Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Overexpression of Calreticulin Modulates Protein Kinase B/Akt Signaling to Promote Apoptosis during Cardiac Differentiation of Cardiomyoblast H9c2 Cells*

Calreticulin is a Ca2+-binding molecular chaperone of the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Calreticulin has been shown to be essential for cardiac and neural development in mice, but the mechanism by which it functions in cell differentiation is not fully understood. To examine the role of calreticulin in cardiac differentiation, the calreticulin gene was introduced into rat cardiomyoblast H9c2 cells, and the effect of calreticulin overexpression on cardiac differentiation was examined. Upon culture in a differentiation medium containing fetal calf serum (1%) and retinoic acid (10 nm), cells transfected with the calreticulin gene were highly susceptible to apoptosis compared with controls. In the gene-transfected cells, protein kinase B/Akt signaling was significantly suppressed during differentiation. Furthermore, protein phosphatase 2A, a Ser/Thr protein phosphatase, was significantly up-regulated, implying suppression of Akt signaling due to dephosphorylation of Akt by the up-regulated protein phosphatase 2A via regulation of Ca2+ homeostasis. Thus, overexpression of calreticulin promotes differentiation-dependent apoptosis in H9c2 cells by suppressing the Akt signaling pathway. These findings indicate a novel mechanism by which cytoplasmic Akt signaling is modulated to cause apoptosis by a resident protein of the endoplasmic reticulum, calreticulin.
Using a Narrative Film to Increase Knowledge and Interpersonal Communication About Psychosis Among Latinos

Narrative communication is effective in increasing public awareness while generating dialogue about varied health topics. The current study utilized narrative communication in the form of a 15-minute motivational film titled La CLAve to help Latinos recognize symptoms of psychosis and begin a discussion about serious mental illness. The study aimed to explore the participants’ response to the film and whether the film led to further dialogue about psychosis. Four focus groups were conducted with 40 Spanish-speaking participants, mostly foreign-born Latinas, with a mean age of 49 years. Results indicate that participants engaged with the film as reflected in their ability to recall the storyline in detail. Reports of psychosis knowledge gains included recognition of key symptoms, such as hallucinations and disorganized speech. Participants attributed symptoms of psychosis, observed in a film character, to social stressors and other previously constructed views of mental illness. Many participants discussed the content of the film within their immediate social networks. Other findings include discussions of key barriers and facilitators to seeking mental health treatment among Latino families, such as denial and family support. Results suggest that narrative films offer a promising strategy to stimulate dialogue about serious mental illness among Latinos.
Coordination within medical neighborhoods: Insights from the early experiences of Colorado patient-centered medical homes.

BACKGROUND The term "medical neighborhood" refers to relationships that patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) seek to establish with other providers to facilitate coordinated patient care. Yet, how PCMHs can accomplish this coordination is not well understood. PURPOSE Drawing upon organizational theory (; ; ), we explored how PCMHs use coordination mechanisms to build and optimize their medical neighborhoods. METHODOLOGY We used mixed methods, blending data collected via interviews and surveys with practice leaders and care coordinators at 30 months after a PCMH collaborative intervention in Colorado as well as surveys from all providers from 13 PCMHs before and 30 months after the intervention. We used thematic analysis to understand the role and use of coordination mechanisms by PCMHs and changes in the ability to coordinate and deliver care continuity. FINDINGS PCMHs drew on four coordination mechanisms to build relationships with their medical neighbors: interorganizational routines to improve reliability of information flow; information connectivity to facilitate continuity and safe care; boundary spanners to integrate care across silos; and communication, negotiation, and decision mechanisms to introduce shared accountability. When providers were fairly confident of the patient's diagnosis and management required sequential interactions (such as tests or procedures), PCMHs tended to coordinate care through interorganizational routines and information connectivity. When a diagnosis was less certain and required reciprocal interaction (i.e., consultation), PCMHs employed boundary spanners and communication, negotiation, and decision mechanisms. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Use of coordination mechanisms by PCMHs can help to improve care coordination in medical neighborhoods. All four mechanisms appear to be useful. The optimal mix of coordination mechanisms requires attention to patient context. Successfully building medical neighborhoods also requires meta-leaders, collaboration competencies, and high-quality relationships between providers in primary care, specialty care, and hospitals.
The moderating effect of local environment on a foreign affiliate's global IS strategy-effectiveness relationship

