESULTS Compared with DLW, the Harvard Alumni questionnaire, the Five City Project questionnaire, and the CAPS Four Week Activity Recall overestimated (P < 0.05) daily EE by 62%, 16%, and 11%, respectively, whereas the CAPS Typical Week Activity Recall underestimated (P < 0.05) EE by 31%. Both the Harvard Alumni and Five City Project questionnaires overestimated EE in obese and overweight women. CONCLUSIONS When using 3 of the 4 questionnaire methods, postmenopausal women overestimated EEs. Of all women, obese women overestimated daily EE the most.
Behavioral effects of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor allosteric modulator ORG27569 in rats

The cannabinoid CB1 receptor system is involved in feeding behaviors and the CB1 receptor antagonist SR141716A is an effective antiobesity drug. However, SR141716A also has serious side effects, which prompted the exploration of alternative strategies to modulate this important drug target. Recently a CB1 receptor allosteric modulating site has been discovered and the allosteric modulating activity of several modulators including ORG27569 has been characterized in vitro. Yet, little is known of the in vivo pharmacological effects of ORG27569. This study examined the behavioral pharmacology of ORG27569 in rats. ORG27569 (3.2–10 mg/kg, i.p.) selectively attenuated the hypothermic effects of CB1 receptor agonists CP55940 (0.1–1 mg/kg) and anandamide (3.2–32 mg/kg). In contrast, SR141716A only attenuated the hypothermic effects of CP55940 but not anandamide. SR141716A but not ORG27569 blocked CP55940‐induced catalepsy and antinociception. In addition, ORG27569 did not modify SR141716A‐elicited grooming and scratching behaviors. In feeding studies, ORG27569 decreased palatable and plain food intake which was partially blocked by CP55940. The hypophagic effect of ORG27569 developed tolerance after 4 days of daily 5.6 mg/kg treatment; however, the effect on body weight gain outlasted the drug treatment for 10 days. These data suggest that ORG27569 may not function as a CB1 receptor allosteric modulator in vivo, although its hypophagic activity still has potential therapeutic utility.
Characteristics of surfactant from SP-A-deficient mice.

Mice that are surfactant protein (SP) A deficient [SP-A(-/-)] have no apparent abnormalities in lung function. To understand the contributions of SP-A to surfactant, the biophysical properties and functional characteristics of surfactant from normal [SP-A(+/+)] and SP-A(-/-) mice were evaluated. SP-A-deficient surfactant had a lower buoyant density, a lower percentage of large-aggregate forms, an increased rate of conversion from large-aggregate to small-aggregate forms with surface area cycling, increased sensitivity to inhibition of minimum surface tension by plasma protein, and no tubular myelin by electron microscopy. Nevertheless, large-aggregate surfactants from SP-A(-/-) and SP-A(+/+) mice had similar adsorption rates and improved the lung volume of surfactant-deficient preterm rabbits similarly. Pulmonary edema and death caused by N-nitroso- N-methylurethane-induced lung injury were not different in SP-A(-/-) and SP-A(+/+) mice. The clearance of125I-labeled SP-A from lungs of SP-A(-/-) mice was slightly slower than from SP-A(+/+) mice. Although the absence of SP-A changed the structure and in vitro properties of surfactant, the in vivo function of surfactant in SP-A(-/-) mice was not changed under the conditions of these experiments.
Carbon monoxide induces vasodilation and nitric oxide release but suppresses endothelial NOS.

The vascular effects of carbon monoxide (CO) resemble those of nitric oxide (NO), but it is unknown whether the two messengers converge or exhibit reciprocal feedback regulation. These questions were examined in microdissected perfused renal resistance arteries (RRA) studied using NO-sensitive microelectrodes. Perfusion of RRA with buffers containing increasing concentrations of CO resulted in a biphasic release of NO. The NO response peaked at 100 nM CO and then declined to virtually zero at 10 μM. When a series of 50-s pulses of 100 nM CO were applied repeatedly (150-s interval), the amplitude of consecutive NO responses was diminished. NO release from RRA showed dependence on l-arginine but notd-arginine, and the responses to CO were inhibited by pretreatment with N G-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), an inhibitor of NO synthases (NOS). CO (100 nM) also suppressed NO release induced by 100 μM carbachol, a potent agonist for endothelial NOS (eNOS). RRA from rats in which endogenous CO production from inducible HO was elevated (cobalt chloride 12 h prior to study) also showed suppressed responses to carbachol. Furthermore, responses consistent with these findings were obtained in juxtamedullary afferent arterioles perfused in vitro, where the vasodilatory response to CO was biphasic and the response to acetylcholine was blunted. Collectively, these data suggest that the CO-induced NO release could be attributed to either stimulation of eNOS or to NO displacement from a cellular storage pool. To address this, direct in vitro measurements with an NO-selective electrode of NO production by recombinant eNOS revealed that CO dose-dependently inhibits NO synthesis. Together, the above data demonstrate that, whereas high levels of CO inhibit NOS activity and NO generation, lower concentrations of CO induce release of NO from a large intracellular pool and, therefore, may mimic the vascular effects of NO.
Characterization of a phosphorylation event resulting in upregulation of the salivary Na+-K+-2Cl-cotransporter.

Previous studies from our laboratory have shown a close correlation between increased Na+-K+-2Cl-cotransporter activity and increased cotransporter phosphorylation after β-adrenergic stimulation of rat parotid acinar cells. We demonstrate here that these effects are paralleled by an increase in the number of high-affinity binding sites for the cotransporter inhibitor bumetanide in membranes prepared from stimulated acini. We also show that the sensitivity of cotransporter fluxes to inhibition by bumetanide is the same in both resting and isoproterenol-stimulated cells, consistent with the hypothesis that β-adrenergic stimulation and the accompanying phosphorylation result in the activation of previously quiescent transporters rather than in a change in the properties of already active proteins. In addition, we demonstrate that the increased phosphorylation on the cotransporter resulting from β-adrenergic stimulation is localized to a 30-kDa phosphopeptide obtained by cyanogen bromide digestion. Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting experiments demonstrate that this peptide is derived from the NH2-terminal cytosolic tail of the cotransporter, which surprisingly does not contain the sole protein kinase A consensus site on the molecule.