Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling of time to corrosion-induced cover cracking in reinforced concrete structures

Concrete cover cracking induced by reinforcement corrosion is an important indication of durability limit state for reinforced concrete(RC) structures,and can be used to determine the structural service life.Based on the assumption of uniform corrosion of reinforcement,two models for predicting the time from corrosion initiation to cover cracking and its corresponding corrosion ratio of reinforcement were established according to the mechanics of elasticity and Faraday's Law.In the present models,the deformation property of corrosion products and the extent of corrosion products'ingress into expansive cracks were all taken into account.The main factors affecting the time to corrosion-induced cracking were analyzed.It is found that the increase of cover thickness,decrease of rebar diameter,improvement of concrete strength and reducing volume expansion of corrosion products are in favor of improving the durability of RC structure.The comparison of prediction results with experimental values obtained from accelerated and long-term tests shows that the proposed model is in good agreement with test results and can be applied in practical design.
Effects of yoga versus hydrotherapy training on health-related quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with heart failure: A randomized controlled study

Aims: The aims of this study were to determine whether yoga and hydrotherapy training had an equal effect on the health-related quality of life in patients with heart failure and to compare the effects on exercise capacity, clinical outcomes, and symptoms of anxiety and depression between and within the two groups. Methods: The design was a randomized controlled non-inferiority study. A total of 40 patients, 30% women (mean±SD age 64.9±8.9 years) with heart failure were randomized to an intervention of 12 weeks, either performing yoga or training with hydrotherapy for 45–60 minutes twice a week. Evaluation at baseline and after 12 weeks included self-reported health-related quality of life, a six-minute walk test, a sit-to-stand test, clinical variables, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results: Yoga and hydrotherapy had an equal impact on quality of life, exercise capacity, clinical outcomes, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Within both groups, exercise capacity significantly improved (hydrotherapy p=0.02; yoga p=0.008) and symptoms of anxiety decreased (hydrotherapy p=0.03; yoga p=0.01). Patients in the yoga group significantly improved their health as rated by EQ-VAS (p=0.004) and disease-specific quality of life in the domains symptom frequency (p=0.03), self-efficacy (p=0.01), clinical summary as a combined measure of symptoms and social factors (p=0.05), and overall summary score (p=0.04). Symptoms of depression were decreased in this group (p=0.005). In the hydrotherapy group, lower limb muscle strength improved significantly (p=0.01). Conclusions: Yoga may be an alternative or complementary option to established forms of exercise training such as hydrotherapy for improvement in health-related quality of life and may decrease depressive symptoms in patients with heart failure.
Molecular and Physiological Characterization of a Receptor for d-Amino Acid-Containing Neuropeptides

Neuropeptides in several animals undergo an unusual post-translational modification, the isomerization of an amino acid residue from the l-stereoisomer to the d-stereoisomer. The resulting d-amino acid-containing peptide (DAACP) often displays biological activity higher than that of its all-l-residue analogue, with the d-residue being critical for function in many cases. However, little is known about the full physiological roles played by DAACPs, and few studies have examined the interaction of DAACPs with their cognate receptors. Here, we characterized the signaling of several DAACPs derived from a single neuropeptide prohormone, the Aplysia californica achatin-like neuropeptide precursor (apALNP), at their putative receptor, the achatin-like neuropeptide receptor (apALNR). We first used quantitative polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization experiments to demonstrate receptor (apALNR) expression throughout the central nervous system; on the basis of the expression pattern, we identified novel physiological functions that may be mediated by apALNR. To gain insight into ligand signaling through apALNR, we created a library of native and non-native neuropeptide analogues derived from apALNP (the neuropeptide prohormone) and evaluated them for activity in cells co-transfected with apALNR and the promiscuous Gα subunit Gα-16. Several of these neuropeptide analogues were also evaluated for their ability to induce circuit activity in a well-defined neural network associated with feeding behavior in intact ganglia from Aplysia. Our results reveal the specificity of apALNR and provide strong evidence that this receptor mediates diverse physiological functions throughout the central nervous system. Finally, we show that some native apALNP-derived DAACPs exhibit enhanced stability toward endogenous proteases, suggesting that the d-residues in these DAACPs may increase the peptide lifetime, in addition to influencing receptor specificity, in the nervous system. Ultimately, these studies provide insight into signaling at one of the few known DAACP-specific receptors and advance our understanding of the roles that l- to d-residue isomerization play in neuropeptide signaling.
A Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC): Lessons Learned from EU Project INTEGRATE and Beyond

