Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Fructose Intake on Serum Uric Acid Vary among Controlled Dietary Trials1234

Hyperuricemia is linked to gout and features of metabolic syndrome. There is concern that dietary fructose may increase uric acid concentrations. To assess the effects of fructose on serum uric acid concentrations in people with and without diabetes, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled feeding trials. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library for relevant trials (through August 19, 2011). Analyses included all controlled feeding trials ≥7 d investigating the effect of fructose feeding on uric acid under isocaloric conditions, where fructose was isocalorically exchanged with other carbohydrate, or hypercaloric conditions, and where a control diet was supplemented with excess energy from fructose. Data were aggregated by the generic inverse variance method using random effects models and expressed as mean difference (MD) with 95% CI. Heterogeneity was assessed by the Q statistic and quantified by I2. A total of 21 trials in 425 participants met the eligibility criteria. Isocaloric exchange of fructose for other carbohydrate did not affect serum uric acid in diabetic and nondiabetic participants [MD = 0.56 μmol/L (95% CI: −6.62, 7.74)], with no evidence of inter-study heterogeneity. Hypercaloric supplementation of control diets with fructose (+35% excess energy) at extreme doses (213–219 g/d) significantly increased serum uric acid compared with the control diets alone in nondiabetic participants [MD = 31.0 mmol/L (95% CI: 15.4, 46.5)] with no evidence of heterogeneity. Confounding from excess energy cannot be ruled out in the hypercaloric trials. These analyses do not support a uric acid-increasing effect of isocaloric fructose intake in nondiabetic and diabetic participants. Hypercaloric fructose intake may, however, increase uric acid concentrations. The effect of the interaction of energy and fructose remains unclear. Larger, well-designed trials of fructose feeding at “real world” doses are needed.
Mutations in the B2 Bradykinin Receptor Reveal a Different Pattern of Contacts for Peptidic Agonists and Peptidic Antagonists*

The B2 bradykinin receptor, a seven-helix transmembrane receptor, binds the inflammatory mediator bradykinin (BK) and the structurally related peptide antagonist HOE-140. The binding of HOE-140 and the binding of bradykinin are mutually exclusive and competitive. Fifty-four site-specific receptor mutations were made. BK's affinity is reduced 2200-fold by F261A, 490-fold by T265A, 60-fold by D286A, and 3-10-fold by N200A, D268A, and Q290A. In contrast, HOE-140 affinity is reduced less than 7-fold by F254A, F261A, Y297A, and Q262A. The almost complete discordance of mutations that affect BK binding versus HOE-140 binding is surprising, but it was paralleled by the effect of single changes in BK and HOE-140. [Ala9]BK and [Ala6]BK are reduced in receptor binding affinity 27,000- and 150-fold, respectively, while [Ala9]HOE-140 affinity is reduced 7-fold and [Ala6]HOE-140 affinity is unchanged. NMR spectroscopy of all of the peptidic analogs of BK or HOE-140 revealed a β-turn at the C terminus. Models of the receptor-ligand complex suggested that bradykinin is bound partially inside the helical bundle of the receptor with the amino terminus emerging from the extracellular side of helical bundle. In these models a salt bridge occurs between Arg9 and Asp286; the models also place Phe8 in a hydrophobic pocket midway through the transmembrane region. Models of HOE-140 binding to the receptor place its β-turn one α-helical turn deeper and closer to helix 7 and helix 1 as compared with bradykinin-receptor complex models.
Statistical Analysis of Gait Rhythm in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

