Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measures of Psychiatric Symptoms in Alzheimer Patients: A Review

Summary:This review of instruments for the identification and quantification of psychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease (AD) is intended as a reference source for clinicians and researchers concerned with evaluating, quantifying, and managing psychiatric symptoms in AD. We review 16 clinician- and caregiver-rated scales selected from>30 scales on the basis of their face validity, their psychometric properties, the frequency of their use, and their promise as assessment instruments. Instruments are described in terms of the population on which they were developed, the symptoms assessed, informant, by whom administered, time to administer, time interval covered, number of items, measurement of frequency and severity, assessment of impact on caregiver, reliability, validity, and scoring. Recommendations are made concerning the best use of each scale. We summarize in table form the sources of information for instruments, characteristics of the instruments by domain, and potential use of instruments for quantification or management of symptoms and for estimation of caregiver burden. There are a number of reliable and valid scales for the assessment of psychiatric symptoms in AD, each with specific assets and liabilities. Knowledge of the specifics of these scales will enable clinicians and researchers to select the best instruments for their particular needs and to design more effective instruments.
Efficiency of Selected Sudanese Sheep Markets: A Multivariate Approach (1995-2011)

The main objective of this study is to investigate price movements among important sheep markets in the Sudan to explore their pricing efficiency. The short period of long-run equilibrium adjustment indicated that there are strong price linkages between Omdurman and other four markets (Elobied, Medani, Sennar and Nyala markets). The prices causality indicated unidirectional relation causality of Nyala market through Medani and Elobied markets. Nyala markets as terminal market located in production area Granger cause Medani and Omdurman as major consumption markets; this was taken as evidence that price movements were primarily driven by supply shocks. That mean the system was centred on Nyala i.e. Nyala could be considered as a supply market in sheep market which means the prices were supply driven.
Data mining based dynamic scheduling approach for semiconductor manufacturing system

This paper presents a data mining based dynamic scheduling approach which responses to changing system status for semiconductor manufacturing system. The proposed approach, based on the historical data, applies genetic algorithm as feature selection tool to eliminate the redundant data and K-nearest neighbor algorithm as a classifier to select the scheduling rule. Finally, a scheduling strategy selection model is built to make real-time scheduling decision for semiconductor manufacturing system. Here, efficacy function and information entropy are used for the multi-objective scheduling strategy evaluation. This ensures the selected scheduling strategy optimizes various performance criteria at the same time. At last, an actual semiconductor production line is used to test the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed dynamic approach.
Education for new role development: the Community Matron in England.

AIM This paper is a report of an evaluation of the English national pilot education programme preparing Community Matrons to fulfil their role. BACKGROUND Investment in community services has been important in introducing new ways of working in the United Kingdom National Health Service, particularly for patients with complex long-term conditions. Development of the Community Matron role in England is an exemplar in the creation of modern nursing careers that are fit for purpose. METHOD A mixed methods approach to data collection was adopted. This included documentary analysis of a range of sources used in the development and evaluation of the programme. In addition, during 2006, a self-administered questionnaire was sent to all Community Matrons undertaking the programme (n = 70), with a response rate of 67% (n = 47). Individual telephone interviews were conducted with 17 students and six mentors. A focus group was also undertaken with the education programme Development Team (n = 5). Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS and qualitative data analysed using content and thematic analyses. FINDINGS The majority of students (n = 25) believed that the programme had met their expectations and had helped them to achieve the functions of the Community Matron role as defined in national competence statements. However, 17 students experienced difficulties in the level of organisational readiness to support them in their role, including, for example, lack of facilitation of their work-based learning. CONCLUSION In spite of the successful programme design, there is a need for organisations to develop their infrastructure to support new roles as well as offering protected time to learn in practice.
A psychological based analysis of marketing email subject lines

Email has been an effective and popular communication medium since its birth in 1971 to now. The number of email users have increased from a handful to 2672 million as of 2016 and it is predicted to increase further. This enormous growth has established an effective marketing medium called email marketing. The present email advertisement revenue has reached $19,353 million, it has not reached to a significant proportion. A marketing email becomes a success only if the email is opened and read by the receiver. The subject line of an email and the email address of the sender are the main deciding factors for one to open an email or leave it.
Sensitization by heat treatment of Escherichia coli K-12 cells to hydrophobic antibacterial compounds

The sensitivities of intact and heat-injured cells of Escherichia coli K-12 to several antibacterial compounds were measured by the prolongation of growth delay. Cells exposed to sublethal heat became more sensitive to various hydrophobic compounds, such as medium-chain fatty acids, alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and some kinds of antibiotics or dyes, than unheated cells; but there was a smaller or no increase in sensitivity to short-chain fatty acids, chloramphenicol, and vancomycin. The destruction by heat of a permeability barrier of the outer membrane may have sensitized the cells to hydrophobic compounds. The sensitization was much lower for a strain defective in lipopolysaccharide, which is important as a barrier against hydrophobic compounds.
Detection of viable and dead Listeria monocytogenes on gouda‐like cheeses by real‐time PCR

