Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reproducibility of the Brazilian version of the Edmonton Frail Scale for elderly living in the community.

OBJECTIVE to verify the inter and intra-rater reproducibility of the Brazilian adapted version of the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) in an elderly group of residents. METHOD in order to test the inter-rater reproducibility, two assessments were independently conducted by two researchers on the same day but at different times, in a sample of 103 elderly. Concerning the intra-rater reproducibility, the instrument was administered to 83 elderly (80.6% of the initial sample) by the same researcher in a time gap of 15 days between the two assessments. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION in relation to the inter-rater test, the Kappa was 0.81 (CI 0.61-1.00) and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) corresponded to 0.87 (CI 0.82-0.91, p<0.001). In relation to the intra-rater test, the Kappa was 0.83 (CI 0.72-0.94) and the ICC 0.87 (CI 0.81-1.00, p<0.001). CONCLUSION the results show that the EFS is reliable and can be used as a tool to improve geriatric nursing care in Brazil.
Therapeutic targeting of HES 1 transcriptional programs in TALL

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs) are highly aggressive hematologic tumors derived from themalignant transformation of immature T-cell progenitors. T-ALL results from a multistep process involving the activation of oncogenes and loss of tumor suppressor genes,which disrupts specificmechanisms regulatingproliferation, differentiation, and survival during T-cell development. In this setting, the identification of activating mutations in theNOTCH1 gene in more than 60% of T-ALLs highlights the central role of aberrant NOTCH signaling in the pathogenesis of this disease. Constitutive activation of mutantNOTCH1 inT-ALLdrives a transcriptional programpromoting leukemia cell growth and proliferation via multiple direct and indirect mechanisms including, most prominently, transcriptional activation of theMYC oncogene and upregulation of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway. In this circuitry, Hairy and Enhancer of Split 1 (HES1), a basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional regulator directly controlled by NOTCH1, functions as a critical factor mediating transcriptional repression downstream of NOTCH signaling. An important role for Hes1 in T-cell development was first realized inHes1knockoutmice,which showa rudimentaryor complete absence of thymic development. Consistently, conditional deletion of Hes1 in hematopoietic progenitors impaired T-cell development by compromising the capacity of early lymphoid progenitors to seed and populate the thymus. In T-ALL, the NOTCH1-HES1 regulatory axis is implicated in the upregulation of PI3K and NFKB signaling. Consistently, Hes1 is required for NOTCH1-induced transformation and for leukemia cell survival. However, the specific roles and mechanisms of HES1 in NOTCH1-induced leukemia remain incompletely understood. Materials and methods
Fully Adaptive Power Saving Protocols for Ad Hoc Networks Using the Hyper Quorum System

Quorum-based power saving (QPS) protocols have been proposed for ad hoc networks (e.g., IEEE 802.11 ad hoc mode) to increase energy efficiency and prolong the operational time of mobile stations. These protocols assign to each station a cycle pattern that specifies when the station should wake up (to transmit/receive data) and sleep (to save battery power). In all existing QPS protocols, the cycle length is either identical for all stations or is restricted to certain numbers (e.g. squares or primes). These restrictions on cycle length severely limit the practical use of QPS protocols as each individual station may want to select a cycle length that is best suited for its own need (in terms of remaining battery power, tolerable packet delay, and drop ratio). In this paper we propose the notion of hyper quorum system (HQS)-a generalization of QPS that allows for arbitrary cycle lengths. We describe algorithms to generate two different classes of HQS given any set of arbitrary cycle lengths as input. We then present analytical and simulation results that show the benefits of HQS-based power saving protocols over the existing QPS protocols.
Probability Aggregates in Probability Answer Set Programming

Probability answer set programming is a declarative programming that has been shown effective for representing and reasoning about a variety of probability reasoning tasks. However, the lack of probability aggregates, e.g. {\em expected values}, in the language of disjunctive hybrid probability logic programs (DHPP) disallows the natural and concise representation of many interesting problems. In this paper, we extend DHPP to allow arbitrary probability aggregates. We introduce two types of probability aggregates; a type that computes the expected value of a classical aggregate, e.g., the expected value of the minimum, and a type that computes the probability of a classical aggregate, e.g, the probability of sum of values. In addition, we define a probability answer set semantics for DHPP with arbitrary probability aggregates including monotone, antimonotone, and nonmonotone probability aggregates. We show that the proposed probability answer set semantics of DHPP subsumes both the original probability answer set semantics of DHPP and the classical answer set semantics of classical disjunctive logic programs with classical aggregates, and consequently subsumes the classical answer set semantics of the original disjunctive logic programs. We show that the proposed probability answer sets of DHPP with probability aggregates are minimal probability models and hence incomparable, which is an important property for nonmonotonic probability reasoning.
A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

