Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circulating Exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a Act as Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Colorectal Cancer

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide usually is associated with poor prognosis due to the advanced stage when diagnosed. This study aimed to investigate whether specific circulating exosomal miRNAs could act as biomarkers for early diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Methods: A total of 369 peripheral blood samples were included in this study. In the discovery phase, circulating exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a were selected after synthetical analysis of two GEO datasets and TCGA database. The differential expression and diagnostic utility of miR-27a and miR-130a panel were validated using qRT-PCR and ROC curve analysis in subsequent training phase, validation phase, and external validation phase. The prognosis of circulating exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a were investigated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results: The expression of exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a in plasma significantly increased in colorectal cancer. The area under ROC curves (AUC) of miR-27a (miR-130a) were 0.773 (0.742) in the training phase, 0.82 (0.787) in the validation phase, and 0.746 (0.697) in the external validation phase. The combination of two miRNAs presented higher diagnostic utility for colorectal cancer (AUCs = 0.846, 0.898, and 0.801 for the training, validation, and external validation phases, respectively). Patients with colorectal cancer with high expression of circulating exosomal miR-27a or miR-130a underwent poorer prognosis. Conclusions: We identified a circulating exosomal miRNAs panel for the detection of colorectal cancer. Impact: The exosomal miR-27a and miR-130a panel in plasma may act as a noninvasive biomarker for early detection and predicting prognosis of colorectal cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 27(7); 746–54. ©2018 AACR.
Muscle Endurance Evaluation with the Sorensen Test and Correlation with Demographics and the Baecke Leisure- Time Sport Activity Index in Healthy Young Adults

Background: Endurance testing of the paraspinaland hip muscles is important for the prediction and prevention of back pain. Timed endurance determination of posterior chain muscles with the Sorensen test and correlations withanthropometry and leisure time sport activity in a mixedgender population of healthy participants were the primary objectives of this study. Methods: 34 healthy young adults (16 women), with a mean age of 23.85 years participated in this study. Timed measurement of fatigue of the posterior chain muscles, in an unsupported isometric trunk-holding contraction in the horizontal position, secured with three canvas straps onto a therapy bed (Sorensen test) was performed to complete exhaustion. Subjects also completed the Baecke Habitual Physical Activity-Sport Index subscale. Between-gender differences were determined and correlations between anthropometry, leisuretime sport activity and Sorensen test values were assessed. Results: There were between gender differences identified for Sorensen test values, however these were not statistically significant (mean difference=31.4 s). Sorensen test values correlated significantly with the Baecke Sport Index (r=0.78, p<0.01). There were also significant negative correlations between Sorensen test values (r=-0.40, p=0.02) and the Baecke Sport Index (r=-0.35, p=0.04) with BMI. Conclusions: Leisure-time sport activity is associated with the posterior chain muscles isometric endurance performance in the Sorensen test in a group of participants without low back pain, of various sporting involvement. This finding highlights the significant role of leisure time sport activity on hip and paraspinal muscle endurance levels, possibly acting preventively in future firsttime back pain development.
Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise of Different Intensity on Executive Function