Aims: Surface contamination by Listeria monocytogenes of gouda‐like cheeses during processing represents a potential public health problem. The aim of this work was to develop novel real‐time PCR diagnostics to detect the presence of viable, dead or viable but not culturable (VBNC) cells on gouda‐like cheeses.
Reciprocal Regulation of Protein Kinase and Pyruvate Kinase Activities of Pyruvate Kinase M2 by Growth Signals*

Background: Pyruvate kinase M2 is also a protein kinase. It is not known how the pyruvate kinase and protein kinase are controlled. Results: Growth stimulations increase the dimer/tetramer PKM2 ratio and activate the protein kinase activity of PKM2. Conclusion: The growth signals reciprocally regulate the pyruvate kinase and protein kinase activities of PKM2. Significance: Studies reveal an important example regarding how cancer cells cope with bioenergetic stress during growth. Pyruvate kinase isoform M2 (PKM2) is an enzyme-catalyzing conversion of phosphoenolpyruvate to pyruvate in the glycolysis pathway. It was demonstrated that PKM2 interacts with tyrosine phosphopeptide, and the interaction with the tyrosine phosphopeptide affects the pyruvate kinase activity of PKM2. Our experiments suggest that PKM2 is also an active protein kinase (Gao, X., Wang, H., Yang, J. J., Liu, X., and Liu, Z. R. (2012) Mol. Cell 45, 598–609). We report here that growth signals reciprocally regulate the pyruvate kinase and protein kinase activities of PKM2 by different mechanisms. On the one hand, growth signals induce protein tyrosine phosphorylations. The tyrosine-phosphorylated protein(s) regulates the conversion of pyruvate kinase and protein kinase of PKM2 by directly interacting with PKM2. Binding of the tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins at the fructose 1,6-bisphosphate-binding site converts the tetrameric PKM2 to a dimer. On the other hand, growth stimulations also lead to PKM2 phosphorylation, which consequently regulates the conversion of protein kinase and pyruvate kinase activities. Growth factor stimulations significantly increase the dimer/tetramer PKM2 ratio in cells and consequently activate the protein kinase activity of PKM2. Our study suggests that the conversion between the pyruvate kinase and protein kinase activities of PKM2 may be an important mechanism mediating the effects of growth signals in promoting cell proliferation.
US Norms for Six Generic Health-Related Quality-of-Life Indexes From the National Health Measurement Study

Background:A number of indexes measuring self-reported generic health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) using preference-weighted scoring are used widely in population surveys and clinical studies in the United States. Objective:To obtain age-by-gender norms for older adults on 6 generic HRQoL indexes in a cross-sectional US population survey and compare age-related trends in HRQoL. Methods:The EuroQol EQ-5D, Health Utilities Index Mark 2, Health Utilities Index Mark 3, SF-36v2™ (used to compute SF-6D), Quality of Well-being Scale self-administered form, and Health and Activities Limitations index were administered via telephone interview to each respondent in a national survey sample of 3844 noninstitutionalized adults age 35–89. Persons age 65–89 and telephone exchanges with high percentages of African Americans were oversampled. Age-by-gender means were computed using sampling and poststratification weights to adjust results to the US adult population. Results:The 6 indexes exhibit similar patterns of age-related HRQoL by gender; however, means differ significantly across indexes. Females report slightly lower HRQoL than do males across all age groups. HRQoL seems somewhat higher for persons age 65–74 compared with people in the next younger age decade, as measured by all indexes. Conclusions:Six HRQoL measures show similar but not identical trends in population norms for older US adults. Results reported here provide reference values for 6 self-reported HRQoL indexes.
Toolbox Approaches Using Molecular Markers and 16S rRNA Gene Amplicon Data Sets for Identification of Fecal Pollution in Surface Water

