Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Co-occurring patterns of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among flood victims: A latent profile analysis

This study examined the co-occurring patterns of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. A sample of 187 victims completed self-report questionnaires after a major flood disaster. Results indicated four classes: low symptoms group (49.7%), mild comorbid symptoms group (24.1%), serious comorbid symptoms group (3.2%), and medium comorbid symptoms group (23.0%). Male victims were less likely and older victims were more likely to belong to the medium comorbid symptoms group; victims with more serious trauma exposure and those using more maladaptive cognition emotional regulation strategies were more likely to belong to both the mild and medium comorbid symptoms groups.
Sensory, chemical and biological evaluation of some products fortified by whole flaxseed

The purpose of this study was to develop a mainstream food item using whole flaxseed and test the consumer acceptability, chemical and biological evaluation of the products. Chemical composition of flaxseed showed that contents of moisture was (7.06 %), protein (24.87 %), fat (39.64 %), crude fiber (8.74%), ash (3.51 %) and total carbohydrate (23.19 %). Flaxseed oil was have high content of unsaturated fatty acids. oleic acid (17.11%), linoleic acid (15.56%) and linolenic acid (58.68 %). Sensory evaluation of (pan bread-pizza-Tahina) showed that all were acceptable of eating qualities. Also, results showed that addition of flaxseed to wheat flour by 15% increased the protein content, fat, fiber, and ash. Meanwhile, the content of carbohydrates was decreased in the bread and pizza. Carbohydrates increased and fat decreased for Tahina 50% flaxseed. Data indicated that feed efficiency ratio of rats fed on diets containing flaxseed products were higher than rats fed on diets without flaxseed and results indicated also that, the diets containing flaxseed decreased concentration of serum total cholesterol compared to diet with no flaxseed. Flaxseed diet increased the level of serum HDL-C while serum LDL-C and VLDL-C significantly decreased. Key word: Flaxseed, Chemical composition, Flaxseed oil, Pan Bread, Pizza, Tahina, Biological Evaluation.
Computational Models of the NF-KB Signalling Pathway

In this review article, we discuss the current state of computational modelling of the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signalling pathway. NF-κB is a transcription factor, which is ubiquitous within cells and controls a number of immune responses, including inflammation and apoptosis. The NF-κB signalling pathway is tightly regulated, commencing with activation at the cell membrane, signal transduction through various components within the cytoplasm, translocation of NF-κB into the nucleus and, finally, the transcription of various genes relating to the innate and adaptive immune responses. There have been a number of computational (mathematical) models developed of the signalling pathway over the past decade. This review describes how these approaches have helped advance our understanding of NF-κB control.
Swallowing Outcomes in Elderly Patients following Microvascular Reconstruction of the Head and Neck

Objective To describe swallowing outcomes in elderly patients undergoing microvascular reconstruction of the upper aerodigestive tract and identify risk factors for poor postoperative swallowing function. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Academic medical center. Subjects and Methods Sixty-six patients aged ≥70 years underwent microvascular reconstruction of the upper aerodigestive tract. The primary outcome measure was the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS); preoperative and postoperative scores were dichotomized to define “good swallowing” and “poor swallowing. ” Logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors for poor postoperative swallowing function. Results In total, 91% of reconstructions were performed for oncologic defects. The most common defect site was the oral cavity (67%), and the anterolateral thigh (29%) was the most frequently used donor site. At 3-year follow up, 75% of patients had good swallowing function with 95% of patients who achieved good swallowing function doing so within 6 months of surgery. On multivariable analysis, patients with pT4 tumors (odds ratio [OR], 5.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-25.6) and those undergoing at least partial glossectomy (OR, 4.7; 95% CI, 1.1-20.7) were more likely to experience poor swallowing function at 6-month follow-up. Conclusion Approximately half of elderly patients achieve good swallowing function within 6 months following microvascular reconstruction of the upper aerodigestive tract. Elderly patients with pT4 tumors and those requiring glossectomy are at highest risk for poor swallowing outcomes. These data can be used to inform preoperative patient counseling and design interventions aimed at improving swallowing function in those at high risk for poor outcomes.
Influence of Supplemental Protein on the Life Expectancy and Reproduction of the Chinese Citrus Fruit Fly, Bactrocera minax (Enderlein) (Tetradacus minax) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Abstract Bactrocera minax (Enderlein) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a major citrus pest in China, whose artificial rearing technology of the adult is not well documented to date. In this study, we tried to determine if supplementing proteins to the adult diet could result in the enhancement of some fitness parameters of B. minax. Four feeds with varying protein source were provided as F0 (water), F1 (sucrose), F2 (sucrose + yeast), and F3 (sucrose + peptone). F0 and F1 being the control, F2 and F3 were protein food types. The results showed that adults fed by F2 and F3 lived longer with 40.1 d and 32.8 d, respectively, had reduced death rates (death peaks were delayed for 5.6 d and 4.1 d, respectively), increased mating frequencies (8.1 and 5.3 per females, 4.7 and 7.3 per males, respectively), and longer mating durations (with 42 d and 34 d). In addition, females recorded an increased adult ovary development, more egg load (with 94.8 and 77.3 brood eggs per ovary) and to greater oviposition rates of 63.2 eggs/female and 19.3 eggs/female. Based on our results, protein supplements enhanced B. minax survival, mating, and fecundity. This study does not only provide basic knowledge to implement artificial rearing of B. minax, but also deepens our understanding on its physiology that could be used to enhance the management of the pest.
Analysis of the association of MIR124-1 and its target gene RGS4 polymorphisms with major depressive disorder and antidepressant response