This study evaluates the moderating effects of local culture, local regulation, and local competition on a global information systems (GISs) strategy-effectiveness relationship. Cluster analyses and moderated regression analyses were used to test hypotheses in a sample of 312 foreign affiliates operating in Canada, Japan, the UK and the United States. Our findings suggested that GIS strategy was related to information systems (IS) effectiveness. This relationship was moderated by all three selected moderator variables. Our study also found that foreign affiliates that follow a globally integrative GIS strategy, but which operate in a more restrictive local environment, eventually achieve greater IS effectiveness. In addition, foreign affiliates that follow a locally responsive GIS strategy, but which operate in a more competitive and culturally different local environment, will also be able to run their IS more effectively.
Opportunistic scheduling for wireless network coding on two-user OFDMA systems

Opportunistic scheduling for wireless network coding (OWNC) combines the strategies of opportunistic scheduling and network coding. This paper applies two variants of OWNC on a two-user OFDMA system. Symbol-based OWNC decides a strategy from sum rate of the whole OFDM symbol. Subcarrier-based OWNC decides a strategy from the capacity on a subcarrier level. Novel algorithms are derived for power allocation on an OFDM symbol. They appear in the form of waterfilling algorithms but are specifically tailored to the OWNC. Simulation results show average capacity and outage capacity obtained by different approaches of the OWNC. It is shown that, for OWNC with two-user OFDMA, the proposed waterfilling power allocations have modest gains over uniform power allocation at low SNR.
Cytokine signature associated with disease severity in chronic fatigue syndrome patients

Significance Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) devastates the lives of millions of people and has remained a mystery illness despite decades of research. It has long been suspected that inflammation is central to its pathogenesis. Although only two cytokines were found to be different (TGF-β higher and resistin lower) in ME/CFS patients compared with controls, 17 cytokines correlated with ME/CFS severity. Thirteen of these cytokines are proinflammatory and may contribute to many of the symptoms these patients experience for several years. Only CXCL9 (MIG) inversely correlated with fatigue duration. Although some signs of inflammation have been reported previously in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), the data are limited and contradictory. High-throughput methods now allow us to interrogate the human immune system for multiple markers of inflammation at a scale that was not previously possible. To determine whether a signature of serum cytokines could be associated with ME/CFS and correlated with disease severity and fatigue duration, cytokines of 192 ME/CFS patients and 392 healthy controls were measured using a 51-multiplex array on a Luminex system. Each cytokine’s preprocessed data were regressed on ME/CFS severity plus covariates for age, sex, race, and an assay property of newly discovered importance: nonspecific binding. On average, TGF-β was elevated (P = 0.0052) and resistin was lower (P = 0.0052) in patients compared with controls. Seventeen cytokines had a statistically significant upward linear trend that correlated with ME/CFS severity: CCL11 (Eotaxin-1), CXCL1 (GROα), CXCL10 (IP-10), IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5, IL-7, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-17F, leptin, G-CSF, GM-CSF, LIF, NGF, SCF, and TGF-α. Of the 17 cytokines that correlated with severity, 13 are proinflammatory, likely contributing to many of the symptoms experienced by patients and establishing a strong immune system component of the disease. Only CXCL9 (MIG) inversely correlated with fatigue duration.
Segregating in- and other-cell interference with applications to decentralized admission control

This paper deals with the intertwined problems of feasibility, power allocation and call admission control on the basis of the signal-to-interference-ratio in multi-cell CDMA networks. Positively homogeneous in-cell interference functions are introduced. Under this general concept optimum power allocations are determined by first solving in-cell interference problems with fixed background noise, and subsequently a small system of linear coupling equations. This approach simultaneously clarifies the existence of some power allocation such that minimum SIR requirements are fulfilled. The decomposition is also utilized for designing a decentralized admission control algorithm. Finally, guidelines are given on how required parameters may be estimated in existing network structures.
Semantic Technologies in System Maintenance (STSM 2008)

