Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low level of knowledge of heart attack symptoms and inappropriate anticipated treatment-seeking behaviour among older Chinese: a cross-sectional survey

Background Prehospital delay of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is common globally, and Hong Kong—home of a rapidly ageing Chinese population—is not an exception. Seeking emergency medical care promptly is important for patients. Treatment-seeking behaviours have been shown to be associated with knowledge of AMI symptoms and specific cultural beliefs. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge of AMI symptoms and expected treatment-seeking behaviour among older Chinese in Hong Kong. Methods A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted at the Elderly Health Centres in Hong Kong from March to September 2016. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a structured questionnaire based on previous studies and local adaptations. Results Among 1804 people aged 65 years and above who completed the questionnaire, chest pain (80.2%), palpitations (75.8%) and fainting (71.9%) were the major symptoms recognised as AMI related. Meanwhile, stomach ache (46.9%), coughing (45.4%) and neck pain (40.8%) were recognised as not AMI related. The mean expected discomfort intensity during AMI onset was 7.7 out of 10 (SD=2.1). Regarding the expected treatment-seeking behaviour, seeking non-emergent medical care was the most popular action when AMI symptoms emerged during the day, without chest pain or with lower discomfort intensity, whereas calling an ambulance was the most common option when AMI symptoms emerged at night or with high discomfort intensity. Conclusions To minimise delays in seeking treatment, future health education should focus on increasing the public knowledge of AMI symptoms and the need to call an ambulance during an emergency.
CCR4 is a determinant of melanoma brain metastasis

We previously identified the chemokine receptor CCR4 as part of the molecular signature of melanoma brain metastasis. The aim of this study was to determine the functional significance of CCR4 in melanoma brain metastasis. We show that CCR4 is more highly expressed by brain metastasizing melanoma cells than by local cutaneous cells from the same melanoma. Moreover, we found that the expression of CCR4 is significantly higher in paired clinical specimens of melanoma metastases than in samples of primary tumors from the same patients. Notably, the expression of the CCR4 ligands, Ccl22 and Ccl17 is upregulated at the earliest stages of brain metastasis, and precedes the infiltration of melanoma cells to the brain. In-vitro, CCL17 induced migration and transendothelial migration of melanoma cells. Functionally, human melanoma cells over-expressing CCR4 were more tumorigenic and produced a higher load of spontaneous brain micrometastasis than control cells. Blocking CCR4 with a small molecule CCR4 antagonist in-vivo, reduced the tumorigenicity and micrometastasis formation of melanoma cells. Taken together, these findings implicate CCR4 as a driver of melanoma brain metastasis.
Locality discriminating indexing for document classification

This paper introduces a locality discriminating indexing (LDI) algorithm for document classification. Based on the hypothesis that samples from different classes reside in class-specific manifold structures, LDI seeks for a projection which best preserves the within-class local structures while suppresses the between-class overlap. Comparative experiments show that the proposed method isable to derives compact discriminating document representations for classification.
Adverse Effects of Vincristine Chemotherapy on Cell Changes in Seminiferous Tubules and Cetrorelix GnRH Antagonist Inhibitory Effects in Mice

The present study was designed to determine changes in spermatogenesis in adult mice after an intraperitoneal injection of vincristine. The effect of a GnRH antagonist synchronous to chemotherapy, which might protect spermatogenesis by halting cell division in spermatogenic cells, was also investigated. Method and Materials: A total of 30 adult male mice were studied in three equal groups of ten. In the V group, a single dose of the chemotherapy drug vincristine was injected intraperitonally at 1.5 mg/kg. In the V+C, group, the injection of Cetrorelix was started, and one week before to one week after vincristine injection continued (for 3 weeks). Controls received no treatment. Samples were taken from the testicles, and fixed in Boueins fixative for light microscopy. Results: Comparing the mean number of Sertoli and spermatogony cells and the rate of spermatogenesis index (SI) in the V group with controls showed significant differences, which were not evident in the V+C group. Conclusion: According to the results, the cetrorelix antagonist (GnRH) could largely prevent side effects of vincristine administration regarding seminiferous tubules.
Holdase activity of secreted Hsp70 masks amyloid-β42 neurotoxicity in Drosophila

