Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Burden Experience of Caregivers of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Impact of Coping and Spirituality

Background: When a child is diagnosed with cancer the parents as caregivers experience severe anxiety, trauma, ambiguity, and grief. Caregivers of cancer patients thus deal with the management of their own psychological distress along with the child's illness. Aim: Coping plays a crucial role in improving the caregivers' physical and emotional well-being. Spirituality is an important means of consolation, strength, and emotional support during this phase. The present study aims to investigate the impact of coping and spirituality on caregiver burden. Methods: A total of 100 caregivers of children between the age group of 3–11 years, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were the participants of the study. The participants were recruited from cancer hospitals in Hyderabad. The study adopted a between-group design to find out if mothers and fathers differed in their coping strategies, spirituality, and caregiver burden. The study also adopted a correlation design to find the relationship between coping, spirituality, and caregiver burden. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted to identify if coping and spirituality predict caregiver burden. Results: The results showed no significant difference in the burden experienced by both mothers and fathers; however, mothers and fathers used different coping strategies and differed on the dimensions of spirituality. The results of multiple linear regression indicated that dimensions of coping and spirituality were significant predictors of caregiver burden. Conclusion: Cancer in the child impacts the parent's burden but providing sufficient support and implementing effective coping strategies, will help in mitigating the intensity of caregiver burden. It is essential that the hospital authorities and policymakers understand that a professional health psychologist could be a liaison between the doctor, patient, and the caregiver in bringing down the levels of burden and psychological distress in caregivers as well as patients.
Supervised Deep-Autoencoder for Depth Image-Based 3D Model Retrieval

Depth image based 3D model retrieval faces challenges of occlusion, noise, and view variability present in depth images. In this work, we study a new supervised deep autoencoder for depth image-based 3D model retrieval. We investigate both supervised and unsupervised approaches to bring synthetic depth images rendered from 3D models and real depth images in the same feature space. We show that providing appropriate supervision in back propagation of the autoencoder can help the retrieval performance. The key novelty is the new objective function where supervised classification information is combined with the reconstruction error for joint optimization. It is interesting to manifest that, unlike any other pairwise model structures, crossdomain retrieval is still possible using only one single deep network in our model. We have evaluated the effectiveness of our model on NYUD2 depth image dataset and Model-Net10 models for ten indoor object categories. We have rendered 95 different views for each 3D model and found that training rendered and real depth images together is an effective way to bridge the gap between 3D models and depth data. The proposed supervised method outperforms the recent pairwise approach.
Females manipulate behavior of caring males via prenatal maternal effects

Significance In biparental species, sexual conflict arises as each parent attempts to minimize its personal effort. Most work has focused on how this conflict is resolved through symmetrical decisions between parents. We investigated whether females can influence male decisions by altering the offspring’s phenotype via the eggs. We manipulated the prenatal presence of the male, performed a cross-fostering experiment, and monitored the subsequent effects on offspring and parent performance. Offspring laid in presence of a male were smaller at hatching. In addition, males lost more weight when with larvae laid in presence of a male. Our results show that females can manipulate male behavior, suggesting that prenatal maternal effects can play an important role in the resolution of sexual conflict between parents. In species with biparental care, there is sexual conflict as each parent is under selection to minimize its personal effort by shifting as much as possible of the workload over to the other parent. Most theoretical and empirical work on the resolution of this conflict has focused on strategies used by both parents, such as negotiation. However, because females produce the eggs, this might afford females with an ability to manipulate male behavior via maternal effects that alter offspring phenotypes. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated the prenatal conditions (i.e., presence or absence of the male), performed a cross-fostering experiment, and monitored the subsequent effects of prenatal conditions on offspring and parental performance in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We found that offspring were smaller at hatching when females laid eggs in presence of a male, suggesting that females invest less in eggs when expecting male assistance. Furthermore, broods laid in the presence of a male gained more weight during parental care, and they did so at the expense of male weight gain. Contrary to our expectations, males cared less for broods laid in the presence of a male. Our results provide experimental evidence that females can alter male behavior during breeding by adjusting maternal effects according to prenatal conditions. However, rather than increasing the male’s parental effort, females appeared to suppress the male’s food consumption, thereby leaving more food for their brood.
Resilient leadership: A case study about a gay man's journey of coming out and running for public office