Executive functions are important for successful adaptation and performance in real-life situations.Physical exercise has been broadly recommended as a major non-pharmacological measure to improve executive functions throughout one's life.But some fundamental questions still remain,such as at what degree of intensity physical exercise can be effective.As far as this paper is concerned,few studies have been done on the effects of acute aerobic exercise of different intensities on executive function.The present study attempts to investigate the effects of acute aerobic exercise of different intensities on college students' executive function.The present study adopts a mixed design involving 30 college students(15 male,15 female) as the subjects,who are supposed to fulfill three tasks,namely,the Flanker task,the 2-back task and the More-odd shifting task in each stage of the experiment.Meanwhile the exercise-induced changes in executive functions,i.e.inhibition,updating and shifting,will be recorded respectively at the four different stages in terms of intensity degrees:a baseline,a light cycling exercise,a moderate cycling exercise and a high cycling exercise.The time interval between any two stages of the experiment is no less than 7 days and the order of the four stages in the experiment are counterbalanced among the participants in order to minimize the potential practice effects.It is found that acute aerobic exercise of different intensities has significant effects on college students' executive function,specifically,inhibition:F(3,84) = 2.76,p0.05;updating:F(3,84) = 18.78,p0.01;shifting:F(3,84) = 18.25,p0.01. It is also found that the effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive function are not significant from the perspective of gender,specifically,inhibition:F(3,84) = 0.55,p0.05;updating:F(3,84) = 1.53,p0.05;shifting:F(3,84) = 0.46,p0.05. These results suggest that the effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive functions are significantly influenced by intensity,but not by gender.The present study not only confirms the previous assumptions about positive effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive function but also carries the research a step further by looking into the effects of acute aerobic exercise of different intensities on executive functions.In this sense,the findings of the present study may serve as a basis for a more comprehensive aerobic exercise program of improving cognitive abilities.
Prevalence, Associated Clinical Features, and Impact on Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use of a Low Respiratory Arousal Threshold Among Male United States Veterans With Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Determine the prevalence of, and clinical features associated with, a low respiratory arousal threshold (ArTH) among patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and to assess whether a low ArTH is associated with reduced long-term CPAP use. METHODS Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were performed in an observational study conducted among 940 male Veterans with OSA. Data for clinical characteristics, polysomnography characteristics, and long-term (5 ± 2 years) CPAP use were obtained from clinical records. Logistic regression was used to assess the associations between low ArTH and clinical features, including regular CPAP use. RESULTS A low ArTH was observed in 38% of participants overall, and was more common among nonobese (body mass index < 30 kg/m2) patients (55%). In adjusted analyses, increasing body mass index (per 5 kg/m2) and antihypertensive medication use were negatively associated with low ArTH, with odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) of 0.77 (0.69, 0.87) and 0.69 (0.49, 0.98), respectively. Conversely, increasing age (per 10 years) and antidepressant use-OR (95% CI) 1.15 (1.01,1.31) and 1.54 (1.14,1.98), respectively-were positively associated with low ArTH. Nonobese patients with low ArTH were less likely to be regular CPAP users-OR (95% CI) 0.38 (0.20, 0.72)-in an adjusted model. CONCLUSIONS Low ArTH is a common trait among Veterans with OSA and is more frequent among those who are older and nonobese and those taking antidepressants, but is less frequent among patients taking antihypertensive medications. A marked reduction of long-term CPAP use in nonobese patients with low ArTH highlights the importance of understanding a patient's physiologic phenotype for OSA management, and suggests potential targets to improve CPAP adherence. COMMENTARY A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 713.
Teachers’ conflicting cultural schemas of teaching comprehensive school-based sexuality education in Kampala, Uganda

Abstract Teachers can feel uncomfortable teaching sexuality education when the content conflicts with their cultural values and beliefs. However, more research is required to understand how to resolve conflicts between teachers’ values and beliefs and those implicit in comprehensive approaches to sexuality education. This study uses cultural schema theory to identify teachers’ cultural schemas of teaching sexuality education and the internal conflicts arising between them. In-depth interviews were conducted with 40 secondary school teachers in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Embedded in a context of morality, conflicting cultural schemas of sexuality education and young people’s sexual citizenship in traditional and present-day Ugandan society were found: young people are both innocent and sexually active; sexuality education both encourages and prevents sexual activity; and teachers need to teach sexuality education, but it is considered immoral for them to do so. In countries such as Uganda, supportive school regulations and a mandate from society could help teachers feel more comfortable adopting comprehensive approaches to sexuality education.
Inertial Sensor Technology for Elite Swimming Performance Analysis: A Systematic Review

Technical evaluation of swimming performance is an essential factor of elite athletic preparation. Novel methods of analysis, incorporating body worn inertial sensors (i.e., Microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, accelerometers and gyroscopes), have received much attention recently from both research and commercial communities as an alternative to video-based approaches. This technology may allow for improved analysis of stroke mechanics, race performance and energy expenditure, as well as real-time feedback to the coach, potentially enabling more efficient, competitive and quantitative coaching. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature related to the use of inertial sensors for the technical analysis of swimming performance. This paper focuses on providing an evaluation of the accuracy of different feature detection algorithms described in the literature for the analysis of different phases of swimming, specifically starts, turns and free-swimming. The consequences associated with different sensor attachment locations are also considered for both single and multiple sensor configurations. Additional information such as this should help practitioners to select the most appropriate systems and methods for extracting the key performance related parameters that are important to them for analysing their swimmers’ performance and may serve to inform both applied and research practices.
Predicting Depression From Language-Based Emotion Dynamics: Longitudinal Analysis of Facebook and Twitter Status Updates