Background Increasing evidence has indicated that dysfunction of miR-124 and target gene regulator of G protein signaling 4 (RGS4) may be involved in the etiology and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate whether common genetic variations in these two genes are associated with MDD and therapeutic response to antidepressants in the Chinese population. Methods Three polymorphisms including rs531564 (a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] in MIR124-1), rs10759 (a microRNA-binding site SNP in RGS4), and rs951436 (a promoter SNP in RGS4) were genotyped in 225 Chinese MDD patients and 436 controls. Among the MDD patients, 147 accepted antidepressant treatment for 8 weeks with therapeutic evaluation at baseline, week 2, week 4, week 6, and week 8 using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) was used to identify gene–gene interactions. Results No significant association with MDD was discovered in single-SNP analyses. However, by MDR analysis, the three-locus model of gene–gene interaction was the best for predicting MDD risk. In pharmacogenetic study, a significant association was found in genotypic frequencies of rs951436 between the remitter and non-remitter groups (p=0.026, correction p=0.078). For further analysis, the rs951436 heterozygote carriers had threefold probabilities of achieving clinical complete remission (odds ratio =3.00, 95% confidence interval =1.33–6.76, p=0.007, correction p=0.021) as compared with rs951436 homozygotes (AA+CC) after 8 weeks of treatment. Conclusion An interaction effect of MIR124-1 and RGS4 polymorphisms may play a more important role than individual factors for MDD development. Moreover, RGS4 gene polymorphisms may be associated with antidepressant response among the Han population.
A phase I study of full-dose gemcitabine and regional arterial infusion of nafamostat mesilate for advanced pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND The primary end points of this study were to determine the dose-limiting toxic effects (DLTs), maximum tolerated dose, and a recommended phase II dose of a synthetic serine protease inhibitor, nafamostat mesilate, in combination with full-dose gemcitabine in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. The secondary end point was to assess therapeutic response. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with previously untreated pancreatic cancer received gemcitabine (1 000 mg/m(2) i.v. for 30 min) on days 1, 8, and 15, with nafamostat mesilate (continuous regional arterial infusion for 24 h through a port-catheter system) on days 1, 8, and 15; this regimen was repeated at 28-day intervals. The initial dose of nafamostat mesilate was 2.4 mg/kg and was escalated in increments of 1.2 mg/kg until a dose of 4.8 mg/kg was achieved. A standard '3+3' phase I dose-escalation design was used. Therapeutic response and clinical benefit response were assessed. RESULTS Twelve patients were enrolled in this study. None of the patients experienced DLTs, and nafamostat mesilate was well tolerated at doses up to 4.8 mg/kg in combination with full-dose gemcitabine. This combination chemotherapy yielded a reduction of a high serum level of the tumor marker CA19-9. Pain was reduced in three of seven patients without oral morphine sulfate. Overall survival was 7.1 months for all patients. CONCLUSION This phase I study was carried out safely. This combination chemotherapy showed beneficial improvement in health-related quality of life. The recommended phase II dose of nafamostat mesilate in combination with full-dose gemcitabine is 4.8 mg/kg.
Intergenerational Interactions in Human Capital Accumulation

This paper considers an economy populated by a sequence of generations who decide over their consumption and investment in human capital of their immediate descendants. In such a framework, we first identify the impact of strategic interactions between consecutive generations on the time path of human capital accumulation. To this end, we characterize the decentralized Markov stationary Nash equilibrium (MSNE) and derive the sufficient conditions for its existence and uniqueness. We then provide sufficient conditions under which human capital accumulation is unambiguously (pointwise) lower in the ``strategic'' equilibrium than under the optimal dynastic policy, and discuss an example where this ordering does not hold. Secondly, we also run a numerical sensitivity analysis to assess the magnitude of discrepancies between the two analyzed cases and discuss the potential implications of overestimation of the human capital role if intergenerational interactions are not accounted for.
Metric Selection in Douglas-Rachford Splitting and ADMM