This paper gives a brief overview of the international workshop on semantic technologies in system maintenance. It describes a number of semantic technologies (e.g., ontologies, text mining, and knowledge integration techniques) and identifies diverse tasks in software maintenance where the use of semantic technologies can be beneficial, such as traceability, system comprehension, software artifact analysis, and information integration.
Effect of regular exercise on blood pressure in normotensive pregnant women. A randomized controlled trial

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the effect of regular exercise on maternal arterial blood pressure (BP) at rest and during uphill walking, in healthy former inactive pregnant women. Methods: A single-blind, single-center, randomized controlled trial including 61 out of 105 healthy, inactive nulliparous pregnant women, initially enrolled in a controlled trial studying the effect of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise (60 min 2/week) on maternal weight gain. Primary outcome was the mean adjusted difference in change in resting systolic and diastolic BP from baseline to after intervention. Secondary outcome was the mean adjusted difference in change in systolic BP during uphill treadmill walking at critical power. Measurements were performed prior to the intervention (gestation week 17.6 ± 4.2) and after the intervention (gestation week 36.5 ± 0.9). Results: At baseline, resting systolic and diastolic BP was 115/66 ± 12/7 and 115/67 ± 10/9 mmHg in the exercise (n = 35) and control group (n = 26), respectively. After the intervention, resting systolic BP was 112 ± 8 mmHg in the exercise group and 119 ± 14 mmHg in the control group, giving a between-group difference of 7.5 mmHg (95% CI 1.5 to 12.6, p = 0.013). Diastolic BP was 71 ± 9 and 76 ± 8 mmHg, with a between-group difference of 3.9 mmHg (95% CI −0.07 to 7.8, p = 0.054). During uphill treadmill walking at critical power, the between-group difference in systolic and diastolic BP was 5.9 mmHg (95% CI −4.4 to 16.1, p = 0.254) and 5.5 mmHg (95% CI –0.2 to 11.1, p = 0.059), respectively. Conclusions: Aerobic exercise reduced resting systolic BP in healthy former inactive pregnant women.
Convergence Rates for Greedy Kaczmarz Algorithms, and Faster Randomized Kaczmarz Rules Using the Orthogonality Graph: Appendix

To compute the MR rule efficiently for sparse A, we need to store and update the residuals ri = (a T i x k − bi) for all i. If we initialize with x0 = 0, then the initial values of the residuals are simply the corresponding bi values. Given the initial residuals, we can construct a max-heap structure on these residuals in O(m) time. The max-heap structure lets us compute the MR rule in O(1) time. After an iteration of the Kaczmarz method, we can update the max-heap efficiently as follows:
Distinguishing Acute from Chronic and Resolved Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infections by Measurement of Anti-HCV Immunoglobulin G Avidity Index

ABSTRACT An assay to measure avidity index (AI) was developed to diagnose incident hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. The assay demonstrated an AI value statistically significantly lower in primary HCV infections than in chronic infections. When the assay was applied to past resolved infections, the difference in AI values was not as significant as the difference between incident and chronic infections. Lower AI values obtained in past resolved infections may be directly related to lower levels of immunoglobulin G anti-HCV in past resolved infections than in either new infections or chronic infections.
Endogenous sex hormones as risk factors for dementia in elderly men and women.

BACKGROUND The associations of endogenous sex hormones with risk of dementia in the elderly population are not well known. METHODS The relationship of baseline serum total estradiol (E2) and free testosterone (FT) to 4-year risk of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) was examined in a dementia-free, population-based cohort of 433 women (mean age 74 years) and 376 men (mean age 73 years). Multivariable proportional hazards regression was used to adjust for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, body mass index, apolipoprotein E genotype, cardiovascular conditions, and homocysteinemia. RESULTS Dementia developed in 71 women (46 AD, 21 VaD) and 39 men (23 AD, 12 VaD). In women with high E2 (serum E2 >or= 10 pg/mL), the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for dementia was 1.75 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-2.89). The corresponding multivariable-adjusted HR for AD was 1.94 (95% CI, 1.04-3.61), whereas no association was found for VaD. No association with dementia was found for serum FT in women and for either serum E2 or FT in men. CONCLUSION High serum E2 is an independent predictor for dementia and AD in elderly women.
Temperature sensitivity caused by missense suppressor supH and amber suppressor supP in Escherichia coli

