Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lessons Learned from Sleep Education in Schools: A Review of Dos and Don'ts.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Sleep duration and quality are associated with negative neuropsychological and psychosocial outcomes in children and adolescents. However, community awareness of this is low and sleep education programs in schools are attempting to address this issue. Several studies now exist assessing the efficacy of these sleep education programs for improving sleep knowledge, sleep hygiene and sleep patterns. This paper presents these sleep education programs, most particularly, it presents the strengths and weaknesses of the current available studies in the hope that this can identify areas where future sleep education programs can improve. METHODS A systematic search of all school-based sleep education studies in adolescents was undertaken. Studies were scrutinized for author, teacher and participant comment regarding strengths and limitations of each study, which were then extracted and summarized. RESULTS Two specific types of sleep education programs emerged from the review, those that sought to change sleep behavior and those that sought simply to disseminate information. Issues that dictated the strength or weakness of a particular study including who delivers the program, the theoretical basis, the tools utilized to measure sleep patterns, the content, and their capacity to engage students were assessed. Sleep education was considered important by teachers, students and parents alike. CONCLUSIONS Future sleep education programs need to take into account lessons learned from previous sleep education efforts in order to maximize the potential for sleep education programs to improve the sleep health of our young people. COMMENTARY A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 595.
Population-genomic insights into emergence, crop adaptation and dissemination of Pseudomonas syringae pathogens

Many bacterial pathogens are well characterized but, in some cases, little is known about the populations from which they emerged. This limits understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying disease. The crop pathogen Pseudomonas syringae sensu lato has been widely isolated from the environment, including wild plants and components of the water cycle, and causes disease in several economically important crops. Here, we compared genome sequences of 45 P. syringae crop pathogen outbreak strains with 69 closely related environmental isolates. Phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that crop pathogens emerged many times independently from environmental populations. Unexpectedly, differences in gene content between environmental populations and outbreak strains were minimal with most virulence genes present in both. However, a genome-wide association study identified a small number of genes, including the type III effector genes hopQ1 and hopD1, to be associated with crop pathogens, but not with environmental populations, suggesting that this small group of genes may play an important role in crop disease emergence. Intriguingly, genome-wide analysis of homologous recombination revealed that the locus Psyr 0346, predicted to encode a protein that confers antibiotic resistance, has been frequently exchanged among lineages and thus may contribute to pathogen fitness. Finally, we found that isolates from diseased crops and from components of the water cycle, collected during the same crop disease epidemic, form a single population. This provides the strongest evidence yet that precipitation and irrigation water are an overlooked inoculum source for disease epidemics caused by P. syringae.
A multidimensional study of the key determinants of effective SME marketing activity: Part 2

This paper forms Part 2 of a monograph detailing a study that sought to examine the key determinants of SME marketing. It reports the key findings with respect to marketing competency in SMEs, explores the strong sales orientation of such firms, examines the nature and use of SME personal contact networks and considers to what extent formal marketing planning is practiced in such enterprises. New insights to these important areas of small firm research are presented. A new model of SME marketing competency is developed, depicting competencies at three levels, foundation, transitional and marketing in practice. The monograph concludes with a holistic interpretation of the data that enables the development of a new model of SME marketing.
Disentangling the mechanistic chain for better policy design

Understanding how policy design can incentivize, constrain, and otherwise structure policy targets’ behavior to achieve desired results is vital but requires a clear understanding of the mechanisms that link policy tools to actual behavior. More importantly, it requires reasoning in terms of the processes and interactions that can be activated by policy tools to accomplish desired results. It is therefore imperative that policy designers – both those who study it and those who practice it – specify clearly the linkages between the input (policy design) and the output, via the intended and unintended processes triggered by the design. Many existing analytical efforts focus only on shedding light on what is needed for good policy design and ignore how good policy design works in terms of the types of processes that can be activated to achieve (or not) the desired results. As a result, we know little about how different solutions trigger and drive the achievement of intended outcomes. The literature on policy design is often based on anecdotes and correlations, jumping from proposed solutions to anticipated outcomes without exploring the conditions that are the real determinants of policy results. The objective of this book is to explore the usefulness of adopting a mechanistic approach to policy design, focusing on the actual ways in which policy designs can facilitate or hinder achievement of policy goals. It improves the analysis and practice of policy design by focusing on the mechanistic causation relevant to policy-making and policy behavior. The book thus brings to policy design studies the insights of the mechanistic turn in social sciences over the past few decades. This mechanistic turn is partly motivated by dissatisfaction with both the “law-like” and statistical explanations commonly employed by policy scholars.
Initial testing of the MDM2 inhibitor RG7112 by the pediatric preclinical testing program