Recently, several convergence rate results for Douglas-Rachford splitting and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) have been presented in the literature. In this paper, we show linear convergence rate bounds for Douglas-Rachford splitting under strong convexity and smoothness assumptions. We show that these bounds generalize and/or improve on similar bounds in the literature and that the bounds are tight for the class of problems under consideration. For finite dimensional Euclidean problems, we show how the rate bounds depend on the metric that is used in the algorithm. We also show how to select this metric to optimize the bound. Many real-world problems do not satisfy both the smoothness and strongly convexity assumptions. Therefore, we also propose heuristic metric and parameter selection methods to improve the performance of a wider class of problems. The efficiency of the proposed heuristics is confirmed in a numerical example on a model predictive control problem, where improvements of more than one order of magnitude are observed.
Surgically Correctable Morbidity from Male Circumcision: Indications for Specialist Surgical Care in Lagos

Aim/Objective: To determine the pattern of morbidity and outcome among patients referred to the Pediatric Surgery Unit of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) following circumcision. Materials and Methods: Retrospective descriptive study of all patients with complications of circumcision who were managed in LUTH between 2008 and 2010. Results: There were 36 patients. The age range was between 2 days and 9 years (median-3 months). Fifteen cases (42.9%) were due to urethro-cutaneous fistula while there were six cases (16.7%) of postcircumcision bleeding. There were four cases (11.1%) each of partial penile amputation and buried penis. There were also cases of meatal stenosis, penile implantation cyst and glanulo-preputial skin bridge. With respect to the treatment offered, eleven (30.6%) patients had urethroplasty for the urethro-cutaneous fistulae while seven (19.4%) patients had penile refashioning for the buried penis and penile amputation. Appropriate surgical treatments were performed for the other complications. Conclusion: Urethrocutaneous fistula and penile amputation are the commonest complications of circumcision for which referral is made to LUTH. Treatment outcome was satisfactory. Health education and legislation to ensure procedure is performed by qualified medical and paramedical staff may reduce the morbidity.
Testing Adaptive Hypotheses of Convergence with Functional Landscapes: A Case Study of Bone-Cracking Hypercarnivores

Morphological convergence is a well documented phenomenon in mammals, and adaptive explanations are commonly employed to infer similar functions for convergent characteristics. I present a study that adopts aspects of theoretical morphology and engineering optimization to test hypotheses about adaptive convergent evolution. Bone-cracking ecomorphologies in Carnivora were used as a case study. Previous research has shown that skull deepening and widening are major evolutionary patterns in convergent bone-cracking canids and hyaenids. A simple two-dimensional design space, with skull width-to-length and depth-to-length ratios as variables, was used to examine optimized shapes for two functional properties: mechanical advantage (MA) and strain energy (SE). Functionality of theoretical skull shapes was studied using finite element analysis (FEA) and visualized as functional landscapes. The distribution of actual skull shapes in the landscape showed a convergent trend of plesiomorphically low-MA and moderate-SE skulls evolving towards higher-MA and moderate-SE skulls; this is corroborated by FEA of 13 actual specimens. Nevertheless, regions exist in the landscape where high-MA and lower-SE shapes are not represented by existing species; their vacancy is observed even at higher taxonomic levels. Results highlight the interaction of biomechanical and non-biomechanical factors in constraining general skull dimensions to localized functional optima through evolution.
Mining the Network of the Programmers: A Data-Driven Analysis of GitHub

GitHub is a worldwide popular website for version control and source code management. In addition, since its users can follow each other, it also forms a professional social network of millions of users. In this work, we perform a data-driven study for analyzing the GitHub network. By introducing a distributed crawling framework, we first collect profiles and behavioral data of more than 2 million GitHub users. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest and latest public dataset of GitHub. Then, we build the social graph of these users and conduct a thorough analysis of the network structure. Moreover, we investigate the user behavior patterns, particularly the patterns of the "commit" activities. Finally, we utilize machine learning methods to discover important users in the network with a high accuracy and a low overhead. Our inspiring findings are helpful for GitHub to provide better services for its users.
The use of big data analytics in the retail industries in South Africa