ABSTRACT In this study, host-associated molecular markers and bacterial 16S rRNA gene community analysis using high-throughput sequencing were used to identify the sources of fecal pollution in environmental waters in Brisbane, Australia. A total of 92 fecal and composite wastewater samples were collected from different host groups (cat, cattle, dog, horse, human, and kangaroo), and 18 water samples were collected from six sites (BR1 to BR6) along the Brisbane River in Queensland, Australia. Bacterial communities in the fecal, wastewater, and river water samples were sequenced. Water samples were also tested for the presence of bird-associated (GFD), cattle-associated (CowM3), horse-associated, and human-associated (HF183) molecular markers, to provide multiple lines of evidence regarding the possible presence of fecal pollution associated with specific hosts. Among the 18 water samples tested, 83%, 33%, 17%, and 17% were real-time PCR positive for the GFD, HF183, CowM3, and horse markers, respectively. Among the potential sources of fecal pollution in water samples from the river, DNA sequencing tended to show relatively small contributions from wastewater treatment plants (up to 13% of sequence reads). Contributions from other animal sources were rarely detected and were very small (<3% of sequence reads). Source contributions determined via sequence analysis versus detection of molecular markers showed variable agreement. A lack of relationships among fecal indicator bacteria, host-associated molecular markers, and 16S rRNA gene community analysis data was also observed. Nonetheless, we show that bacterial community and host-associated molecular marker analyses can be combined to identify potential sources of fecal pollution in an urban river. This study is a proof of concept, and based on the results, we recommend using bacterial community analysis (where possible) along with PCR detection or quantification of host-associated molecular markers to provide information on the sources of fecal pollution in waterways.
Lipid microdomains in model and biological membranes: how strong are the connections?

1. Introduction 373 2. Are rafts probable? 374 3. Micro-, nano- or ephemeral domains? 375 4. How can we reliably assess ‘raft’ composition? 376 5. Are rafts plausible? 379 6. What more can model systems contribute to ‘raft’ studies? 381 7. References 382 The concept of ‘lipid rafts’ and related liquid-ordered membrane microdomains has attracted great attention in the field of membrane biology, both as a novel paradigm in models of membrane organization and for the potential importance of such domains in phenomena such as membrane signaling and the differential trafficking of various membrane components. Studies of biological and of model membranes have gone hand in hand in shaping our current picture of the possible organization and functions of liquid-ordered lipid microdomains in membranes. This essay discusses some important current questions concerning the existence and functional importance of lipid microdomains in mammalian cell membranes, and the potential as well as the limitations of using model systems to help to address such questions.
Integrating Heterogeneous Grid Middleware to Support Large-Scale Bag-of-Tasks Applications

Bag-of-Tasks (BoTs) applications are loosely coupled parallel applications whose concurrent entities are independent of each other. In this paper, we propose a novel architecture, which integrates distributed resources across heterogeneous Grid systems to support large-scale BoT applications. We present our integration solution and introduce how our prototype is implemented. Finally, we demonstrate our solution with a use case from the domain of drug discovery. It turns out that our proposal not only provides an adequate tool to support the development of BoT applications, but also is coherent and operationally reliable.
Frequency of use of diagnostic and manual therapeutic procedures of the spine currently taught at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College: A preliminary survey of Ontario chiropractors. Part 2 - procedure usage rates.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine which diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of the spine are most commonly utilized by chiropractors practicing in Ontario, based on a list of currently taught procedures at CMCC. In Part 1 of this study (published previously), the demographics and practice patterns of the respondents were presented. Part 2 of this study (presented here) reports on the utilization rates of spinal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures by the respondents. METHODS The study consisted of a paper-based survey that was sent to 500 randomly selected Ontario chiropractors who responded confidentially. Survey questions inquired into demographic and practice style characteristics as well as the frequency with which spinal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures were performed. RESULTS There were 108 respondents to the survey, giving a response rate of 22.4%. Frequency of use of diagnostic procedures fell into three broad categories: (i) those tests that are almost always performed, (ii) those tests that are almost always performed by two-thirds to one-half of patients, and (iii) those tests that are virtually never used. By comparison, respondents utilized the same therapeutic procedures for patients care less consistently. CONCLUSIONS Despite a low response rate, respondents reported mostly relying on static and motion palpation, joint play, neurological tests, and ranges of motion when assessing their patients. Due to a low response rate, the results of this study may not be generalizable to all Ontario chiropractors.
Was the drop in mammography rates in 2005 associated with the drop in hormone therapy use?

In 2005, mammography rates in the United States dropped nationally for the first time among age‐eligible women. An increased risk of breast cancer related to hormone therapy (HT) use reported in 2002 led to a dramatic drop in its use by 2005. Because current users of HT also tend to have higher mammography rates, the authors examined whether concurrent drops in HT and mammography use were associated.
Cdo Binds Abl To Promote p38α/β Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Activity and Myogenic Differentiation