RG7112 is a selective inhibitor of p53‐MDM2 binding that frees p53 from negative control, activating the p53 pathway in cancer cells leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. RG7112 was selected for evaluation by the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) due to the relatively low incidence of p53 mutations in pediatric cancers compared with adult malignancies.
Structural and Functional Characterization of Recombinant Human Serum Transferrin Secreted from Pichia pastoris

Serum transferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein with a bilobal structure. It binds iron ions in the blood serum and delivers them into target cells via transferrin receptor. We identified structural and functional characteristics of recombinant human transferrin which is produced in the yeast Pichia pastoris. Using the signal sequence of the α factor of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, high-level secretion was obtained, up to 30 mg/l of culture medium. Correct processing at designed sites was confirmed by N-terminal sequence analysis. Carbohydrate modification was determined by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) analysis after digestion with endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase H. Reflecting the secondary structure, the circular dichroism spectrum of the recombinant protein was indistinguishable from that of serum transferrin. Consequently, the recombinant product had an iron binding function just as the serum specimen has: two Fe3+ sites existed in a recombinant transferrin molecule, as estimated by titration analysis using visible absorption, fluorescence spectra, and electrophoretic behavior in urea denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE).
Dynorphin B-Containing Perivascular Axons and Sensory Neurotransmitter Mechanisms in Brain Blood Vessels

This is the first report demonstrating the existence of opiate-containing nerve fibers surrounding brain blood vessels. Dynorphin B, a tridecapeptide and potent opiate analgesic, was visualized by immunohistochemistry in guinea pig cerebral arteries comprising the circle of Willis and was measured by radioimmunoassay in canine middle cerebral arteries. This peptide, reportedly present in dorsal root ganglion cells, was observed by others to decrease the depolarization-induced release of substance P from primary sensory axons and, by so doing, to retard the development of neurogenic inflammation in target tissues. Consistent with an indirect action of dynorphin B, this peptide did not relax precontracted canine middle cerebral or basilar artery segments when added in vitro, nor did it modulate receptor-mediated relaxation on the addition of substance P. The presence of opiate-containing axons in or near trigeminovascular nerve fibers suggests novel mechanisms related to the modulation of pain possibly emanating from cerebral vessels.
Comparative Metagenomics of Cellulose- and Poplar Hydrolysate-Degrading Microcosms from Gut Microflora of the Canadian Beaver (Castor canadensis) and North American Moose (Alces americanus) after Long-Term Enrichment

To identify carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) that might be particularly relevant for wood fiber processing, we performed a comparative metagenomic analysis of digestive systems from Canadian beaver (Castor canadensis) and North American moose (Alces americanus) following 3 years of enrichment on either microcrystalline cellulose or poplar hydrolysate. In total, 9,386 genes encoding CAZymes and carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) were identified, with up to half predicted to originate from Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Proteobacteria phyla, and up to 17% from unknown phyla. Both PCA and hierarchical cluster analysis distinguished the annotated glycoside hydrolase (GH) distributions identified herein, from those previously reported for grass-feeding mammals and herbivorous foragers. The CAZyme profile of moose rumen enrichments also differed from a recently reported moose rumen metagenome, most notably by the absence of GH13-appended dockerins. Consistent with substrate-driven convergence, CAZyme profiles from both poplar hydrolysate-fed cultures differed from cellulose-fed cultures, most notably by increased numbers of unique sequences belonging to families GH3, GH5, GH43, GH53, and CE1. Moreover, pairwise comparisons of moose rumen enrichments further revealed higher counts of GH127 and CE15 families in cultures fed with poplar hydrolysate. To expand our scope to lesser known carbohydrate-active proteins, we identified and compared multi-domain proteins comprising both a CBM and domain of unknown function (DUF) as well as proteins with unknown function within the 416 predicted polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs). Interestingly, DUF362, identified in iron–sulfur proteins, was consistently appended to CBM9; on the other hand, proteins with unknown function from PULs shared little identity unless from identical PULs. Overall, this study sheds new light on the lignocellulose degrading capabilities of microbes originating from digestive systems of mammals known for fiber-rich diets, and highlights the value of enrichment to select new CAZymes from metagenome sequences for future biochemical characterization.
From within-word model search to across-word model search in large vocabulary continuous speech recognition