Significance Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) is a critical protein with many protective activities inside the cell. We demonstrate that forced secretion of Hsp70 is beneficial against the extracellular protein aggregates typical of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Engineering Hsp70 enables its interaction with the amyloid-β42 peptide, the main pathogenic agent in AD. This interaction suppresses amyloid-β toxicity in the eye, reduces cell death in brain neurons, and protects neuronal architecture and function. Interestingly, secreted Hsp70 exerts this protective activity without utilizing its refolding activity and without decreasing the levels and aggregation of amyloid-β42. These results suggest a protective mechanism mediated by direct binding to amyloid-β42, which blocks amyloid-β42 neurotoxicity. We discuss here the potential therapeutic benefits of secreted Hsp70. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent of a large group of related proteinopathies for which there is currently no cure. Here, we used Drosophila to explore a strategy to block Aβ42 neurotoxicity through engineering of the Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), a chaperone that has demonstrated neuroprotective activity against several intracellular amyloids. To target its protective activity against extracellular Aβ42, we added a signal peptide to Hsp70. This secreted form of Hsp70 (secHsp70) suppresses Aβ42 neurotoxicity in adult eyes, reduces cell death, protects the structural integrity of adult neurons, alleviates locomotor dysfunction, and extends lifespan. SecHsp70 binding to Aβ42 through its holdase domain is neuroprotective, but its ATPase activity is not required in the extracellular space. Thus, the holdase activity of secHsp70 masks Aβ42 neurotoxicity by promoting the accumulation of nontoxic aggregates. Combined with other approaches, this strategy may contribute to reduce the burden of AD and other extracellular proteinopathies.
Forgiveness, spirituality and love: thematic analysis of last statements from Death Row, Texas (2002–17)

Background Psychological features associated with execution are not fully understood. Aims To analyse demographics of individuals executed in Texas and investigate whether there has been any change in common themes and psychological factors evident in last statements before execution between 2002 and 2017. Design Analysis of last statements from Death Row, Texas. Methods We (a) studied themes and psychological factors in last statements in Texas between August 2011 and May 2017; and (b) combined our 2011-17 data with our previous data (2002-06 and 2006-11) to present an overall analysis of last statements from 2002 to 2017. Results Between April 2002 and May 2017 (279 executions; 240 last statements), the execution rate in Texas fell from 25 per year to 12; median time on death row increased from 108.5 months to 149.5; median age at execution increased from 38 years to 40.5; and the proportion of offences involving multiple victims rose from 28.4% to 47.1%. The most common themes in last statements were love (78%), spirituality (58%), regret (35%) and apology (35%). The most common psychological factors were identification-egression (51%), unbearable psychological pain (47%) and rejection-aggression (40%). Two themes (forgiveness, use of poetry/literature) and three psychological factors (inability to adjust, interpersonal relations, identification-egression) became less common. Conclusions Between 2002 and 2017, executed prisoners in Texas became fewer and older, spent longer on death row and had committed more serious offences. Themes of love and spirituality were constants, but requests for forgiveness declined.
Guiding bispecific monovalent antibody formation through proteolysis of IgG1 single-chain

ABSTRACT We developed an IgG1 domain-tethering approach to guide the correct assembly of 2 light and 2 heavy chains, derived from 2 different antibodies, to form bispecific monovalent antibodies in IgG1 format. We show here that assembling 2 different light and heavy chains by sequentially connecting them with protease-cleavable polypeptide linkers results in the generation of monovalent bispecific antibodies that have IgG1 sequence, structure and functional properties. This approach was used to generate a bispecific monovalent antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor and the type I insulin-like growth factor receptor that: 1) can be produced and purified using standard IgG1 techniques; 2) exhibits stability and structural features comparable to IgG1; 3) binds both targets simultaneously; and 4) has potent anti-tumor activity. Our strategy provides new engineering opportunities for bispecific antibody applications, and, most importantly, overcomes some of the limitations (e.g., half-antibody and homodimer formation, light chains mispairing, multi-step purification), inherent with some of the previously described IgG1-based bispecific monovalent antibodies.
A Wearable Embedded System for Detecting Accidents while Running

Every year 424,000 fatal accidents occur, they are the second cause of unintentional death after road traffic injuries. The difference between fatal and not fatal accidents often is the presence of other people able to promptly provide first aid or call for help. Unfortunately, even during the practice of group activities (e.g. team sports) an accident can happen when a person is alone or out of sight; thus, the availability of devices able to detect if a serious accident is occurred and consequently arise an alarm to other people is an important issue for the safety of people. Starting from these considerations, in this paper we propose a wearable device able to detect accidents occurring during the practice of running. The device uses a one class SVM trained only on the normal activity and classifies as anomalies all the unknown situations. Then, in order to avoid alarms related to non dangerous events, the output of the classifier is analyzed by an additional stage responsible to detect if the person is or not unconscious after an abnormal event. In the former case an alarm is arisen by the
Development and Validation of a Brief Trauma Screening Measure for Children: The Child Trauma Screen

