Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi-analyte profiling and pathway analysis of plasma for proteins associated with cancer-related fatigue syndrome in disease-free breast cancer patients after primary treatment

Context A significant number of women treated for breast cancer develop long-term fatigue afterwards. Previous research has suggested that fatigue may be due to a prolonged inflammatory response. However, there are conflicting results and the exact nature of the disturbance remains unclear. Objectives To identify inflammatory markers associated with fatigue. Methods We recruited women from a breast cancer follow-up clinic and categorised them on the basis of a diagnostic interview as to whether they met the criteria for cancer-related fatigue syndrome (cases) or not (controls). We took plasma samples from each participant to analyse subsequently using a panel of 88 biological markers. Results 90 samples were analysed in total (45 cases and 45 controls). A factorial analysis of variance (using age as a fixed factor) demonstrated a number of differences in inflammatory cytokines. There were 28 significantly different analytes in total. Granulocyte colony stimulating factor was the most significantly different analyte (p<0.001). Many of the significant analytes were chemokine ligands found to be linked through an inflammatory pathway promoting T-cell and granulocyte production and activation. Conclusions Our results add further weight to the hypothesis that cancer-related fatigue syndrome is associated with an increased pro-inflammatory immune response. Our findings indicate that these cytokine changes could underpin the subjective symptoms, such as perceived muscle weakness and concentration difficulties, experienced by women who feel fatigued after treatment.
Hypoprolactinemia: a new clinical syndrome in patients with sexual dysfunction.

INTRODUCTION The physiological role of prolactin (PRL) in male sexual behavior is poorly understood. Conversely, the association between PRL pathological elevation in both reproductive and sexual behavior is well defined. AIM The aim of the present study is to assess the correlates of normal PRL (PRL < 735 mU/L or 35 ng/mL), in male subjects consulting for sexual dysfunction. METHODS A consecutive series of 2,531 (mean age 52.0 +/- 12.9 years) subjects was investigated. Patients were interviewed using the structured interview on erectile dysfunction (SIEDY), a 13-item tool for the assessment of erectile dysfunction (ED)-related morbidities. Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire was used for the evaluation of psychological symptoms. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Several hormonal (testosterone, thyroid stimulation hormone, and PRL) and biochemical parameters (glycemia and lipid profile) were studied, along with penile Doppler ultrasound (PDU) and SIEDY items. RESULTS After adjustment for confounders anxiety symptoms decreased across PRL quartiles (I: <113 mU/L or 5 ng/mL; II: 113-156 mU/L or 5.1-7 ng/mL; III: 157-229 mU/L or 7.1-11 ng/mL; IV: 229-734 mU/L or 11.1-34.9 ng/mL). Patients in the lowest PRL quartile showed a higher risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS; odds ratio [OR] = 1.74 [1.01-2.99], P < 0.05), arteriogenic ED (peak systolic velocity at PDU < 35 cm/sec; OR = 1.43 [1.01-2.03], P < 0.05), and premature ejaculation (PE; OR = 1.38 [1.02-1.85]; P < 0.05). Conversely, comparing subjects with PRL-secreting pituitary adenomas (N = 13) with matched controls, no significant difference was observed, except for a higher prevalence of hypoactive sexual desire in hyperprolactinemia. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrate that, in subjects consulting for sexual dysfunction, PRL in the lowest quartile levels are associated with MetS and arteriogenic ED, as well as with PE and anxiety symptoms. Further studies are advisable in order to confirm our preliminary results in different populations.
Statistical distribution of amino acid sequences: a proof of Darwinian evolution

MOTIVATION The article presents results of the listing of the quantity of amino acids, dipeptides and tripeptides for all proteins available in the UNIPROT-TREMBL database and the listing for selected species and enzymes. UNIPROT-TREMBL contains protein sequences associated with computationally generated annotations and large-scale functional characterization. Due to the distinct metabolic pathways of amino acid syntheses and their physicochemical properties, the quantities of subpeptides in proteins vary. We have proved that the distribution of amino acids, dipeptides and tripeptides is statistical which confirms that the evolutionary biodiversity development model is subject to the theory of independent events. It seems interesting that certain short peptide combinations occur relatively rarely or even not at all. First, it confirms the Darwinian theory of evolution and second, it opens up opportunities for designing pharmaceuticals among rarely represented short peptide combinations. Furthermore, an innovative approach to the mass analysis of bioinformatic data is presented. CONTACT eitner@amu.edu. pl SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Regional Delivery Model for the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality

Australia’s environmental and productive natural resources are among its most precious assets. As well as providing water, food and clothing, natural resources provide habitat for our unique plants and animals and the landscape that helps to define our image of Australia. In 1996, the Australia: State of the Environment report commented that [European settlement] has resulted in the introduction of many practices that. ’have radically altered and degraded much of the Australian landscape’.
An Empirical Validation of Excellent Work Culture Scales: Evidence From Selected Established Higher Education Institutions in West Malaysia