In this paper we report on the application of across-word context dependent acoustic phoneme models in a single-pass large vocabulary continuous speech recognizer.Although across-word models are used by many groups today, only an outline of the recognizers is usually given in the publications. Implementation details are often missing.We present both a formal derivation of across-word model search and a detailed description of our implementation. The across-word model system is compared with a conventional within-word model system regarding word error rate and computational effort. Compared to the baseline within-word system a straightforward implementation of across-word model search results in a substantial increase of the computational effort. Therefore, several optimization steps are studied that result in a more efficient organization of the search space and a more efficient pruning. The effects of these optimizations are analysed in a detailed profiling. In combination they accelerate the straightforward implementation of across-word model search by nearly a factor of three.In addition we discuss the construction of word graphs during across-word model search. Starting from a word graph method based on within-word model search, we derive a formal specification of across-word word graphs. We show that the resulting word graphs are a good representation of the active search space.
A low-noise fast-lock phase-locked loop with adaptive bandwidth control

This paper presents a salient analog phase-locked loop (PLL) that adaptively controls the loop bandwidth according to the locking status and the phase error amount. When the phase error is large, such as in the locking mode, the PLL increases the loop bandwidth and achieves fast locking. On the other hand, when the phase error is small, this PLL decreases the loop bandwidth and minimizes output jitters. Based on an analog recursive bandwidth control algorithm, the PLL achieves the phase and frequency lock in less than 30 clock cycles without pre-training, and maintains the cycle-to-cycle jitter within 20 ps (peak-to-peak) in the tracking mode. A feed forward-type duty-cycle corrector is designed to keep the 50% duty cycle ratio over all operating frequency range.
Bioequivalence of oxcarbazepine oral suspension vs. film-coated tablet in healthy Chinese male subjects.

OBJECTIVE Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) is an antiepileptic drug used as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial seizures in adults and children. The primary objective of this study was to assess the bioequivalence of Trileptal oral suspension formulation vs. the film-coated tablet after single and multiple twice-daily administrations in fasted, healthy Chinese male subjects. METHODS This was an open-label, randomized, two-period crossover study in 19 healthy Chinese male subjects. Treatment periods consisted of a single dose of 300 mg oxcarbazepine (either oral suspension formulation or film-coated tablet) on Day 1, b.i. d. administrations of 300 mg from Day 4 to Day 8 inclusive, and a final dose of 300 mg on the morning of Day 9. A 1-week washout period was implemented between treatment periods. Plasma levels of 10-monohydroxy derivative (MHD), the main metabolite mediating the pharmacologic activity of oxcarbazepine, were measured by a validated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. Bioequivalence was assessed by the MHD areas under the concentration time curve (AUCs) and maximum concentrations (Cmax) of the oral suspension vs. the film-coated tablet. Safety was evaluated throughout the study. RESULTS Trileptal oral suspension formulation was bioequivalent to film-coated tablet after single dose and multiple b.i. d. administrations, as assessed by MHD AUCs and Cmax. The 90% confidence intervals (CI) of the geometric mean of the MHD individual ratios were within the bioequivalence CI limits (0.80 - 1.25). No safety concerns were raised. CONCLUSIONS Trileptal oral suspension formulation and film-coated tablets are bioequivalent in healthy Chinese males.
Use of Three-Dimensional Arterial Models To Predict the In Vivo Behavior of Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery.

Nanomaterials have been widely used for applications in biomedical fields and could become indispensable in the near future. However, since it is difficult to optimize in vivo biological behavior in a 3D environment by using a single cell in vitro, there have been many failures in animal models. In vitro prediction systems using 3D human-tissue models reflecting the 3D location of cell types may be useful to better understand the biological characteristics of nanomaterials for optimization of their function. Herein we demonstrate the potential ability of 3D engineered human-arterial models for in vitro prediction of the in vivo behavior of nanoparticles for drug delivery. These models enabled optimization of the composition and size of the nanoparticles for targeting and treatment efficacy for atherosclerosis. In vivo experiments with atherosclerotic mice suggested excellent biological characteristics and potential treatment effects of the nanoparticles optimized in vitro.
Triploidy in 40 Human Spontaneous Abortuses: Assessment of Phenotype in Embryos