Background Frequent expression of negative emotion words on social media has been linked to depression. However, metrics have relied on average values, not dynamic measures of emotional volatility. Objective The aim of this study was to report on the associations between depression severity and the variability (time-unstructured) and instability (time-structured) in emotion word expression on Facebook and Twitter across status updates. Methods Status updates and depression severity ratings of 29 Facebook users and 49 Twitter users were collected through the app MoodPrism. The average proportion of positive and negative emotion words used, within-person variability, and instability were computed. Results Negative emotion word instability was a significant predictor of greater depression severity on Facebook (rs(29)=. 44, P=. 02, 95% CI 0.09-0.69), even after controlling for the average proportion of negative emotion words used (partial rs(26)=. 51, P=. 006) and within-person variability (partial rs(26)=. 49, P=. 009). A different pattern emerged on Twitter where greater negative emotion word variability indicated lower depression severity (rs(49)=−. 34, P=. 01, 95% CI −0.58 to 0.09). Differences between Facebook and Twitter users in their emotion word patterns and psychological characteristics were also explored. Conclusions The findings suggest that negative emotion word instability may be a simple yet sensitive measure of time-structured variability, useful when screening for depression through social media, though its usefulness may depend on the social media platform.
DDP: Distributed Network Updates in SDN

How to quickly and consistently update a network is among the most fundamental and common challenges in software defined networking (SDN) systems. Current approaches heavily rely on the (logically) centralized controller to initiate and orchestrate the network updates, resulting in long latency of update completion. In this paper, we present DDP, a system for fast, distributed network updates while preserving various consistency properties. The key technique in DDP is a novel primitive named datapath operation container (DOC), where each DOC is encoded with an individual operation and its dependency logic. DDP adopts the simple, but powerful DOCs to configure the network, so that network updates can be triggered and executed at the data plane in a distributed and local manner. Novel algorithms are designed to compute and optimize the DOCs for consistent updates. We implement DDP to evaluate its performance in various update scenarios. Experimental results show that DDP significantly improves network update speed by up to 52.1% for the real-time updates initiated by the controller, and further improves the speed by 55.6-61.4% for the updates directly triggered at the data plane, such as failure recovery.
A Simple Geometric Interpretation of SVM using Stochastic Adversaries

We present a minimax framework for classification that considers stochastic adversarial perturbations to the training data. We show that for binary classification it is equivalent to SVM, but with a very natural interpretation of regularization parameter. In the multiclass case, we obtain that our formulation is equivalent to regularizing the hinge loss with the maximum norm of the weight vector (i.e., the two-infinity norm). We test this new regularization scheme and show that it is competitive with the Frobenius regularization commonly used for multiclass SVM. We proceed to analyze various forms of stochastic perturbations and obtain compact optimization problems for the optimal classifiers. Taken together, our results illustrate the advantage of using stochastic perturbations rather than deterministic ones, as well as oer a simple geometric interpretation for SVM optimization.
Climatic stress mediates the impacts of herbivory on plant population structure and components of individual fitness

Past studies have shown that the strength of top‐down herbivore control on plant physiological performance, abundance and distribution patterns can shift with abiotic stress, but it is still unclear whether herbivores generally exert stronger effects on plants in stressful or in nonstressful environments. One hypothesis suggests that herbivores' effects on plant biomass and fitness should be strongest in stressful areas, because stressed plants are less able to compensate for herbivore damage. Alternatively, herbivores may reduce plant biomass and fitness more substantially in nonstressful areas, either because plant growth rates in the absence of herbivory are higher and/or because herbivores are more abundant and diverse in nonstressful areas. We test these predictions of where herbivores should exert stronger effects by measuring individual performance, population size structure and densities of a common subshrub, Hibiscus meyeri, in a large‐scale herbivore exclosure experiment arrayed across an aridity gradient in East Africa. We find support for both predictions, with herbivores exerting stronger effects on individual‐level performance in arid (stressful) areas, but exerting stronger effects on population size structure and abundance in mesic (nonstressful) areas. We suggest that this discrepancy arises from higher potential growth rates in mesic areas, where alleviation of herbivory leads to substantially more growth and thus large changes in population size structure. Differences in herbivore abundance do not appear to contribute to our results. Synthesis. Our work suggests that understanding the multiple facets of plant response to herbivores (e.g. both individual performance and abundance) may be necessary to predict how plant species' abundance and distribution patterns will shift in response to changing climate and herbivore numbers.
Client-Reported-Presenting Problems at an MFT Clinic