The temperature-sensitive missense suppressor supH and amber suppressor supP in Escherichia coli are mutations of the serU and leuX genes, respectively. The supH tRNA, tRNA(SerCAA), is expected to recognize UUG codons, which are normally read by tRNA(LeuCAA) and tRNA(LeuUAA), coded for by the leuX gene and the leuZ gene, respectively. We show that supP and supH are incompatible and that strains carrying both supP and a restrictive rpsL allele are temperature sensitive. It is suggested that the temperature sensitivity of both supH and supP strains is caused by deficient reading of UUG codons by tRNA(LeuUAA).
How to avoid paediatric medication errors: a user’s guide to the literature

The National Health Service, in its report An organisation with memory, has called for a fundamental rethinking of the way the healthcare system learns from error.1 The NHS further details its goal to reduce serious medication errors by 40% in a second report entitled Building a safer NHS: improving medication safety.2 This report calls for a review of paediatric medication delivery systems to assess safety for children.
The structure and function of platelet integrins

Summary. Integrins are a ubiquitous family of non‐covalently associated α/β transmembrane heterodimers linking extracellular ligands to intracellular signaling pathways [ 1 ] [Cell, 2002; 110: 673]. Platelets contain five integrins, three β1 integrins that mediate platelet adhesion to the matrix proteins collagen, fibronectin and laminin, and the β3 integrins αvβ3 and αIIbβ3 [ 2 ] [J Clin Invest, 2005; 115: 3363]. While there are only several hundred αvβ3 molecules per platelet, αvβ3 mediates platelet adhesion to osteopontin and vitronectin in vitro [ 3 ] [J Biol Chem, 1997; 272: 8137]; whether this occurs in vivo remains unknown. By contrast, the 80 000 αIIbβ3 molecules on agonist‐stimulated platelets bind fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor, and fibronectin, mediating platelet aggregation when the bound proteins crosslink adjacent platelets [ 2 ] [J Clin Invest, 2005; 115: 3363]. Although platelet integrins are poised to shift from resting to active conformations, tight regulation of their activity is essential to prevent the formation of intravascular thrombi. This review focuses on the structure and function of the intensively studied β3 integrins, in particular αIIbβ3, but reference will be made to other integrins where relevant.
Cultivation of Denitrifying Bacteria: Optimization of Isolation Conditions and Diversity Study

ABSTRACT An evolutionary algorithm was applied to study the complex interactions between medium parameters and their effects on the isolation of denitrifying bacteria, both in number and in diversity. Growth media with a pH of 7 and a nitrogen concentration of 3 mM, supplemented with 1 ml of vitamin solution but not with sodium chloride or riboflavin, were the most successful for the isolation of denitrifiers from activated sludge. The use of ethanol or succinate as a carbon source and a molar C/N ratio of 2.5, 20, or 25 were also favorable. After testing of 60 different medium parameter combinations and comparison with each other as well as with the standard medium Trypticase soy agar supplemented with nitrate, three growth media were highly suitable for the cultivation of denitrifying bacteria. All evaluated isolation conditions were used to study the cultivable denitrifier diversity of activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. One hundred ninety-nine denitrifiers were isolated, the majority of which belonged to the Betaproteobacteria (50.4%) and the Alphaproteobacteria (36.8%). Representatives of Gammaproteobacteria (5.6%), Epsilonproteobacteria (2%), and Firmicutes (4%) and one isolate of the Bacteroidetes were also found. This study revealed a much more diverse denitrifying community than that previously described in cultivation-dependent research on activated sludge.
Introducing Weighted Kernel Classifiers for Handling Imbalanced Paralinguistic Corpora: Snoring, Addressee and Cold