Forty human spontaneous abortuses were identified as triploid, 34 by karyotype and 6 by DNA measurement. Of the 40, 26 were embryos of 5 to 7 weeks' developmental age, 6 were intact empty sacs, 4 were early growth-disorganized embryos, and 4 were fetuses. In an attempt to determine the extent to which embryonic phenotype reveals triploid karyotype, the phenotypes of the 26 triploid embryos were compared with those of the 40 embryos of known nontriploid karyotype identified in a larger study of consecutive spontaneous abortuses. Each embryo was scored for presence or absence of each of 4 abnormal phenotypic features: retarded limb development, facial dysplasia, subectodermal hemorrhage, and cystic chorionic villi. Whereas this combination of features was found in a few abortuses with normal or trisomic karyotype, it was both common and most frequent with triploidy. Approximately half (12 of 22) of the triploid embryos had at least 3 of the features. Conversely, among assessable embryos of known karyotype, four fifths (12 of 15) of those with at least 3 of the 4 abnormal features were triploid. Thus, while not definitive, such phenotypic information can be used with caution in counseling for subsequent pregnancies.
Forecasting realized volatility of bitcoin returns: tail events and asymmetric loss

We use intraday data to construct measures of the realized volatility of bitcoin returns. We then construct measures that focus exclusively on relatively large realizations of returns to assess the tail shape of the return distribution, and use the heterogeneous autoregressive realized volatility (HAR-RV) model to study whether these measures help to forecast subsequent realized volatility. We find that mainly forecasters suffering a higher loss in case of an underprediction of realized volatility (than in case of an overprediction of the same absolute size) benefit from using the tail measures as predictors of realized volatility, especially at a short and intermediate forecast horizon. This result is robust controlling for jumps and realized skewness and kurtosis, and it also applies to downside (bad) and upside (good) realized volatility.
Testing the predictability of commodity prices in stock returns: A new perspective

In this paper, we offer an alternative approach for testing the predictive power of commodity prices in stock returns using monthly data of about six decades. In the process, we account for prominent features of predictive models such as asymmetry, conditional heteroscedasticity, endogeneity, persistence, and structural breaks that may bias the forecast outcomes. Using the G7 stock exchanges, three findings are discernible from the various analyses. First, commodity prices are good predictors of stock returns both for in-sample and out-of-sample forecasts. Second, the proposed commodity-based model for stock returns that accounts for the highlighted features outperforms both the traditional predictive model as well historical average models that ignore same. Thirdly, these conclusions are robust to different components of commodity prices, multiple data samples and alternative forecast horizons.
A Novel Method for Parallel Decoding of Turbo Codes

Parallel decoding of turbo codes is vital to the applications with very high data rates. There are mainly two existing methods for the parallel decoding of turbo codes: one is to have the sub-blocks being overlapped (OL); the other is to store the intermediate information of last iteration at the sub-block boundary (SBI). The overlapping in OL methods will slow down the decoding speed while the SBI requires some extra memory. In this paper, we present a new method which is essentially the combination of the OL and SBI but with two new features being introduced: (1) instead of storing the full information of the boundary distribution as SBI does, the proposed method only stores the index of the most probable state at the boundary and a reliability metric for initialization; (2) the boundary positions of the sub-blocks are moving in each iteration of the turbo decoding process. The proposed method outperforms the existing methods and is flexible in design and implementation.
Evaluation of parameters influencing S values in mouse dosimetry.

UNLABELLED Clinical radionuclide therapy studies are commonly preceded by studies with small animals. Reliable evaluation of therapeutic efficacy must be based on accurate dosimetry. This study was performed to evaluate the influence of the mass of organs, the shape of organs, and the distances between organs on S values for mice. METHODS A voxel-based version of a geometric model of a mouse was developed for input in our Monte Carlo program based on EGS4. Simulations were made for each source organ separately to resolve the S values for each organ. For verification purposes, S values were calculated for spheres of different masses and compared with the S values in the MIRDOSE3.1 software and with the S values on the Radiation Dose Assessment Resource Web site. The variation in the mass of the organs was determined from dissected mice. The influence of the shape of an organ was investigated by successive elongation of a sphere into spheroids with a constant mass. The right kidney was moved in the phantom of the mouse to evaluate the effect of organ distances on S values. The absorbed fractions for the mouse model presented here were compared with the results from some previously published models. The radionuclides used were (90)Y, (131)I, (111)In, and (99m)Tc. RESULTS The results showed that the organ mass for one animal can differ by up to 33% from the mean mass. If linear interpolation from S value tables is used to obtain an S value for the specific mass of an organ, then the S value can differ by up to 80% from its true value. The corresponding deviation obtained by scaling according to mass is 20%. The shape of an organ was found to be the least important parameter for the S value. The cross-absorbed S value is strongly dependent on the geometry and the emitted radiation. For example, a 9.2-mm movement of the kidney can cause the S value from the liver to the right kidney to decrease to 0.05% of its original value for (90)Y. CONCLUSION We conclude that the mass and the shape of organs and their locations relative to each other have considerable effects on mouse dosimetry.