Objective: Childhood exposure to trauma, including violence and abuse, is a major public health concern that has resulted in increased efforts to promote trauma-informed child-serving systems. Trauma screening is an important component of such trauma-informed systems, yet widespread use of trauma screening is rare in part due to the lack of brief, validated trauma screening measures for children. We describe development and validation of the Child Trauma Screen (CTS), a 10-item screening measure of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms for children consistent with the DSM–5 definition of PTSD. Method: Study 1 describes measure development incorporating analysis to derive items based on existing measures from 1,065 children and caregivers together with stakeholder input to finalize item selection. Study 2 describes validation of the CTS with a clinical sample of 74 children and their caregivers. Results: Results support the CTS as an empirically derived, reliable measure to screen children for trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms with strong convergent, divergent, and criterion validity. Conclusion: The CTS is a promising measure for rapidly and reliably screening children for trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms. Future research is needed to confirm validation and to examine feasibility and utility of its use across various child-serving systems.
A 100V gate driver with sub-nanosecond-delay capacitive-coupled level shifting and dynamic timing control for ZVS-based synchronous power converters

A high-voltage high-speed gate driver to enable synchronous rectifiers with zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) operation is presented in this paper. A capacitive-coupled level-shifter (CCLS) is developed to achieve negligible propagation delay and static current consumption. With only 1 off-chip capacitor, the proposed gate driver possesses strong driving capability and requires no external floating supply for the high-side driving. A dynamic timing control is also proposed not only to enable ZVS operation in the converter for minimizing the capacitive switching loss, but also to eliminate the converter short-circuit power loss. Implemented in a 0. 5μm HV CMOS process, the proposed CCLS of the gate driver can shift up a 5V signal to the 100V DC rail with sub-nanosecond delay, improving the FoM by at least 29 times compared with that of state-of-the-art counterparts. The dynamic dead-time control properly enables ZVS operation in a synchronous buck converter under different input voltages (30V to 100V). The power losses of the high-voltage buck converter are thus greatly reduced under different load currents, achieving a maximum power efficiency improvement of 11.5%.
Hierarchical Model for Zero-shot Activity Recognition using Wearable Sensors

We present a hierarchical framework for zero-shot human-activity recognition that recognizes unseen activities by the combinations of preliminarily learned basic actions and involved objects. The presented framework consists of gaze-guided object recognition module, myo-armband based action recognition module, and the activity recognition module, which combines results from both action and object module to detect complex activities. Both object and action recognition modules are based on deep neural network. Unlike conventional models, the proposed framework does not need retraining for recognition of an unseen activity, if the activity can be represented by a combination of the predefined basic actions and objects. This framework brings competitive advantage to industry in terms of the service-deployment cost. The experimental results showed that the proposed model could recognize three types of activities with precision of 77% and recall rate of 82%, which is comparable to a baseline method based on supervised learning.
The predator and prey behaviors of crabs: from ecology to neural adaptations

ABSTRACT Predator avoidance and prey capture are among the most vital of animal behaviors. They require fast reactions controlled by comparatively straightforward neural circuits often containing giant neurons, which facilitates their study with electrophysiological techniques. Naturally occurring avoidance behaviors, in particular, can be easily and reliably evoked in the laboratory, enabling their neurophysiological investigation. Studies in the laboratory alone, however, can lead to a biased interpretation of an animal's behavior in its natural environment. In this Review, we describe current knowledge – acquired through both laboratory and field studies – on the visually guided escape behavior of the crab Neohelice granulata. Analyses of the behavioral responses to visual stimuli in the laboratory have revealed the main characteristics of the crab's performance, such as the continuous regulation of the speed and direction of the escape run, or the enduring changes in the strength of escape induced by learning and memory. This work, in combination with neuroanatomical and electrophysiological studies, has allowed the identification of various giant neurons, the activity of which reflects most essential aspects of the crabs' avoidance performance. In addition, behavioral analyses performed in the natural environment reveal a more complex picture: crabs make use of much more information than is usually available in laboratory studies. Moreover, field studies have led to the discovery of a robust visually guided chasing behavior in Neohelice. Here, we describe similarities and differences in the results obtained between the field and the laboratory, discuss the sources of any differences and highlight the importance of combining the two approaches. Summary: We discuss a microcircuit of crab giant neurons, identified based on combined field and laboratory studies, which are involved in controlling naturally occurring prey and predator behaviors.
Culturally and linguistically diverse students in speech–language pathology courses: A platform for culturally responsive services