This study argues that the components of excellent work culture (EWC) since its emergence in the 1980s in the Malaysian public sector were not empirically validated. Therefore, the purpose of this empirical study is to validate instrument and the factor structure of the underlying dimensions of EWC in higher education institutions (HEIs) in West Malaysia. The study sampled 1068 faculty members of eight selected HEIs. The results reveal that the EWC two-factor model fitted the observed data; CFI=. 97, TLI=. 97, NFI=. 97, χ2/df=4.92, RMSEA=. 08 and SRMR=. 01. Moreover, the results provide psychometric evidence of composite reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument validated. This study is deemed as an initiative in validating the psychometric properties of the scales. Theoretically, the study has marked a new direction in the positive work culture settings by devising empirical quantitative measures adding to the conceptual body of EWC. Practically, the findings have practical implications for policy makers in the education sector, both public and private with particular reference to establishing a more conducive work environment, which helps workforce performance and productivity at tertiary level to coexist effectively.
Sparse Fast Fourier Transform by downsampling

Sparse Fast Fourier Transform (sFFT) [1][2], has been recently proposed to outperform FFT in reducing computational complexity. Assume that an input signal of length N in the frequency domain is K-sparse, where K ≤ N. sFFT costs O(K logN) instead of O(N logN) in FFT. In this paper, a new fast sFFT algorithm is proposed and costs O(K logK) averagely without any operations being related to N. The idea is to downsample the original input signal at the beginning. Subsequent processing operates under downsampled signals, which length is proportional to O(K). However, downsampling possibly leads to “aliasing. ” By shift theorem of DFT, the aliasing problem can be formulated as the “Moment-preserving problem. ” In addition, a top-down iterative strategy combined with different downsampling factors further saves computational costs. Complexity analysis and experimental results show that our method outperforms FFT and sFFT.
(R)-3,4,5-Trideoxy-5,6-didehydro-1,2-O-(2,2,2-trichloroethylidene)-α-d-glucofuranose-6,3-carbolactone: a new derivative of α-chloralose

The title compound [systematic name: (R)-2-trichloromethyl-3a,3b,7a,8a-tetrahydro-5H-pyrano[2′,3′:4,5]furano[2,3-d][1,3]dioxol-5-one], C9H7Cl3O5, a triyclic system that contains a central α-d-furanose ring cis-fused with a dioxolane ring as well as a δ-lactone ring, exhibits a twisted conformation. The CCl3 group has an axial orientation. The furanose ring approximates an envelope conformation due to the α,β-unsaturated lactone functionality. The asymmetric unit contains two independent molecules with almost identical geometries.
Epidemic dissemination algorithms in large-scale networks: comparison and adaption to topologies. (Algorithmes de dissémination épidémiques dans les réseaux à grande échelle : comparaison et adaptation aux topologies)

Information dissemination (broadcast) is essential for numerous distributed applications. This must be efficient, which limits the message redundancy, and ensures high reliability as well as low latency. We consider here the distributed algorithms that benefitting from the properties of the underlying topologies. Nonetheless, these properties and the parameters in the algorithms are heterogeneous. Thus, we should find a method to fairly compare them. First of all, we study the probabilistic protocols for information dissemination (gossip) executed over three random graphs. The three graphs represent the typical topologies of large-scale topologies: Bernoulli graph, the random geometric graph, and scale-free graph. In order to fairly compare their performance, we propose a new generic parameter: effectual fanout. For a given topology and algorithm, the effectual fanout characterizes the mean dissemination power of infected sites. Furthermore, it simplifies the theoretical comparison of different algorithms over one topology. After having understood the impact of topologies and algorithms on the performance, we propose an efficient reliable algorithm for scale-free topologies.
Monocyte depletion prior to intracerebral hemorrhage worsens cognitive and motor outcome