To assess the gait variability in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), we first used the nonparametric Parzen-window method to estimate the probability density functions (PDFs) of stride interval and its two subphases (i.e., swing interval and stance interval). The gait rhythm standard deviation (¿) parameters computed with the PDFs indicated that the gait variability is significantly increased in PD. Signal turns count (STC) was also derived from each outlier-processed gait rhythm time series to serve as a dominant feature, which could be used to characterize the gait variability in PD. Since it was observed that the statistical parameters of swing interval or stance interval were highly correlated with those of stride interval, this article only used the stride interval parameters, i.e., ¿r and STCr , to form the feature vector in the pattern classification experiments. The results evaluated with the leave-one-out cross-validation method demonstrated that the least squares support vector machine with polynomial kernels was able to provide a classification accurate rate of 90.32% and an area (Az) of 0.952 under the receiver operating characteristic curve, both of which were better than the results obtained with the linear discriminant analysis (accuracy: 67.74%, Az: 0.917). The features and the classifiers used in the present study could be useful for monitoring of the gait in PD.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Preparation and characterization of novel lipid nanocapsules of ropivacaine for transdermal delivery

Abstract Ropivacaine, a novel long-acting local anesthetic, has been proved to own superior advantage. However, the application form used in clinic, ropivacaine hydrochloride (Naropin® Injection), which should be administed intravenously, is causing poor patient convenience. The purpose of this study was to formulate ropivacaine (RPV) in lipid nanocapsules (LNCs) and character the potential of LNCs in delivering RPV transdermally to exploit novel external preparation. The RPV-LNCs were successfully prepared by phase inversion technique and the formulation was characterized in terms of size, zeta potential, ex vivo permeation study, and pharmacodynamics. The prepared RPV-LNCs displayed a typical core-shell structure with a narrow size distribution of 62.1 ± 1.7 nm and drug loading of 1.35 ± 0.20%. The results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and X-ray diffraction showed that RPV was in amorphous crystalline state when encapsulated into LNCs. Furthermore, the results of ex vivo permeation study displayed that RPV-LNCs had an improved permeability (349.0 ± 11.5 μg cm−2 versus 161.0 ± 1.3 μg cm−2) compared with free RPV. The results of histopathology study showed that interaction between LNCs and skin could break the close conjugation of corneocyte layers. In the mice writhing test, RPV-LNCs exhibited obvious analgesic effect by both prolonging pain latency and reducing the writhing response with an inhibition rate of 91.3% compared to the control group. In conclusion, RPV-LNCs could be a promising delivery system to encapsulate RPV and deliver RPV for transdermal administration.
Niosome-Encapsulated Gentamicin for Ophthalmic Controlled Delivery

The objective of the present research was to investigate the feasibility of using non-ionic surfactant vesicles (niosomes) as carriers for the ophthalmic controlled delivery of a water soluble local antibiotic; gentamicin sulphate. Niosomal formulations were prepared using various surfactants (Tween 60, Tween 80 or Brij 35), in the presence of cholesterol and a negative charge inducer dicetyl phosphate (DCP) in different molar ratios and by employing a thin film hydration technique. The ability of these vesicles to entrap the studied drug was evaluated by determining the entrapment efficiency %EE after centrifugation and separation of the formed vesicles. Photomicroscopy and transmission electron microscopy as well as particle size analysis were used to study the formation, morphology and size of the drug loaded niosomes. Results showed a substantial change in the release rate and an alteration in the %EE of gentamicin sulphate from niosomal formulations upon varying type of surfactant, cholesterol content and presence or absence of DCP. In-vitro drug release results confirmed that niosomal formulations have exhibited a high retention of gentamicin sulphate inside the vesicles such that their in vitro release was slower compared to the drug solution. A preparation with 1:1:0.1 molar ratio of Tween 60, cholesterol and DCP gave the most advantageous entrapment (92.02% ± 1.43) and release results (Q8h = 66.29% ± 1.33) as compared to other compositions. Ocular irritancy test performed on albino rabbits, showed no sign of irritation for all tested niosomal formulations.
Complexity of Stochastic Branch and Bound Methods for Belief Tree Search in Bayesian Reinforcement Learning