Background The carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes, widely distributed in the Asian tropics, rely mostly on nutrients derived from arthropods trapped in their pitcher-shaped leaves and digested by their enzymatic fluid. The genus exhibits a great diversity of prey and pitcher forms and its mechanism of trapping has long intrigued scientists. The slippery inner surfaces of the pitchers, which can be waxy or highly wettable, have so far been considered as the key trapping devices. However, the occurrence of species lacking such epidermal specializations but still effective at trapping insects suggests the possible implication of other mechanisms. Methodology/Principal Findings Using a combination of insect bioassays, high-speed video and rheological measurements, we show that the digestive fluid of Nepenthes rafflesiana is highly viscoelastic and that this physical property is crucial for the retention of insects in its traps. Trapping efficiency is shown to remain strong even when the fluid is highly diluted by water, as long as the elastic relaxation time of the fluid is higher than the typical time scale of insect movements. Conclusions/Significance This finding challenges the common classification of Nepenthes pitchers as simple passive traps and is of great adaptive significance for these tropical plants, which are often submitted to high rainfalls and variations in fluid concentration. The viscoelastic trap constitutes a cryptic but potentially widespread adaptation of Nepenthes species and could be a homologous trait shared through common ancestry with the sundew (Drosera) flypaper plants. Such large production of a highly viscoelastic biopolymer fluid in permanent pools is nevertheless unique in the plant kingdom and suggests novel applications for pest control.
Angiotensin II impairs endothelial function via tyrosine phosphorylation of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase

Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (PYK2) can be activated by angiotensin II (Ang II) and reactive oxygen species. We report that in endothelial cells, Ang II enhances the tyrosine phosphorylation of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) in an AT1-, H2O2-, and PYK2-dependent manner. Low concentrations (1–100 µmol/liter) of H2O2 stimulated the phosphorylation of eNOS Tyr657 without affecting that of Ser1177, and attenuated basal and agonist-induced NO production. In isolated mouse aortae, 30 µmol/liter H2O2 induced phosphorylation of eNOS on Tyr657 and impaired acetylcholine-induced relaxation. Endothelial overexpression of a dominant-negative PYK2 mutant protected against H2O2-induced endothelial dysfunction. Correspondingly, carotid arteries from eNOS−/− mice overexpressing the nonphosphorylatable eNOS Y657F mutant were also protected against H2O2. In vivo, 3 wk of treatment with Ang II considerably increased levels of Tyr657-phosphorylated eNOS in the aortae of wild-type but not Nox2y/− mice, and this was again associated with a clear impairment in endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in the wild-type but not in the Nox2y/− mice. Collectively, endothelial PYK2 activation by Ang II and H2O2 causes the phosphorylation of eNOS on Tyr657, attenuating NO production and endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. This mechanism may contribute to the endothelial dysfunction observed in cardiovascular diseases associated with increased activity of the renin–angiotensin system and elevated redox stress.
TFIIIC localizes budding yeast ETC sites to the nuclear periphery

Eukaryotic genomes contain multiple extra TFIIIC (ETC) sites that bind the TFIIIC transcription factor without recruiting RNA polymerase. TFIIIC directs the localization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ETC sites to the nuclear periphery. Remarkably, however, perinuclear localization is not required for ETC sites to act as chromatin boundaries.
CLASSIFICATION OF INTERNAL CAROTID ARTERIAL DOPPLER SIGNALS USING WAVELET-BASED NEURAL NETWORKS

Doppler ultrasound is a noninvasive technique which is widely used in medicine for the assessment of blood flow in vessels. Therefore, Doppler ultrasonography is known as a reliable technique, which demonstrates the flow characteristics and resistance of internal carotid arteries in stenosis and occlusion conditions. In this study, internal carotid arterial Doppler signals recorded from 130 subjects that 45 of them had suffered from internal carotid artery stenosis, 44 of them had suffered from internal carotid artery occlusion and the rest of them had been healthy subjects were classified using waveletbased neural network. Spectral analysis of internal carotid arterial Doppler signals was performed using wavelet transform for determining the neural network inputs. Multilayer perceptron neural network employing quick propagation training algorithm was used to detect internal carotid artery stenosis and occlusion. The network was trained, cross validated and tested with subject’s internal carotid arterial Doppler signals. The correct classification rate was 95.45% for healthy subjects, 92.00% for subjects having internal carotid artery stenosis and 95.65% for subjects having internal carotid artery occlusion. The classification results showed that multilayer perceptron neural network employing quick propagation training algorithm was effective to detect internal carotid artery stenosis and occlusion.
Quality monitoring of diesel exhaust fluid in vehicles using diffractive interference sensors