A number of studies have cited immune cell infiltration as a mechanism for secondary injury following intracerebral hemorrhage. However, the role of monocytes remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that monocytes are a beneficial cell type that help remove extravasated blood and other pathogenic substances that enter brain parenchymal tissue during a hemorrhagic stroke. Using macrophage Fas-induced apoptosis (MAFIA) mice, this study documents a time course of monocyte infiltration into brain tissue. We then systemically knocked down monocytes prior to initiating an intracerebral hemorrhage, and studied the motor and cognitive outcomes relative to a vehicle treated group. The genetic alteration present in MAFIA mice causes the co-expression of green fluorescent protein and a suicide protein, exclusively in monocytes and dendritic cells. We established a time course of monocyte infiltration by counting cells expressing green fluorescent protein in brain parenchymal tissue at four time points after initiating a severe collagenase-induced hemorrhage. We found that at the 48-hour time point there was a v significant increase of immune cells infiltrating the core of the lesion relative to that observed at 6 hours and 24 hours, and non-significant decline at the 7-day time point. Furthermore, the administration of AP20187 to MAFIA mice causes the dimerization of the suicide proteins, which initiates Fas-induced apoptosis selectively in cells expressing the suicide protein. By administering10uL of AP20187 per animal for four consecutive days, we were able to knockdown monocytes both systemically and in brain parenchymal tissue following hemorrhage. To investigate the role of monocytes following intracerebral hemorrhage, we compared a monocyte-depleted group of MAFIA mice to a vehicle-treated group. Both groups underwent a collagenase-induced hemorrhage, and then were subjected to wire grip testing and Morris Water Maze. The group of monocyte-depleted MAFIA mice performed worse in wire grip testing (p < 0.02), as well as in the Morris Water Maze test (p < 0.01). Through the course of the 3week experiment there was 50% mortality in the monocyte-depleted group, while no animals died in the vehicle treated group. Both of the functional studies and the mortality data suggest that monocytes play an important role following intracerebral hemorrhage. The infiltration data suggests that monocytes are recruited to parenchymal tissue after 6 and 24 hours following hemorrhage and remain present for at least one week. This time fame offers a large window for therapeutic modulation of monocyte recruitment and/or function. Future studies should focus on identifying monocytes’ mechanisms of action, as well as improving the MAFIA mouse model by controlling for the weight loss and the cause of profound splenomegaly observed in the monocyte-depleted group.
The Role of Drama in Enhancing Life Skills in Children with Specific Learning Difficulties in a Mumbai School: My Reflective Account

This thesis is a reflective account of an action research project set in a drama classroom. It is a multi-voiced patchwork text which is created and built imaginatively to re-present my students and my experience in the drama classroom.On one level it deals with the question ‘How can drama be used to enhance life skills in children with specific learning disabilities studying in a school in Mumbai? ’ On the second level it is related to the question ‘How can I improve my practice? ’ This research is concerned with a teacher’s capacity to recognise and realise the opportunity of an alternate reality in teaching. The reality of loving and caring for the students. The reality of an empathetic, compassionate, just and democratic classroom. The foundation of this study was laid when I saw the children in need suffer due to insensitive teaching practices and uncooperative peers and family. I was concerned with the trauma faced by students in the prevalent educational setting in India. I believe that what I do in education should help make changes for the better in our society. Life skills enhancement, in my understanding, was a way to alleviate the stress the children experienced seeing that life skill education promotes mental well-being in young people and behavioural preparedness. As a drama teacher I see drama as tool for education. It is a natural vehicle for explorative and experiential learning. The aim of my thesis is to describe and reflect on the learning process and the context in which it occurs. I present the critical points with close analysis of the choices made by me as I taught my pupils using drama as a learning medium. Additionally, this study investigates the influences of action research on my practice and the impact of engaging in the stages of action research which provided me with a methodical structure for implementing and analyzing the teaching and the learning process. This defined structure guided me through systematic and conscious data collection, data analysis, and reflection. The data is composed of classroom observations and transcripts, a collection of the students and my work and interviews with their schoolteachers and parents. The main objective of this research was to enable a gain in positive behavioural intentions and improved psychosocial competence in children. This was accomplished through augmentation of creativity, emotional understanding and development, improved self-esteem and a notion of the joy of autonomy to enable the students to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.
Potent in vitro and in vivo anticancer activities of des-methyl, des-amino pateamine A, a synthetic analogue of marine natural product pateamine A

We report here that des-methyl, des-amino pateamine A (DMDA-PatA), a structurally simplified analogue of the marine natural product pateamine A, has potent antiproliferative activity against a wide variety of human cancer cell lines while showing relatively low cytotoxicity against nonproliferating, quiescent human fibroblasts. DMDA-PatA retains almost full in vitro potency in P-glycoprotein-overexpressing MES-SA/Dx5-Rx1 human uterine sarcoma cells that are significantly resistant to paclitaxel, suggesting that DMDA-PatA is not a substrate for P-glycoprotein-mediated drug efflux. Treatment of proliferating cells with DMDA-PatA leads to rapid shutdown of DNA synthesis in the S phase of the cell cycle. Cell-free studies show that DMDA-PatA directly inhibits DNA polymerases α and γ in vitro albeit at concentrations considerably higher than those that inhibit cell proliferation. DMDA-PatA shows potent anticancer activity in several human cancer xenograft models in nude mice, including significant regressions observed in the LOX and MDA-MB-435 melanoma models. DMDA-PatA thus represents a promising natural product-based anticancer agent that warrants further investigation. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(5):1250–60]
Email encryption using hybrid cryptosystem based on Android