There has been a lot of recent work on Bayesian methods for reinforcement learning exhibiting near-optimal online performance. The main obstacle facing such methods is that in most problems of interest, the optimal solution involves planning in an infinitely large tree. However, it is possible to obtain stochastic lower and upper bounds on the value of each tree node. This enables us to use stochastic branch and bound algorithms to search the tree efficiently. This paper proposes some algorithms and examines their complexity in this setting.
Prognostic Role of Ventricular Ectopic Beats in Systemic Sclerosis: A Prospective Cohort Study Shows ECG Indexes Predicting the Worse Outcome

Background Arrhythmias are frequent in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and portend a bad prognosis, accounting alone for 6% of total deaths. Many of these patients die suddenly, thus prevention and intensified risk-stratification represent unmet medical needs. The major goal of this study was the definition of ECG indexes of poor prognosis. Methods We performed a prospective cohort study to define the role of 24h-ECG-Holter as an additional risk-stratification technique in the identification of SSc-patients at high risk of life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD). One-hundred SSc-patients with symptoms and/or signs suggestive of cardiac involvement underwent 24h-ECG-Holter. The primary end-point was a composite of SCD or need for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Results Fifty-six patients (56%) had 24h-ECG-Holter abnormalities and 24(24%) presented frequent ventricular ectopic beats (VEBs). The number of VEBs correlated with high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) levels and inversely correlated with left-ventricular ejection fraction (LV-EF) on echocardiography. During a mean follow-up of 23.1±16.0 months, 5 patients died suddenly and two required ICD-implantation. The 7 patients who met the composite end-point had a higher number of VEBs, higher levels of hs-cTnT and NT-proBNP and lower LV-EF (p = 0.001 for all correlations). All these 7 patients had frequent VEBs, while LV-EF was not reduced in all and its range was wide. At ROC curve, VEBs>1190/24h showed 100% of sensitivity and 83% of specificity to predict the primary end-point (AUROC = 0.92,p<0.0001). Patients with VEBS>1190/24h had lower LV-EF and higher hs-cTnT levels and, at multivariate analysis, the presence of increased hs-cTnT and of right bundle branch block on ECG emerged as independent predictors of VEBs>1190/24h. None of demographic or disease-related characteristics emerged as predictors of poor outcome. Conclusions VEBS>1190/24h identify patients at high risk of life-threatening arrhythmic complications. Thus, 24h-ECG-Holter should be considered a useful additional risk-stratification test to select SSc-patients at high-risk of SCD, in whom an ICD-implantation could represent a potential life-saving intervention.
Teaching to the strengths and needs of deaf and hard‐of‐hearing children

Deaf and hard‐of‐hearing (DHH) children typically lag behind hearing age‐mates in academic achievement. This paper describes recent findings indicating language and cognitive differences between DHH and hearing students that appear to explain some of their classroom challenges. There is currently only limited evidence with regard to the effectiveness of particular interventions, and thus relatively few are offered here. However, recognition of the language and cognitive differences both between DHH and hearing students and within a population of DHH students suggests opportunities for modification of instructional materials and methods in ways to accommodate DHH students' needs and build on their strengths.
Proactive Behavior in Organizations

Many practitioner-oriented publications argue that managers should be more proactive on the job, and that proactive behavior is an increasingly important component of job performance. Organizational research on the antecedents and consequences of proactive behavior has appeared in several different literatures and has taken different approaches toward defining, measuring, and understanding proactivity. In this article, I review a diverse set of literatures that directly address proactive behavior in organizational contexts. I describe four constructs related to proactive behavior: proactive personality, personal initiative, role breadth self-efficacy, and taking charge. Next, I review six research domains that have explicitly addressed proactive behaviors: socialization, feedback seeking, issue selling, innovation, career management, and certain kinds of stress management. After considering findings from these research streams, I offer an analysis of the different approaches to the study of proactive behavior and provide a set of suggestions for future research.
Paragraphing, reader, and task effects on discourse comprehension