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand how the lived experiences of an openly gay male elected official living in the Midwest impacted his journey in running for public office. The aim of this study was to explore how sexual orientation impacted the journey to become a leader. Methodology in this case study included robust interviews with the participant and his colleagues other Iowa State Senators. Observations of the participant took place on the Iowa Senate Floor, speaking at a nongay specific event, and speaking and attending a gay specific event. Finally, collection of secondary data artifacts such as books, newspapers, and articles occurred in the methodology. Senator Matthew McCoy, the participant in this case, was influenced early in his childhood by his parents’ values and the Boy Scouts of America. This influence instilled leadership skills that led him to seek leadership opportunities starting in his childhood but also throughout his life. McCoy experienced misery from being closeted. He finally came out of the closet and continued to serve as an openly gay elected official and developed resiliency. Resiliency might look different for each person, as shown in this case, he was able to come full circle and champion the cause he feared the most, which forms this resilient leadership style. This journey of overcoming adversity including coming out, living authentically, serving as an openly gay elected official and championing the movement that contributes to resilient leadership.
High Level of Tobacco Carcinogen–Derived DNA Damage in Oral Cells Is an Independent Predictor of Oral/Head and Neck Cancer Risk in Smokers

Exposure to tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is recognized to play an important role in the development of oral/head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). We recently reported higher levels of TSNA-associated DNA adducts in the oral cells of smokers with HNSCC as compared with cancer-free smokers. In this study, we further investigated the tobacco constituent exposures in the same smokers to better understand the potential causes for the elevated oral DNA damage in smokers with HNSCC. Subjects included cigarette smokers with HNSCC (cases, n = 30) and cancer-free smokers (controls, n = 35). At recruitment, tobacco/alcohol use questionnaires were completed, and urine and oral cell samples were obtained. Analysis of urinary 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) and N'-Nitrosonornicotine (NNN; TSNA biomarkers), 1-hydroxypyrene (1-HOP, a PAH), cotinine, 3′-hydroxycotinine, and the nicotine metabolite ratio (NMR) were performed. Cases and controls differed in mean age, male preponderance, and frequency of alcohol consumption (but not total alcoholic drinks). Univariate analysis revealed similar levels of NNN, 1-HOP, and cotinine between groups but, as reported previously, significantly higher DNA adduct formation in the cases. Multiple regression adjusting for potential confounders showed persistent significant difference in DNA adduct levels between cases and controls [ratio of geometric means, 20.0; 95% CI, 2.7–148.6). Our cohort of smokers with HNSCC demonstrates higher levels of TSNA-derived oral DNA damage in the setting of similar exposure to nicotine and tobacco carcinogens. Among smokers, DNA adduct formation may act as a predictor of eventual development of HNSCC that is independent of carcinogen exposure indicators. Cancer Prev Res; 10(9); 507–13. ©2017 AACR. See related editorial by Johnson and Bauman, p. 489
An Analysis of the Technology Acceptance Model in Understanding Students' Behavioral Intention to Use University's Social Media

Many universities implement social media for various reasons. It is obvious that the number of social media opportunities provided by universities continue to grow in Thailand. Recently, universities have begun incorporating these social media tools such as Facebook and Line into their marketing mix to connect with everyone, from prospective students to alumni. However, little reliable research existed to indicate whether these tools were an appropriate or effective recruitment resource for universities to use. A sample of 350 freshmen university students took part in the research. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to explain the adoption process. The proposed model was developed based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). The result showed that TAM and SEM were efficient theoretical tools to understand students' acceptance of social media.
Character-level Chinese-English Translation through ASCII Encoding

Character-level Neural Machine Translation (NMT) models have recently achieved impressive results on many language pairs. They mainly do well for Indo-European language pairs, where the languages share the same writing system. However, for translating between Chinese and English, the gap between the two different writing systems poses a major challenge because of a lack of systematic correspondence between the individual linguistic units. In this paper, we enable character-level NMT for Chinese, by breaking down Chinese characters into linguistic units similar to that of Indo-European languages. We use the Wubi encoding scheme, which preserves the original shape and semantic information of the characters, while also being reversible. We show promising results from training Wubi-based models on the character- and subword-level with recurrent as well as convolutional models.
The Status That Troubled Me: Re-Examining Work With Black Boys Through a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogical Framework

To understand how one participant “engage[s] in social action to solve problems,” this research utilizes critical narrative analysis to illustrate how researchers may re-enter into critical conversations with participants to interrupt deficit discourses used when describing the lives of Black male youth. This article analyzes the narrative of Teamer—a Black male from the urban south and former student of the researcher—alongside problematic and pervasive discourse to illustrate how individual narratives provide the context for re-examining normalized notions and how participating in critical meta-awareness can interrupt the deficit gaze placed upon Black males.
Involvement of the Septo-Hippocampal Cholinergic Pathway in Association with Septal Acetylcholinesterase Upregulation in a Mouse Model of Tauopathy.