In this paper, we describe a simple design for an optical sensing device based on differential interferometry that can be deployed as an in-line sensor for monitoring the quality of diesel exhaust fluid inside engines of diesel vehicles. This sensor can precisely determine (to within ±1% and lower) the percentage of urea in diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), which is a critical reactant in the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) process for reducing harmful nitrous oxide emissions from diesel vehicles into the environment. The operating principle is based on diffraction of laser light from a regularly spaced microarray. Preliminary performance results indicate that our sensor can precisely determine the concentration of urea in the DEF to within ±0.0045%.
transcription-coupled repair status in the mouse lung independently of the Ozone induces clear cellular and molecular responses

102:1185-1192, 2007. First published 9 November 2006; J Appl Physiol Conny T. M. van Oostrom, Annemieke de Vries and Harry van Steeg Tom J. H. Orzechowski, Mirjam M. Schaap, Timo M. Breit, Jan A. M. A. Dormans, Schalk, A. John F. Boere, Miriam E. Gerlofs-Nijland, Flemming R. Cassee, Johanna A. C. Ingeborg M. Kooter, Jeroen L. A. Pennings, Paul H. B. Fokkens, Daan L. A. C. Leseman, transcription-coupled repair status the mouse lung independently of the Ozone induces clear cellular and molecular responses in
Using an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour to predict smoking cessation in two age groups

The aim of this study was twofold: (i) to test the utility of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in predicting intentions to quit smoking and subsequent behaviour in two age groups, and among women and men, and (ii) to examine whether descriptive norms, moral norms and past behaviour predict intentions and behaviour beyond the impact of the TPB components. Analyses were based on data from a prospective sample of 447 daily smokers (adolescents 16–19 years, n = 174, M = 17.5, adults 35–55 years, n = 311, M = 44 years). The TPB accounted for 31.8% and 38% of the variance in intentions in the adolescent and adult groups, respectively. The extension variables added 12.6% and 12.1% to the explained variance of intentions in the adolescent and adult groups. Affective attitude was the strongest predictor of intentions in both age groups. A number of moderating effects of gender and age were found in predicting intentions. Moreover, intentions and perceived behavioural control (PBC) had a direct impact on behaviour only in the adult group, while the PBC × intention interaction was a significant predictor in the adolescent group. The extended TPB model provided a better fit among the adults than among adolescents (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.29 vs. 0.17, respectively).
Noise Removal of Low-Dose CT Images Using Modified Smooth Patch Ordering

Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) images tend to be severely degraded by excessive mottle noise and steak artifacts. In this paper, an algorithm of modified smooth patch ordering (MSPO) is proposed to improve the LDCT images. In the MSPO method, the non-local means (NLM) algorithm is modified by replacing the Leclerc robust function with the modified bisquare robust function, to serve as weight function for the estimate of each pixel value. Then, the modified NLM algorithm is combined with smooth ordering of the pixels, patch classification, and subimage averaging scheme to denoise the LDCT image. Additionally, the prewhitening of the LDCT image is carried out to enhance image denoising, and the total-variation filter is utilized as a post-processing step to further remove the residual noise of the recovered image. Subjective and objective evaluations on the actual thoracic phantom and clinical data are carried out for validating the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results from computer experiments demonstrate that the proposed MSPO approach performs better in both artifact suppression and structure preservation, when compared with several existing methods. Especially, the MSPO approach can be directly applied to process digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images, and has great potential in most current CT systems.
The effects of zoledronate on monocyte-derived dendritic cells from melanoma patients differ depending on the clinical stage of the disease