Interactions among text, task, and reader factors were examined in two experiments that looked at the role of paragraphing, a surface text feature, on the identification of and memory for main ideas as compared to elaborative information in expository passages. In the coincident paragraphing condition, main ideas of the passage were paragraph initial; that is, semantic (content) and structural cues in the text converged on the same sentences as the main ideas. In the conflicting condition, elaborations of the main ideas were paragraph initial. Although paragraphing identified these elaboration sentences as main ideas, the content information conflicted with that designation. Participants read and recalled (Experiment 1) or summarized (Experiment 2) four passages, two about topics rated “more familiar” and two about topics rated “less familiar. ” As predicted, in both studies the paragraphing manipulation had a greater effect on the differentiation of main ideas and elaborations when passage content was les.
Structural Theories and Race-Specific Drug Arrests: What Structural Factors Account for the Rise in Race-Specific Drug Arrests Over Time?

Studies examining the structural correlates of urban crime have generated a large body of research; however, few studies have linked the structural conditions to race-specific drug arrests. In this study, the authors examine the impact of urban disadvantage, social disorganization, and racial threat indicators on the rise in race-specific drug arrests from 1980 to 1990. They find these theoretical perspectives contribute to an understanding of the change in race-specific drug arrests. Findings indicate that shifts in the urban economy significantly affected Black drug arrests, while having no effect on the change in White drug arrests. In addition, the shift away from manufacturing jobs significantly affected Black arrests for drug possession. Consistent with the theory, social disorganization measures proved equally significant for Whites and Blacks, whereas mixed support was found for racial threat arguments. The importance of a theoretically grounded exploration into the rise in racial disparities in drug arrests is highlighted.
Semantic competitor priming within and across languages: The interplay of vocabulary knowledge, learning experience and working memory capacity*

This paper reports three studies of bilingual lexical processing, using the semantic competitor priming (SCP) method of Lee and Williams (2001). Study 1 found a trend of within-language SCP effect for Chinese–English bilinguals with both higher and lower levels of vocabulary knowledge. There was also a cross-language SCP effect, but this was restricted to bilinguals with a lower level of vocabulary knowledge. Study 2 found a cross-language SCP effect for Chinese learners of English in the classroom context. Study 3 found both within- and cross-language SCP effects for bilinguals with study-abroad experience as well as Chinese–English classroom learners who had a higher working memory capacity. Those findings are interpreted in terms of a dynamic view of bilingual language selection.
Resonant network design considerations for variable coupling lumped coil systems

This paper investigates the impact of coupling variations in an IPT lumped coil system on the overall system behaviour. An analysis of the reactive power flow between the pick-up and the primary power supply in a variable coupling system is presented. A 1.2kW battery charging system design example was conducted on how to design the resonant networks to minimize the burden on the primary power supply due to the additional reactive power demands as a result of mistuning under variable coupling condition.
‘Protected DNA Probes’ capable of strong hybridization without removal of base protecting groups

We propose a new strategy called the ‘Protected DNA Probes (PDP) method’ in which appropriately protected bases selectively bind to the complementary bases without the removal of their base protecting groups. Previously, we reported that 4-N-acetylcytosine oligonucleotides (ac4C) exhibited a higher hybridization affinity for ssDNA than the unmodified oligonucleotides. For the PDP strategy, we created a modified adenine base and synthesized an N-acylated deoxyadenosine mimic having 6-N-acetyl-8-aza-7-deazaadenine (ac6az8c7A). It was found that PDP containing ac4C and ac6az8c7A exhibited higher affinity for the complementary ssDNA than the corresponding unmodified DNA probes and showed similar base recognition ability. Moreover, it should be noted that this PDP strategy could guarantee highly efficient synthesis of DNA probes on controlled pore glass (CPG) with high purity and thereby could eliminate the time-consuming procedures for isolating DNA probes. This strategy could also avoid undesired base-mediated elimination of DNA probes from CPG under basic conditions such as concentrated ammonia solution prescribed for removal of base protecting groups in the previous standard approach. Here, several successful applications of this strategy to single nucleotide polymorphism detection are also described in detail using PDPs immobilized on glass plates and those prepared on CPG plates, suggesting its potential usefulness.
Refined and diversified query suggestion with latent semantic personalization