BACKGROUND Cholinergic cell loss in the basal forebrain, the major source of hippocampal cholinergic projections, has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease. OBJECTIVE To examine whether the septohippocampal pathway is involved in tauopathy model mice and to elucidate the tau-associated mechanism underlying cholinergic alteration. METHODS Adult (6 to 8 months old) and old (16 to 18 months old) transgenic mice expressing wild-type human tau, Tg601, were examined using Ex vivo diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) and 2-[18F]fluoro- 2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive neurons in the medial septum (MS) were counted by stereological methods. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and AChE mRNA in 6 brain regions were measured. RESULTS Ex vivo DTI revealed that the number of fractional anisotropy (FA) streamlines in the septohippocampal tract decreased with age in Tg601 mice. The FA value in the septum was lower in old Tg601 mice than in non-tg mice. A voxel-based statistical analysis of FDG-PET revealed the presence of low glucose uptake areas, involving the MS in adults, and spread over regions including the hippocampal dentate gyrus in old mice. In the MS, the number of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive neurons decreased in old Tg601 mice. AChE activity and AChE mRNA T transcripts were exclusively higher in the septum. CONCLUSION The upregulation of AChE in the septum may result in the selective degeneration of the septohippocampal cholinergic pathway in the tauopathy mouse model.
The impact of programme accreditation on Portuguese higher education provision

Abstract The paper analyses the impact of programme accreditation in Portugal further to the operations of the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education, which were initiated in 2009. Tracking the evolution of study programmes, the paper found that, out of the initial 5262 programmes on offer in 2009/2010, 40% have been either discontinued or not accredited as of July 2015. The analysis revealed differences between the private and the public sectors, with higher proportions of discontinuations and closures in the former. For the discipline with the highest percentage of non-accredited programmes (Law), the main reasons for denied accreditation were analysed. The identified reasons were related to a lack of academic quality, for example, the programmes’ lack of compliance with legal requirements regarding teaching staff qualifications and full-time employment, the blurred identity of programmes, undifferentiated between university and polytechnic sectors, or curricular inconsistencies. The paper suggests that the identified reasons are likely to be symptomatic of the quality shortcomings in the provision of higher education programmes in Portugal. The data provide evidence that programme accreditation has had a powerful impact, reducing the number of programmes, increasing the number of PhD holders among teaching staff and raising institutional awareness of quality.
Aflatoxin Binding and Detoxification by Non-Saccharomyces Yeast A New Vista for Decontamination

Aflatoxin is known to be highly carcinogenic polyketide metabolites. Saccharomyces cerevisiae are known to bind to these toxins and help in decontamination.Yeasts other than Saccharomyces predominate in most of the fermented foods. However their binding capacities to these toxins are not known. On screening 3 promising isolates which had high binding affinity were observed. The bound toxins were characterised through LC-MS which indicated the formation of sodium adducts. The isolates were identified as Pichia anomala, Clavispora lusitaniae and Candida tropicalis. Among these strains Candida tropicalis was found to be efficient in aflatoxin binding. These forms are common residents of most of the fermented foods, which pave a new way for the decontamination of aflatoxin. K e y w o r d s Aflatoxin binding, Candida tropicalis, Clavispora lusitaniae, Pichiaanomala
Toward a Greater Understanding of Entrepreneurship and Strategy in the Informal Economy

The informal economy consists of business activities that occur outside of formal institutional boundaries but within the boundaries of informal institutions. A large gap exists between the significant importance of the informal economy to commerce around the world and the small amount of informal economy research with which entrepreneurship and strategic management scholars have been involved. As a step toward filling this gap, this special issue includes four articles with the potential to significantly advance our understanding of business activities within the informal economy. In introducing these four articles, we discuss the myriad activities that fall within the boundaries of the informal economy and distinguish between the institutional foundations of informality in developed versus developing economies. The articles included within the special issue each offer a unique understanding of how entrepreneurs are influenced by and manage their institutional contexts in various informal economy settings, providing contributions that should give rise to a series of promising future research questions. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.
Fascial preadipocytes: another missing piece of the puzzle to understand fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome is a chronic condition causing pain, affecting approximately 0.5%–6% of the developed countries’ population, and on average, 2% of the worldwide population. Despite the large amount of scientific literature available, the FM etiology is still uncertain. The diagnosis is based on the clinical presentation and the severity of the symptomatology. Several studies pointed out pathological alterations within the central nervous system, suggesting that FM could originate from a central sensitization of the pain processing centers. Research supports the thesis of a peripheral neuropathic component, with the finding of axonal damages. The fibromyalgia patient has many myofascial system abnormalities, such as pain and fatigue, impairing the symptomatic profile. This paper revises the myopathic compensations, highlighting the possible role of the fascia in generating symptoms, being aware of the new information about the fascia’s activity in stimulating inflammation and fat cell production.
Predicting rates of in vivo degradation of recombinant spider silk proteins