Zoledronic acid has shown indirect anticancer effects on angiogenesis, the tumor microenvironment and immune responses. Its immunological action is exerted, at least in part, via its modulating properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro effects of zoledronic acid on the dendritic cells of melanoma patients. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 26 patients with melanoma and 11 healthy donors. Dendritic cells were derived from purified monocytes, and zoledronic acid (ZA) was added on the first day of culture. The phenotype and function of the generated cells were evaluated by flow cytometry. The ZA-treated monocytes from patients with early-stage disease generated DCs characterized by reduced endocytic activity and increased allostimulatory capacity compared with the untreated samples, allowing restoration of the DC function observed in normal subjects. In contrast, the ZA-treated monocytes from patients at stage III generated cells with higher CD14 antigen expression and endocytosis than the untreated samples. Therefore, in melanoma patients, the in vitro ZA effects differ according to the progression of the disease. In addition, our preliminary results appear to suggest that ZA effects are also influenced by the expression of CD14 antigen, indicating that the DC phenotype together with clinical characteristics must be considered in the choice of patients to be treated with ZA. Our work focus on the effect of ZA on monocyte-derived DCs from melanoma patients, showing that the effects of therapeutic doses of this drug might be mediated at least in part by modulation of myeloid cell function.
‘Build it and they shall come?’ An evaluation of qualitative evidence relating to student choice and Welsh-medium higher education

Abstract This paper seeks to evaluate the factors influencing students’ choice of Higher Education provision with specific reference to language of study. Placing the recent development of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (the National Welsh-Medium College) in an appropriate historical and theoretical perspective, this paper evaluates a major qualitative study relating to student choice in Wales. It argues that while location, reputation, finance and employability are the primary drivers for student choice, there is considerable evidence to demonstrate a latent demand for Welsh-medium provision in specific subjects and locations. Furthermore there is a clear link to future job prospects in patterns of linguistic choice amongst prospective Higher Education students.
Urinary incontinence in nursing home residents: a cross-national comparison.

BACKGROUND using data from a cross-national data base we report the prevalence of urinary incontinence in nursing home residents, describe the main factors associated with bladder incontinence, and compare the usage of incontinence-related tests and care practices across countries. RESULTS urinary incontinence is highly prevalent (43-65%) in the seven countries studied. Dependency in ambulating, cognitive impairment and urinary tract infections are significantly associated with urinary incontinence in nursing home populations in most countries. Large cross-country differences are observed in the percentage of elderly undergoing incontinence-related testing and in the percentage of residents using appliances and programmes to treat or prevent incontinence. CONCLUSION this study of different cultural approaches and strategies to evaluate and treat urinary incontinence may stimulate a public debate on the quality of care in nursing homes and promote the sharing of care practices designed to reduce urinary incontinence.
The rendering equation

We present an integral equation which generalizes a variety of known rendering algorithms. In the course of discussing a monte carlo solution we also present a new form of variance reduction, called Hierarchical sampling and give a number of elaborations shows that it may be an efficient new technique for a wide variety of monte carlo procedures. The resulting rendering algorithm extends the range of optical phenomena which can be effectively simulated.
Changes in the Absorption and Scattering Properties in the Near-Infrared Region during the Growth of Bacillus Subtilis in Liquid Culture

Multiple scattering of light by cells poses a significant challenge in the development of near-infrared-based methodologies to reliably extract chemical and physical information contained in the spectra collected during the bacterial growth cycle. The extent of information that can be obtained from NIR spectra could, in principle, be vastly improved if the scattering and absorption effects can be effectively separated. This study focuses on the methodology for extracting the bulk optical properties over the course of the bacterial growth cycle and investigates the nature and extent of changes in the optical properties with time. By inverting the radiative transfer equation (RTE) using three measurements, total diffuse reflectance, total diffuse transmittance, and collimated transmittance, the bulk absorption coefficient (μa), the bulk scattering coefficient (μs), and the anisotropy factor (g) are extracted and their changes during the course of the growth cycle are investigated. In this study, a simple bacterial growth system consisting of Bacillus subtilis growing in an aqueous solution (minimum medium) was investigated. The changes in the optical properties of this system during bacterial growth, stationary, and decline phases were investigated by inverting the measurements using the adding-doubling method to solve the RTE in the wavelength region of 950–1850 nm. This study shows that during growth in liquid culture, the absorption and scattering property changes can be consistently extracted from measurements under multiple light scattering conditions. The estimation of the anisotropy factor was not reliable beyond 1200 nm at low bacterial cell counts, but reliability increased with increasing biomass concentration. At all stages in the growth cycle, the anisotropy factor could not be reliably extracted in the first overtone region. However, this does not appear to adversely affect the estimation of the absorption and scattering coefficients.