It is useful for clinicians and researchers to know why clients present for therapy in order to devise effective treatments. Using a feminist-informed, client-centered framework, this study provides information about clients’ perspectives on key presenting problems using self-report data from individuals, families, couples, and high-conflict coparenting dyads from a university-based counseling center. Clients most frequently reported anxiety/stress as the chief presenting problem. A number of people listed having been coerced into treatment or someone else’s problem as their chief concern. Common presenting problems varied by modality and were associated with the clients’ perceived pressure to attend therapy, readiness to change, dyadic adjustment, anxiety, and depression.
Markers of cognitive function in individuals with metabolic disease: Morquio syndrome and tyrosinemia type III

ABSTRACT We characterized cognitive function in two metabolic diseases. MPS–IVa (mucopolysaccharidosis IVa, Morquio) and tyrosinemia type III individuals were assessed using tasks of attention, language and oculomotor function. MPS–IVa individuals were slower in visual search, but the display size effects were normal, and slowing was not due to long reaction times (ruling out slow item processing or distraction). Maintaining gaze in an oculomotor task was difficult. Results implicated sustained attention and task initiation or response processing. Shifting attention, accumulating evidence and selecting targets were unaffected. Visual search was also slowed in tyrosinemia type III, and patterns in visual search and fixation tasks pointed to sustained attention impairments, although there were differences from MPS–IVa. Language was impaired in tyrosinemia type III but not MPS–IVa. Metabolic diseases produced selective cognitive effects. Our results, incorporating new methods for developmental data and model selection, illustrate how cognitive data can contribute to understanding function in biochemical brain systems.
Intellectual Influence: Quality Versus Quantity

To take development and budgeting decisions for research activi- ties the officials in charge need to constantly evaluate and assess the quality of research. Over the years a handful of scoring methods for academic journals have been proposed. Discussing the most prominent methods (de facto standards) we show that they cannot distinguish quality from quantity at article level and that they are inherently biased against journals publishing more articles. If we consider the length of a journal by the number of pages or characters, then all methods are biased against lengthier journals. The systematic bias we nd is analytically tractable and implies that the methods are ma- nipulable. We show that the strategies for successful manipulation are relatively easy to infer and implement. The implications of our ndings extend beyond the evaluation of academic research, to related settings like the ranking of web domains. Non-manipulable methods for measuring intellectual in uence exist.
Geographic Visualization of Risk as Decision Support in Emergency Situations

We investigate how geographic visualization can be used as a means to facilitate understanding of risk in emergency situations. Specifically, we identify the need of decision makers regarding access to risk information; introduce a visualization solution that aims to satisfy these needs; and evaluate this solution in terms of its ability to generate insight. A description of how the solution can be implemented is included. Our findings indicate that geographic visualization is an effective means for facilitating understanding of risk in emergency situations, but that the effectiveness of the concept depends on the visualization design. A set of guidelines towards risk visualization design is proposed.
Effect of n 2 3 PUFA supplementation on cognitive function throughout the life span from infancy to old age : a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials 1 – 4

ABSTRACT Background: n23 PUFAs play an important role in cognitive function. Objective: The objective was to investigate the effect of n23 PUFA supplements on cognitive development, function, and decline throughout the life span. Design: The study included randomized controlled trials and provided $3 mo of treatment. Potential studies were independently screened in duplicate, and study characteristics and outcomes were extracted. A meta-analysis was performed by using fixedor randomeffects models. The results are presented as standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% CIs. Results: Of the 3692 citations retrieved, 34 studies of a total of 12,999 participants (1031 infants, 1517 children, 3657 adults, and 6794 elderly individuals) were included. Compared with placebo, n23 PUFA supplements significantly improved cognitive development in infants, including the Mental Development Index (SMD: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.52), the Psychomotor Development Index (0.27; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.45), and language (0.27; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.42), motor (0.29; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.43), and cognitive (0.31; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.45) abilities. However, n23 PUFAs did not promote cognitive function in terms of composite memory, executive function, and processing speed domains in children, adults, or the elderly, except for the attention domain. No association was found between n23 PUFA intake and improvements in cognitive performance in terms of recognition, immediate and delayed word recall, digit span backward and forward tests, rapid visual information processing, verbal fluency, and simple and choice reaction times. In addition, n23 PUFA supplements were not associated with improvements in cognitive decline or with any effects on Alzheimer disease in elderly people. Conclusions: n23 PUFA supplements may significantly improve cognitive development in infants but do not improve cognitive performance in children, adults, or the elderly. n23 PUFA intake, especially that of DHA supplements, may benefit cognitive development during infancy. Am J Clin Nutr 2014;100:1422–36.