Developing fundamental tools and insight into biomaterial designs for predictive functional outcomes remains critical for the field. Silk is a promising candidate as a biomaterial for tissue engineering scaffolds, particularly where high mechanical loads or slow rates of degradation are desirable. Although bioinspired synthetic spider silks are feasible biomaterials for this purpose, insight into how well the degradation rate can be programmed by fine tuning the sequence remains to be determined. Here we integrated experimental approaches and computational modelling to investigate the degradation of two bioengineered spider silk block copolymers, H(AB)2 and H(AB)12, which were designed based on the consensus domains of Nephila clavipes dragline silk. The effect of protein chain length and secondary structure on degradation was analysed in vivo. The degradation rate of H(AB)12, the silk with longer chain length/higher molecular weight, and higher crystallinity, was slower when compared to H(AB)2. Using full atomistic modelling, it was determined that the faster degradation of H(AB)2 was due to the lower folded molecular structure of the silk and the greater accessibility to solvent. Comparison of the specific surface areas of proteins via modelling showed that higher exposure of random coil and lower exposure of ordered domains in H(AB)2 led to the more reactive silk with a higher degradation rate when compared with H(AB)12, as validated by the experimental results. The study, based on two simple silk designs demonstrated that the control of sequence can lead to programmable degradation rates for these biomaterials, providing a suitable model system with which to study variables in protein polymer design to predict degradation rates in vivo. This approach should reduce the use of animal screening, while also accelerating translation of such biomaterials for repair and regenerative systems. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
T-box Transcription Regulator Tbr2 Is Essential for the Formation and Maintenance of Opn4/Melanopsin-Expressing Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells

Opsin 4 (Opn4)/melanopsin-expressing intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) play a major role in non-image-forming visual system. Although advances have been made in understanding their morphological features and functions, the molecular mechanisms that regulate their formation and survival remain unknown. Previously, we found that mouse T-box brain 2 (Tbr2) (also known as Eomes), a T-box-containing transcription factor, was expressed in a subset of newborn RGCs, suggesting that it is involved in the formation of specific RGC subtypes. In this in vivo study, we used complex mouse genetics, single-cell dye tracing, and behavioral analyses to determine whether Tbr2 regulates ipRGC formation and survival. Our results show the following: (1) Opn4 is expressed exclusively in Tbr2-positive RGCs; (2) no ipRGCs are detected when Tbr2 is genetically ablated before RGC specification; and (3) most ipRGCs are eliminated when Tbr2 is deleted in established ipRGCs. The few remaining ipRGCs display abnormal dendritic morphological features and functions. In addition, some Tbr2-expressing RGCs can activate Opn4 expression on the loss of native ipRGCs, suggesting that Tbr2-expressing RGCs may serve as a reservoir of ipRGCs to regulate the number of ipRGCs and the expression levels of Opn4.
Reduced miR-433 expression is associated with advanced stages and early relapse of colorectal cancer and restored miR-433 expression suppresses the migration, invasion and proliferation of tumor cells in vitro and in nude mice

The expression of microRNA (miR-433) is altered in various types of human cancer. The present study analyzed the prognostic and biological value of miR-433 expression in colorectal cancer using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 125 colorectal tissue specimens (including a test cohort of 40 cases of paired colorectal cancer and adjacent normal mucosae and a confirmation cohort of 85 cases of stage I–III colorectal cancer). In vitro and nude mouse xenograft experiments were subsequently used to assess the effects of miR-433 expression on the regulation of colorectal cancer cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and invasion. The data indicated that miR-433 expression was significantly downregulated in colorectal cancer tissues in the test and confirmation patient cohorts and that low miR-433 expression was associated with advanced tumor stage and early relapse. Furthermore, the restoration of miR-433 expression was able to significantly inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells by inducing G1-S cell cycle arrest, suppressing cyclinD1 and CDK4 expression, and markedly inhibited the migratory and invasive capacities of tumor cells in vitro. The restoration of miR-433 expression or liposome-based delivery of miR-433 mimics suppressed the growth of colorectal cancer cell xenografts in nude mice. In conclusion, miR-433 may be a putative tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer, and the detection of low miR-433 expression will be investigated in further studies as a putative biomarker for the detection of early relapse in patients with colorectal cancer.