Abstract Purpose: Increasing the proportion of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students and providing intercultural learning opportunities for all students are two strategies identified to facilitate greater access to culturally responsive speech–language pathology services. To enact these strategies, more information is needed about student diversity. This study collected descriptive information about CALD speech–language pathology students in Australia. Method: Cultural and linguistic background information was collected through surveying 854 domestic and international speech-language pathology students from three Australian universities. Students were categorised according to defined or perceived CALD status, international student status, speaking English as an Additional Language (EAL), or speaking a Language Other than English at Home (LOTEH). Result: Overall, 32.1% of students were either defined or perceived CALD. A total of 14.9% spoke EAL and 25.7% identified speaking a LOTEH. CALD students were more likely to speak EAL or a LOTEH than non-CALD students, were prominently from Southern and South-Eastern Asian backgrounds and spoke related languages. Conclusion: Many students reported direct or indirect connections with their cultural heritage and/or contributed linguistic diversity. These students may represent broader acculturative experiences in communities. The sociocultural knowledge and experience of these students may provide intercultural learning opportunities for all students and promote culturally responsive practices.
Is multivisceral resection in locally advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours an acceptable strategy?

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) represent the most common mesenchymal tumour of the gastrointestinal tract. Although the efficacy of targeted therapy cannot be over‐emphasized, surgery remains the only curative primary treatment for patients with localized disease. The median size of GIST at diagnosis is approximately 5–7 cm; however, it is not uncommon for tumours to be as large as 30–40 cm and involving multiple viscera.
Gene methylation as a powerful biomarker for detection and screening of non-small cell lung cancer in blood

DNA methylation has been reported to become a potential powerful tool for cancer detection and diagnosis. However, the possibilities for the application of blood-based gene methylation as a biomarker for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) detection and screening remain unclear. Hence, we performed this meta-analysis to evaluate the value of gene methylation detected in blood samples as a noninvasive biomarker in NSCLC. A total of 28 genes were analyzed from 37 case-control studies. In the genes with more than three studies, we found that the methylation of P16, RASSF1A, APC, RARβ, DAPK, CDH13, and MGMT was significantly associated with risks of NSCLC. The methylation statuses of P16, RASSF1A, APC, RARβ, DAPK, CDH13, and MGMT were not linked to age, gender, smoking behavior, and tumor stage and histology in NSCLC. Therefore, the use of the methylation status of P16, RASSF1A, APC, RARβ, DAPK, CDH13, and MGMT could become a promising and powerful biomarker for the detection and screening of NSCLC in blood in clinical settings. Further large-scale studies with large sample sizes are necessary to confirm our findings in the future.
Reputation Analysis towards Discovery

This work describes the development and the realization of an OSInt solution conducting a supplier risk assessment, focused on the evaluation of suppliers’ reputation starting from publicly available information. The main challenge is represented by the data processing phase that exploits NLP technologies to extract facts, events, and relations from unstructured sources, building the knowledge base for reputational analysis. Several measures have been adopted to provide a satisfactory user experience; however, further integrations are still needed to increase efficiency of the developed solution. Particularly, it is necessary to deepen and improve the analysis over the huge volume of data coming from open sources, enhancing the discovery of all possible relevant information influencing the reputation of the targeted entity.
Supply‐side effects from public insurance expansions: Evidence from physician labor markets

Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) are key sources of coverage for U.S. children. Established in 1997, CHIP allocated $40 billion of federal funds across the first 10 years but continued support required reauthorization. After 2 failed attempts in Congress, CHIP was finally reauthorized and significantly expanded in 2009. Although much is known about the demand-side policy effects, much less is understood about the policy's impact on providers. In this paper, we leverage a unique physician dataset to examine if and how pediatricians responded to the expansion of the public insurance program. We find that newly trained pediatricians are 8 percentage points more likely to subspecialize and as much as 17 percentage points more likely to enter private practice after the law passed. There is also suggestive evidence of greater private practice growth in more rural locations. The sharp supply-side changes that we observe indicate that expanding public insurance can have important spillover effects on provider training and practice choices.