The World Wide Web has grown up rapidly and beyond doubt, majority of it contains useful information. But a portion of the web has a junk data and its presence cannot be ignored. Therefore, it becomes a challenging task to retrieval systems to provide useful information to the user. Also, choice of the query plays a crucial role in retrieving documents. In this paper, we propose a model that provides a better query suggestion to the user. Current state of the art models provide suggestions by taking only the relevancy of the query into consideration. Unlike these approaches, this paper, proposes a model that takes both personalized and diversified results into consideration. We propose query refinements to the query and using these refinements, the diversification of the refined query is performed. Consequently, the latent semantic personalization of the input query is done using the user's query log so as to provide dynamic results to the user. Our claims are supported with the experimental results.
PDMS Selective Bonding for the Fabrication of Biocompatible All Polymer NC Microvalves

Microvalves are commonly used in microfluidic systems to control precisely the liquid flow. In this paper, the design and fabrication of a normally-closed (NC) all-polymer membrane-type microvalve is described. The microvalve with a diameter and thickness of 5 mm and 3 mm, respectively, is fabricated completely in biocompatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The opening pressure, which depends on the adhesion between the membrane and the slab, is reduced to the noticeably low value of 3.4 kPa by the surface oxidation of the PDMS layers. This technique in combination with a selective bonding by Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) shadow masking allows for the fabrication of a high reverse pressure microvalve (no flow up to 0.6 MPa reverse pressure). Other major fabrication steps include PDMS doctor-blading and soft lithography in order to fabricate the thin and surface patterned membranes, respectively. The presented microvalve features a minimum flow rate of 1.0 ml min-1.
Exposure to Violent Crime During Incarceration

In this study, formerly incarcerated violent (n = 38) and nonviolent (n = 86) offenders were assessed for their experiences as witnesses to or victims of violent crime during incarceration as well as outside of the prison or jail setting. Participants also provided information on several indicators of their current psychological adjustment. Analyses showed that, after controlling the effects of exposure to violence outside of the prison setting as well as a number of demographic factors, encounters with violence during incarceration were significantly related to aggressive and antisocial behavioral tendencies as well as emotional distress. In general, individuals who were witnesses, as well as victims, of violent crime showed the poorest adjustment post-release. These effects were not modified by violent offender status or by time since release from incarceration. The findings presented here underscore important new directions for research on the effects of exposure to violence.
Natural resource policies and standard of living in Kazakhstan

This paper evaluates Kazakhstan's natural resource policies and their impact on the standard of living of the Kazakhstan population within the framework of three determinative factors: globalization and international markets; Soviet legacy and ‘resource nationalism’; and Nursultan Nazarbayev and his authoritarian leadership. It argues that natural resource policies of Kazakhstan failed to improve the living standards of the majority of people in Kazakhstan, especially the poor and those living in oil-producing and rural areas, despite increasing oil prices and revenues. The argument will be supported with an analysis of Kazakhstan's oil wealth distribution in light of global initiatives as well as with evidence derived from official reports and statistical data to find out whether Nazarbayev's widely discussed ‘resource nationalism’ is ‘nationalistic’ enough to favour the whole nation.
Cache oblivious stencil computations

We present a cache oblivious algorithm for stencil computations, which arise for example in finite-difference methods. Our algorithm applies to arbitrary stencils in <i>n</i>-dimensional spaces. On an "ideal cache" of size <i>Z</i>, our algorithm saves a factor of Θ(<i>Z</i><sup>1/<i>n</i></sup>) cache misses compared to a naive algorithm, and it exploits temporal locality optimally throughout the entire memory hierarchy.