The majority of publications around big data analytics are centred on technical algorithms or systems development. While research has been conducted on the use of big data analytics there is an apparent lack of studies which focus on industry-specific usage in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to assess the usage of big data analytics in the retail industries in South Africa. The benefits of using big data analytics are not specific to a particular industry. Retailers, for example, can use big data analytics to gain new insights about their customers in order to inform decision making around pricing and marketing. The usage of big data analytics was assessed by collecting data from interviews with retailers, big data vendors and professional services. The main finding of the study was that South African retailers are not using big data analytics. Some retailers are, however, using big data analytic platforms to improve the speed of processing large amounts of structured data and to deliver information cost effectively. The findings show that South African retailers find it difficult to identify a use case to justify the investment required for using big data analytics. Key words: Big data, data analytics, retail industry.
The effects of gage length and strain rate on tensile behavior of Kevlar® 29 single filament and yarn

The mechanical properties of Kevlar® 29 single filaments and yarns with different gage lengths were investigated by utilizing an MTI miniature tester and an MTS load frame. Single yarns of 25 mm were also tested over four different strain rates using a drop-weight impact system. The experimental results showed that the mechanical properties of Kevlar® 29 are sensitive to gage length, structural size scale, and strain rate. The tensile strength decreased with increasing gage length and the structural scale from fiber to yarn, and increased with increasing strain rate. Weibull analysis was conducted to quantify the degree of variability in tensile strength. The obtained Weibull parameters were then used in an analytical model to simulate the stress–strain response of single yarn. Finally, Weibull parameters of single filaments with other gage lengths and strain rates were also obtained by fitting the stress–strain curves of single yarns with corresponding testing conditions.
Strengths and Limitations of Model Systems for the Study of Urinary Tract Infections and Related Pathologies

SUMMARY Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are some of the most common bacterial infections worldwide and are a source of substantial morbidity among otherwise healthy women. UTIs can be caused by a variety of microbes, but the predominant etiologic agent of these infections is uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). An especially troubling feature of UPEC-associated UTIs is their high rate of recurrence. This problem is compounded by the drastic increase in the global incidence of antibiotic-resistant UPEC strains over the past 15 years. The need for more-effective treatments for UTIs is driving research aimed at bettering our understanding of the virulence mechanisms and host-pathogen interactions that occur during the course of these infections. Surrogate models of human infection, including cell culture systems and the use of murine, porcine, avian, teleost (zebrafish), and nematode hosts, are being employed to define host and bacterial factors that modulate the pathogenesis of UTIs. These model systems are revealing how UPEC strains can avoid or overcome host defenses and acquire scarce nutrients while also providing insight into the virulence mechanisms used by UPEC within compromised individuals, such as catheterized patients. Here, we summarize our current understanding of UTI pathogenesis while also giving an overview of the model systems used to study the initiation, persistence, and recurrence of UTIs and life-threatening sequelae like urosepsis. Although we focus on UPEC, the experimental systems described here can also provide valuable insight into the disease processes associated with other bacterial pathogens both within the urinary tract and elsewhere within the host.
Social Control of Healthy Behavior Between Intimate College Students

Abstract Objective: The author examined whether the type of intimacy (ie, emotional, intellectual, sexual, social, recreational) featured in college students’ romantic relationships affects the extent to which a partner's health-related behavior may be influenced by a variety of behavior change appeals. Participants: One hundred and thirteen female and 94 male college students were surveyed. Methods: A questionnaire sought demographic information and included 2 scales to determine intimacy type levels and estimated responses to behavior change appeals. Results: It was determined that emotional and intellectual intimacy had the greatest effects on compliance estimates. The liking strategy was rated as generally most effective, whereas caring fared better in highly intimate relationships, and both threat and responsibility appeals functioned better in relationships featuring lower levels of intimacy. Conclusions: When appropriately qualified as initial findings, the outcomes may suggest routes to successfully inspiring particular health behavior changes, especially among partners in emotionally and intellectually intimate relationships.
Clinical Word Sense Disambiguation with Interactive Search and Classification

Resolving word ambiguity in clinical text is critical for many natural language processing applications. Effective word sense disambiguation (WSD) systems rely on training a machine learning based classifier with abundant clinical text that is accurately annotated, the creation of which can be costly and time-consuming. We describe a double-loop interactive machine learning process, named ReQ-ReC (ReQuery-ReClassify), and demonstrate its effectiveness on multiple evaluation corpora. Using ReQ-ReC, a human expert first uses her domain knowledge to include sense-specific contextual words into the ReQuery loops and searches for instances relevant to the senses. Then, in the ReClassify loops, the expert only annotates the most ambiguous instances found by the current WSD model. Even with machine-generated queries only, the framework is comparable with or faster than current active learning methods in building WSD models. The process can be further accelerated when human experts use their domain knowledge to guide the search process.