ABSTRACT The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is required for differentiation of skeletal myoblasts, but how the pathway is activated during this process is not well understood. One mechanism involves the cell surface receptor Cdo (also known as Cdon), which binds to Bnip-2 and JLP, scaffold proteins for Cdc42 and p38, respectively; formation of these complexes results in Bnip-2/Cdc42-dependent activation of p38. It has been reported that the tyrosine kinase Abl promotes myogenic differentiation in a manner dependent on its cytoplasmic localization, but the cytoplasmic signaling proteins with which it interacts to achieve this effect are unidentified. We report that Abl associates with both Cdo and JLP during myoblast differentiation. Abl binds a proline-rich motif in Cdo via its SH3 domain, and these regions of Abl and Cdo are required for their promyogenic effects. Cdo is important for full Abl kinase activity, and Abl is necessary for full activation of p38 MAPK, during myogenic differentiation. As seen with myoblasts depleted of Cdo, the diminished differentiation displayed by Abl-depleted cells is rescued by the expression of an activated form of the immediate upstream p38-activating kinase MAPK kinase 6. Abl's promyogenic effect is therefore linked to a multiprotein cell surface complex that regulates differentiation-dependent p38 activation.
Hardware/software co-verification of cryptographic algorithms using Cryptol

Cryptol is a programming language designed for specifying cryptographic algorithms. Despite its high-level modeling nature, Cryptol programs are fully executable. Further, a large subset of Cryptol can be automatically synthesized to hardware. To meet the inherent high-assurance requirements of cryptographic systems, Cryptol comes with a suite of formal-methods based tools that enable users to perform various program verification tasks. In this paper, we provide an overview of Cryptol and its verification toolset, especially focusing on the co-verification of third-party VHDL implementations against highlevel Cryptol specifications. As a case study, we demonstrate the technique on two hand-written VHDL implementations of the Skein hash algorithm.
The Anaphase-Promoting Complex/Cyclosome Activator Cdh1 Modulates Rho GTPase by Targeting p190 RhoGAP for Degradation

ABSTRACT Cdh1 is an activator of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome and contributes to mitotic exit and G1 maintenance by targeting cell cycle proteins for degradation. However, Cdh1 is expressed and active in postmitotic or quiescent cells, suggesting that it has functions other than cell cycle control. Here, we found that homozygous Cdh1 gene-trapped (Cdh1GT/GT) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and Cdh1-depleted HeLa cells reduced stress fiber formation significantly. The GTP-bound active Rho protein was apparently decreased in the Cdh1-depleted cells. The p190 protein, a major GTPase-activating protein for Rho, accumulated both in Cdh1GT/GT MEFs and in Cdh1-knockdown HeLa cells. Cdh1 formed a physical complex with p190 and stimulated the efficient ubiquitination of p190, both in in vitro and in vivo. The motility of Cdh1-depleted HeLa cells was impaired; however, codepletion of p190 rescued the migration activity of these cells. Moreover, Cdh1GT/GT embryos exhibited phenotypes similar to those observed for Rho-associated kinase I and II knockout mice: eyelid closure delay and disruptive architecture with frequent thrombus formation in the placental labyrinth layer, respectively. Furthermore, the p190 protein accumulated in the Cdh1GT/GT embryonic tissues. Our data revealed a novel function for Cdh1 as a regulator of Rho and provided insights into the role of Cdh1 in cell cytoskeleton organization and cell motility.
Leg Asymmetries and Coordination Dynamics in Walking

ABSTRACT Models of interlimb coordination (H. Haken, J. A. S. Kelso, & H. Bunz, 1985; P. N. Kugler & M. T. Turvey, 1987) were tested in walking by examining the role of asymmetries between limbs. Participants walked on a treadmill with and without a metronome. Five asymmetry conditions were created via ankle loads of 0, 3, or 6 kg on either leg. With the metronome, participants matched the target period. Without the metronome, stride rate slowed as the mass was increased on either leg. The loads led to an increase in stride period that was predicted by Huygens’ law and the hybrid pendulum-spring model. In agreement with extended Haken–Kelso–Bunz model predictions, leg asymmetries led to deviations from antiphase coordination. Also, perception–action coordination was influenced by the asymmetry between the legs and metronome. In contrast, no predicted stability effects were observed. These findings reveal that some properties of interlimb coordination, apparent in laboratory-based tasks, can also be observed in human walking.
Forecasting the Distributions of Hourly Electricity Spot Prices - Accounting for Serial Correlation Patterns and Non-Normality of Price Distributions

We present a stochastic modelling approach to describe the dynamics of hourly electricity prices. The suggested methodology is a stepwise combination of several mathematical operations to adequately characterize the distribution of electricity spot prices. The basic idea is to analyze day-ahead prices as panel of 24 cross-sectional hours and to identify principal components of hourly prices to account for the cross correlation between hours. Moreover, non-normality of residuals is addressed by performing a normal quantile transformation and specifying appropriate stochastic processes for time series before fit. We highlight the importance of adequate distributional forecasts and present a framework to evaluate the distribution forecast accuracy. The application for German electricity prices 2015 reveal that: (i) An autoregressive specification of the stochastic component delivers the best distribution but not always the best point forecasting results. (ii) Only a complete evaluation of point, interval and density forecast, including formal statistical tests, can ensure a correct model choice.