The 21st Century is often called the Information Century. Information technology is being used in all areas of life from medicine to astronomy. The list of developments and advances happened in those areas thanks to information technology penetration is endless. As the world become digitized more and more and information technology becomes ubiquitous, creating electronic and digital phenomena such as digital economy, e-democracy, e-government, e-business, e-bank, e-health system, e-education, even e-agriculture, traditional illegal activities are penetrating into the virtual world as well. As a result, an entirely new type of criminal activities has emerged threatening the security and integrity of the system, network, and information. In case of a system error, it can be fixed after a certain amount of time, but how about information security? This is becoming one of the most important problems. There is classified information that can have implications on national level. Even the best encryption and highest security firewalls can be breached to delete, steal, or change such protected information. Therefore, we need implementing hybrid cryptosystem. This paper focus on securing e-mail communication on Android OS by using the hybrid cryptosystem which is a combination of symmetric, public key encryption system and hash function.
Model compression as constrained optimization, with application to neural nets. Part II: quantization

We consider the problem of deep neural net compression by quantization: given a large, reference net, we want to quantize its real-valued weights using a codebook with $K$ entries so that the training loss of the quantized net is minimal. The codebook can be optimally learned jointly with the net, or fixed, as for binarization or ternarization approaches. Previous work has quantized the weights of the reference net, or incorporated rounding operations in the backpropagation algorithm, but this has no guarantee of converging to a loss-optimal, quantized net. We describe a new approach based on the recently proposed framework of model compression as constrained optimization \citep{Carreir17a}. This results in a simple iterative "learning-compression" algorithm, which alternates a step that learns a net of continuous weights with a step that quantizes (or binarizes/ternarizes) the weights, and is guaranteed to converge to local optimum of the loss for quantized nets. We develop algorithms for an adaptive codebook or a (partially) fixed codebook. The latter includes binarization, ternarization, powers-of-two and other important particular cases. We show experimentally that we can achieve much higher compression rates than previous quantization work (even using just 1 bit per weight) with negligible loss degradation.
Estimating Better Left-Right Positions Through Statistical Scaling of Manual Content Analysis

Borrowing from automated “text as data” approaches, we show how statistical scaling models can be applied to hand-coded content analysis to improve estimates of political parties’ leftright policy positions. We apply a Bayesian item-response theory (IRT) model to category counts from coded party manifestos, treating the categories as “items” and policy positions as a latent variable. This approach also produces direct estimates of how each policy category relates to left-right ideology, without having to decide these relationships in advance based on out of sample fitting, political theory, assertion, or guesswork. This approach not only prevents the misspecification endemic to a fixed-index approach, but also works well even with items that are not specifically designed to measure ideological positioning.
Emotional Coherence in Primary School Headship

This article reflects on emotion and leadership. It views emotions as the language of relationships, because it is through the language and experience of emotion that we contextualize not only our individuality but also our sense of belonging in a group. The article argues that emotion is inherent to the practice of leadership rather than separate from it, and all organizing actions are inseparable from and influenced by emotion. It is not enough for a leader to acknowledge the inherent emotions in the culture of an organization; s/he has to make them explicit through their own leadership. The article argues that the headteacher needs to understand the interconnectedness between their emotions and the affective relationships in the school. Finally, it introduces the idea of emotional coherence as a means of conceptualising emotion in primary schools.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FOUR SZE-SELECTED GALAXY CLUSTERS IN THE SOUTHERN COSMOLOGY SURVEY

We present the optical and X-ray properties of four clusters recently discovered by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) using the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect (SZE). The four clusters are located in one of the common survey areas of the southern sky that is also being targeted by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and imaged by the CTIO Blanco 4 m telescope. Based on publicly available griz optical images and XMM-Newton and ROSAT X-ray observations, we analyze the physical properties of these clusters and obtain photometric redshifts, luminosities, richness, and mass estimates. Each cluster contains a central elliptical whose luminosity is consistent with SDSS cluster studies. Our mass estimates are well above the nominal detection limit of the SPT and ACT; the new SZE clusters are very likely massive systems with M ≳ 5 × 1014 M☉.
A systematic review of the use of aromatherapy in treatment of behavioral problems in dementia

We aimed to fill the literature gap by identifying the clinical benefits of aromatherapy in older adults with dementia, and its efficacy in reducing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) based on available randomized controlled trials (RCT). A systematic review of 11 clinical trials shortlisted from electronic databases from 1995 to 2011 was carried out. The RCT showed that aromatherapy had positive effects on reduction of BPSD, improvement in cognitive functions, increasing quality of life, enhancing independence of activities of daily living and so on. However, adverse effects were noted in some studies. Limitations on methodology are discussed and suggestions on directions of further studies are made. It is recommended that aromatherapy shows the potential to be applied as a therapeutic and safe complementary and alternative therapy for the management of BPSD on more evidence collected from better designed RCT. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2012; 12: 372–382.