The field of paralinguistics is growing rapidly with a wide range of applications that go beyond recognition of emotions, laughter and personality. The research flourishes in multiple directions such as signal representation and classification, addressing the issues of the domain. Apart from the noise robustness, an important issue with real life data is the imbalanced nature: some classes of states/traits are under-represented. Combined with the high dimensionality of the feature vectors used in the state-of-the-art analysis systems, this issue poses the threat of over-fitting. While the kernel trick can be employed to handle the dimensionality issue, regular classifiers inherently aim to minimize the misclassification error and hence are biased towards the majority class. A solution to this problem is oversampling of the minority class(es). However, this brings increased memory/computational costs, while not bringing any new information to the classifier. In this work, we propose a new weighting scheme on instances of the original dataset, employing Weighted Kernel Extreme Learning Machine, and inspired from that, introducing the Weighted Partial Least Squares Regression based classifier. The proposed methods are applied on all three INTERSPEECH ComParE 2017 challenge corpora, giving better or competitive results compared to the challenge baselines.
Third-Person Self-Talk Reduces Ebola Worry and Risk Perception by Enhancing Rational Thinking.

BACKGROUND During the fall of 2014, the threat of an Ebola outbreak gripped the United States (Poll, 8-12 October 2014; see Harvard School of Public Health & SSRS, 2014), creating a unique opportunity to advance basic knowledge concerning how emotion regulation works in consequential contexts and translate existing research in this area to inform public health and policy. METHOD We addressed these issues by examining whether third-person self-talk, a simple technique that promotes emotion regulation, could nudge people into reasoning about Ebola more rationally. In all, 1,257 people from across the United States were asked to write about their feelings about Ebola using their name or I (i.e. third-person self-talk vs. first-person self-talk) as concerns about Ebola swelled (24 October 2014-26 October 2014). RESULTS Third-person self-talk led participants who scored high on Ebola worry at baseline to generate more fact-based reasons not to worry about Ebola, which predicted reductions in their Ebola worry and risk perception. These findings held when controlling for several theoretically relevant covariates, highlighting their robustness. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate how a simple linguistic technique can enhance rational thinking and quell worry about a pressing public health threat.
Initiative for an H-index based Rating of Conferences and Journals in HCI and Related Fields

Research output metrics, in particular for peer-reviewed publications are of increasingly high importance for academics' careers. In Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and related fields of research, like Computer Graphics and Multimedia, simple to use and objective measures like Thomson Reuter's impact factors aren't applicable. Ranking lists like the Australian ERA and CORE try to provide an alternative, but are often criticized for being subjective. We are proposing an additional, alternative rating system which is entirely based on Hirsch indices by assigning four categories of quality (A*, A, B, C) to certain ranges (30+, 20-29, 10-19, 0-9) of H5 indices gathered from Google Scholar. We describe our methodology, results, limitations, and opportunities of this proposed "CHINZ" rating.
Evaluation of benthic nutrient fluxes and their importance in the pelagic nutrient cycles in Suo Nada, Japan

The benthic nutrient fluxes in Suo Nada, in the western part of Seto Inland Sea, Japan were estimated seasonally in 2002, and their contribution to the pelagic nutrient cycle was evaluated. The horizontal distributions of inorganic phosphorus (DIP), ammonia and dissolved silica (DSi) concentrations in the pore water of the surface (0–3 cm) sediments were high in the western part, indicating a eutrophic condition relative to the other parts. Seasonally, the highest nutrient concentration in the pore water was observed in summer, as reflected by the increasing decomposition rate of organic matter. Multiple regression analyses revealed significant positive effects of acid volatile sulfide (AVS) and temperature on the DIP flux and also significant positive effects of ignition loss (IL) along with these two parameters on the dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) flux. Temperature, IL and redox potential (Eh) were effective on DSi. The estimated DIP, DIN and DSi fluxes from the sediments were relatively high or equivalent to the total inputs from rains and rivers in annual average, with high values in summer of 2–3-fold higher than the other sources (rain plus rivers). Thus, it is concluded that the benthic nutrient fluxes play an important role in the pelagic nutrient cycle of the Suo Nada ecosystem.