Efforts are underway in many European countries to channel efforts into creating improved integrated health and social care services. But most countries lack a strategic plan that is sustainable over time, and that reflects a comprehensive systems perspective. The Policy Guide on Integrated Care (PGIC) as presented in this paper resulted from experiences with the EU Project INTEGRATE and our own work with healthcare reform for patients with chronic conditions at the national and international level. This project is one of the largest EU funded projects on Integrated Care, conducted over a four-year period (2012–2016) and included partners from nine European countries. Project Integrate aimed to gain insights into the leadership, management and delivery of integrated care to support European care systems to respond to the challenges of ageing populations and the rise of people living with long-term conditions. The objective of this paper is to describe the PGIC as both a tool and a reasoning flow that aims at supporting policy makers at the national and international level with the development and implementation of integrated care. Any Policy Guide on Integrated should build upon three building blocks, being a mission, vision and a strategy that aim at capturing the large amount of factors that directly or indirectly influence the successful development of integrated care.
2018 International Olympic Committee Consensus Statement on Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Pediatric Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries

In October 2017, the International Olympic Committee hosted an international expert group of physical therapists and orthopaedic surgeons who specialize in treating and researching pediatric anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. The purpose of this meeting was to provide a comprehensive, evidence-informed summary to support the clinician and help children with ACL injury and their parents/guardians make the best possible decisions. Representatives from the following societies attended: American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine; European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society; European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery, and Arthroscopy; International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine; Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America; and Sociedad Latinoamericana de Artroscopia, Rodilla, y Deporte. Physical therapists and orthopaedic surgeons with clinical and research experience in the field and an ethics expert with substantial experience in the area of sports injuries also participated. This consensus statement addresses 6 fundamental clinical questions regarding the prevention, diagnosis, and management of pediatric ACL injuries. Injury management is challenging in the current landscape of clinical uncertainty and limited scientific knowledge. Injury management decisions also occur against the backdrop of the complexity of shared decision making with children and the potential long-term ramifications of the injury.
Erythrocyte–Platelet Hybrid Membrane Coating for Enhanced Nanoparticle Functionalization

Cell‐membrane‐coated nanoparticles have recently been studied extensively for their biological compatibility, retention of cellular properties, and adaptability to a variety of therapeutic and imaging applications. This class of nanoparticles, which has been fabricated with a variety of cell membrane coatings, including those derived from red blood cells (RBCs), platelets, white blood cells, cancer cells, and bacteria, exhibit properties that are characteristic of the source cell. In this study, a new type of biological coating is created by fusing membrane material from two different cells, providing a facile method for further enhancing nanoparticle functionality. As a proof of concept, the development of dual‐membrane‐coated nanoparticles from the fused RBC membrane and platelet membrane is demonstrated. The resulting particles, termed RBC–platelet hybrid membrane‐coated nanoparticles ([RBC‐P]NPs), are thoroughly characterized, and it is shown that they carry properties of both source cells. Further, the [RBC‐P]NP platform exhibits long circulation and suitability for further in vivo exploration. The reported strategy opens the door for the creation of biocompatible, custom‐tailored biomimetic nanoparticles with varying hybrid functionalities, which may be used to overcome the limitations of current nanoparticle‐based therapeutic and imaging platforms.
Face processing in adolescents with positive and negative threat bias

Background Individuals with anxiety disorders exhibit a ‘vigilance-avoidance’ pattern of attention to threatening stimuli when threatening and neutral stimuli are presented simultaneously, a phenomenon referred to as ‘threat bias’. Modifying threat bias through cognitive retraining during adolescence reduces symptoms of anxiety, and so elucidating neural mechanisms of threat bias during adolescence is of high importance. We explored neural mechanisms by testing whether threat bias in adolescents is associated with generalized or threat-specific differences in the neural processing of faces. Method Subjects were categorized into those with (n = 25) and without (n = 27) threat avoidance based on a dot-probe task at average age 12.9 years. Threat avoidance in this cohort has previously been shown to index threat bias. Brain response to individually presented angry and neutral faces was assessed in a separate session using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Adolescents with threat avoidance exhibited lower activity for both angry and neutral faces relative to controls in several regions in the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes involved in early visual and facial processing. Results generalized to happy, sad, and fearful faces. Adolescents with a prior history of depression and/or an anxiety disorder had lower activity for all faces in these same regions. A subset of results replicated in an independent dataset. Conclusions Threat bias is associated with generalized, rather than threat-specific, differences in the neural processing of faces in adolescents. Findings may aid in the development of novel treatments for anxiety disorders that use attention training to modify threat bias.
Hepatic Steatosis Accompanies Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis

Abstract Maintenance of tissue‐specific organ lipid compositions characterizes mammalian lipid homeostasis. The lungs and liver synthesize mixed phosphatidylcholine (PC) molecular species that are subsequently tailored for function. The lungs progressively enrich disaturated PC directed to lamellar body surfactant stores before secretion. The liver accumulates polyunsaturated PC directed to very‐low‐density lipoprotein assembly and secretion, or to triglyceride stores. In each tissue, selective PC species enrichment mechanisms lie at the heart of effective homeostasis. We tested for potential coordination between these spatially separated but possibly complementary phenomena under a major derangement of lung PC metabolism, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), which overwhelms homeostasis and leads to excessive surfactant accumulation. Using static and dynamic lipidomics techniques, we compared (1) tissue PC compositions and contents, and (2) in lungs, the absolute rates of synthesis in both control mice and the granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor knockout model of PAP. Significant disaturated PC accumulation in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, alveolar macrophage, and lavaged lung tissue occurred alongside increased PC synthesis, consistent with reported defects in alveolar macrophage surfactant turnover. However, microscopy using oil red O staining, coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering, second harmonic generation, and transmission electron microscopy also revealed neutral‐lipid droplet accumulations in alveolar lipofibroblasts of granular macrophage colony‐stimulating factor knockout animals, suggesting that lipid homeostasis deficits extend beyond alveolar macrophages. PAP plasma PC composition was significantly polyunsaturated fatty acid enriched, but the content was unchanged and hepatic polyunsaturated fatty acid‐enriched PC content increased by 50% with an accompanying micro/macrovesicular steatosis and a fibrotic damage pattern consistent with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. These data suggest a hepatopulmonary axis of PC metabolism coordination, with wider implications for understanding and managing lipid pathologies in which compromise of one organ has unexpected consequences for another.
The Promise of Proteomics in the Study of Oncogenic Viruses*

Oncogenic viruses are responsible for about 15% human cancers. This article explores the promise and challenges of viral proteomics in the study of the oncogenic human DNA viruses, HPV, McPyV, EBV and KSHV. These viruses have coevolved with their hosts and cause persistent infections. Each virus encodes oncoproteins that manipulate key cellular pathways to promote viral replication and evade the host immune response. Viral proteomics can identify cellular pathways perturbed by viral infection, identify cellular proteins that are crucial for viral persistence and oncogenesis, and identify important diagnostic and therapeutic targets.
Test–retest reliability and concurrent validity of in vivo myelin content indices: Myelin water fraction and calibrated T1w/T2w image ratio

In an age‐heterogeneous sample of healthy adults, we examined test–retest reliability (with and without participant repositioning) of two popular MRI methods of estimating myelin content: modeling the short spin–spin (T2) relaxation component of multi‐echo imaging data and computing the ratio of T1‐weighted and T2‐weighted images (T1w/T2w). Taking the myelin water fraction (MWF) index of myelin content derived from the multi‐component T2 relaxation data as a standard, we evaluate the concurrent and differential validity of T1w/T2w ratio images. The results revealed high reliability of MWF and T1w/T2w ratio. However, we found significant correlations of low to moderate magnitude between MWF and the T1w/T2w ratio in only two of six examined regions of the cerebral white matter. Notably, significant correlations of the same or greater magnitude were observed for T1w/T2w ratio and the intermediate T2 relaxation time constant, which is believed to reflect differences in the mobility of water between the intracellular and extracellular compartments. We conclude that although both methods are highly reliable and thus well‐suited for longitudinal studies, T1w/T2w ratio has low criterion validity and may be not an optimal index of subcortical myelin content. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1780–1790, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Architecture and functional ecology of the human gastrocnemius muscle‐tendon unit

The gastrocnemius muscle‐tendon unit (MTU) is central to human locomotion. Structural variation in the human gastrocnemius MTU is predicted to affect the efficiency of locomotion, a concept most often explored in the context of performance activities. For example, stiffness of the Achilles tendon varies among individuals with different histories of competitive running. Such a finding highlights the functional variation of individuals and raises the possibility of similar variation between populations, perhaps in response to specific ecological or environmental demands. Researchers often assume minimal variation in human populations, or that industrialized populations represent the human species as well as any other. Yet rainforest hunter‐gatherers, which often express the human pygmy phenotype, contradict such assumptions. Indeed, the human pygmy phenotype is a potential model system for exploring the range of ecomorphological variation in the architecture of human hindlimb muscles, a concept we review here.
States With Medically Needy Pathways: Differences in Long-Term and Temporary Medicaid Entry for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries

Medically needy pathways may provide temporary catastrophic coverage for low-income Medicare beneficiaries who do not otherwise qualify for full Medicaid benefits. Between January 2009 and June 2010, states with medically needy pathways had a higher percentage of low-income beneficiaries join Medicaid than states without such programs (7.5% vs. 4.1%, p < .01). However, among new full Medicaid participants, living in a state with a medically needy pathway was associated with a 3.8 percentage point (adjusted 95% confidence interval [1.8, 5.8]) increase in the probability of switching to partial Medicaid and a 4.5 percentage point (adjusted 95% confidence interval [2.9, 6.2]) increase in the probability of exiting Medicaid within 12 months. The predicted risk of leaving Medicaid was greatest when new Medicaid participants used only hospital services, rather than nursing home services, in their first month of Medicaid benefits. Alternative strategies for protecting low-income Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care could provide more stable coverage.
Study of the Heat Resistance Performance of Epoxy Structural Adhesive

This article presented the comparisons of two different testing methods and different curing conditions for heat deflection temperature(HDT). The effects of curing condition,curing agent,diluent and toughener on the heat resistance performance of epoxy structural adhesive were studied by testing the HDT of epoxy structural adhesives,and an optimized formula of pressure injection adhesive for steel-bonding was found.The results have indicated that epoxy structural adhesive has good heat resistance performance and impact toughness by using rigid curing agent(such as modified alicyclic amines and phenolic amine),epoxy diluent with high functionality and the"island structure"toughener.The optimized adhesive has a HDT up to 65.9℃and a T impact peeling length of 21mm,whose overall performance can meet all the requirements of structural strengthening.
Effect of direct intramyocardial autologous stem cell grafting in the sub-acute phase after myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND To assess the efficacy and safety of intramyocardial autologous bone marrow mononuclear stem cells (BMMNC) grafting combined with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) on ventricular remodeling and global and regional wall motion after acute transmural myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS Randomized controlled trial including 20 patients with non-revascularized transmural AMI, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) lower than 50% and surgical indication for CABG. The stem cell group was treated with BMMNC grafting by direct intramyocardial injection between the 10th and 15th days after AMI (subacute phase) combined with CABG under cardiopulmonary bypass; the control group was only treated with CABG. Magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium and stress echocardiography were performed presurgery and 9 months postsurgery. RESULTS Seventeen patients completed the follow-up. The baseline characteristics of both groups were homogeneous. No significant differences were found in the increase in LVEF (control: 6.99±4.60, cells: 7.47±6.61, P=0.876) or in the decrease in global (control: 0.28±0.39, cells: 0.22±0.28, P=0.759) or regional (control: 0.52±0.38, cells: 0.74±0.60, P=0.415) wall motion indices between the control and stem cell groups of AMI patients. No differences were found in the recovered non-viable segments (control: 1.29±1.11, cells: 2.50±1.41, P=0.091) or in the decrease in end-diastolic (control: 14.05±19.72, cells: 18.40±29.89, P=0.725) or end-systolic (control: 15.42±13.93, cells: 23.06±25.03, P=0.442) volumes. No complications from stem cell grafting were observed. CONCLUSIONS The results from our study reported herein suggest that intramyocardial BMMNC administration during CABG in patients with AMI causes no medium- to long-term improvement in ventricular remodeling.
Effect of valproic acid on body weight, food intake, physical activity and hormones: results of a randomized controlled trial

Abstract The objective of this study was to identify mechanisms through which valproic acid (VPA) causes weight gain. Healthy participants (N = 52) were randomized to VPA or placebo in a double-blind study. Energy intake (EI) was measured in the laboratory at lunch and dinner, and physical activity (PA) was measured with accelerometry. Glucose levels and hormones [Peptide YY3–36, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), leptin, ghrelin, insulin] that regulate EI were measured. Assessments occurred at baseline and week 3. Change from baseline was evaluated with mixed models (α = 0.05). Weight significantly increased in the VPA group (+0.49 kg), but not the placebo group. The VPA group increased fast food fats cravings and decreased glucose levels compared with placebo. Change in weight, EI and PA did not differ by group. Within group analyses indicated that the VPA group increased PA, hunger, binge eating, depression and GLP-1. VPA-associated weight gain is not likely due to changes in PA or the gut hormones studied. Although EI did not increase when measured after 3 weeks of treatment, VPA decreased glucose levels and increased motivation to eat; hence, EI might have increased in the short-term. Research testing VPA on short-term (1 week) EI, metabolism, and substrate partitioning is warranted.
Young Men, Masculinities, and Suicide

Young men constitute one of the highest risk groups for suicide in most countries. This gives reason to explore how meanings attached to masculinity can be evoked and handled when a young man takes his life. In-depth interviews with 5 to 8 informants for each of 10 suicides, as well as suicide notes, were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The suicides appeared as signature acts of compensatory masculinity with the following themes: When hope is gone, no one must know; weakness was never allowed; and suicide conducted in a way to present oneself as heroic. The handling of masculinity in triggering suicidal plans and in carrying out suicide is intrinsically connected to avoidance of help-seeking behavior.