Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiomyocyte-Specific miRNA-30c Over-Expression Causes Dilated Cardiomyopathy

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate many aspects of cellular function and their deregulation has been implicated in heart disease. MiRNA-30c is differentially expressed in the heart during the progression towards heart failure and in vitro studies hint to its importance in cellular physiology. As little is known about the in vivo function of miRNA-30c in the heart, we generated transgenic mice that specifically overexpress miRNA-30c in cardiomyocytes. We show that these mice display no abnormalities until about 6 weeks of age, but subsequently develop a severely dilated cardiomyopathy. Gene expression analysis of the miRNA-30c transgenic hearts before onset of the phenotype indicated disturbed mitochondrial function. This was further evident by the downregulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes III and IV at the protein level. Taken together these data indicate impaired mitochondrial function due to OXPHOS protein depletion as a potential cause for the observed dilated cardiomyopathic phenotype in miRNA-30c transgenic mice. We thus establish an in vivo role for miRNA-30c in cardiac physiology, particularly in mitochondrial function.
Effects of visual‐manual tracking under dual‐task conditions on auditory language comprehension and story retelling in persons with aphasia

Background: Two recent studies (McNeil et al., 2004, 2005) evaluated non‐brain‐injured (N‐BI) elderly persons' dual‐task performance on a story retell procedure (SRP) and a visual‐manual line‐tracking task. Results of both studies demonstrated a unidirectional cost whereby the difficulty of the language task had an effect on tracking performance; however, the difficulty of the tracking task had no effect on language comprehension as indexed by story retelling. The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of two anonymous reviewers, the volume editor, programming support of Neil Szuminsky, and the funding of this project by the Veterans Administration Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, project #C3159R. Aims: The specific aim of this investigation was to assess the effects of performing a concurrent visual‐manual tracking task on the comprehension of stories in persons with aphasia (PWA). Methods & Procedures: The current study evaluated the performance trading in these tasks in PWA using similar dual‐task procedures as those employed in the McNeil et al (2004, 2005) studies. Specifically, two tracking difficulty levels were used to assess concurrent costs under a single difficulty level of the SRP. Outcomes & Results: The results of this study replicate, in PWA, the null effect of tracking difficulty on story retell performance that was found in the two earlier studies in N‐BI elderly persons. Contrary to predictions, there was no significant effect of tracking difficulty on story retell performance. There was also no significant difference between story comprehension or visual manual‐tracking tasks performed alone or in the competing conditions. Conclusions: The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that a deficit in allocating processing resources in PWA would result in a concurrent cost of tracking difficulty on story comprehension. The results are discussed relative to the limitations of the story retell procedure for indexing potential dual‐task effects and relative to the possible structure of the shared cognitive architecture used in these specific dual‐tasks.
Learning When to Switch between Skills in a High Dimensional Domain

Introduction Complex problems are often easier to model with skills1 than primitive (single time-step) actions (Stone, Sutton, and Kuhlmann 2005). In addition, skills have been shown to speed up the convergence rates of planning algorithms both experimentally (Sutton, Precup, and Singh 1999; Silver and Ciosek 2012) and theoretically (Mann and Mannor 2014). Skills are generally designed by a domain expert, but designing a ‘good’ set of skills can be challenging in highdimensional, complex domains. In some cases, the skills may contain useful prior knowledge but cannot solve the task, resulting in a sub-optimal solution or no solution at all. Given a ‘poor’ set of skills, we would like to dynamically improve them. Sutton, Precup, and Singh 1999 suggest Interrupting Options (IO) whereby the agent switches skills whenever there exists another skill with higher value than continuing the current skill. Mankowitz, Mann, and Mannor 2014 prove that the IO process converges on the set of skills with optimal switching rules (under mild assumptions). While the potential of IO is promising, previous experiments only showed the advantage of IO in tasks with few states. We experiment with Space Invaders (SI, Figure 1) via the Arcade Learning Environment (ALE) using the 1024-bit RAM image as the state (Bellemare et al. 2013). The primitive actions are combinations of move left, move right, do nothing, and shoot. Our hypothesis is that IOs can improve performance compared to learning with a fixed set of skills despite the fact that SI has a large state-space. To test our hypothesis, we constructed a naive set of skills for the domain where each skill repeats one of the primitive actions over-and-over until a termination condition occurs. However, designing a rule that determines the optimal time to switch between skills is challenging, so we gave each skill a constant probability of switching at each timestep. We call the set of skills with this naive termination rule the initial skills set, and our experiments compared learning with the initial skill set to learning with a skill set whose switching rules are dynamically adapted by the IO rule.
Reactive non-interference for a browser model

We investigate non-interference (secure information flow) policies for web browsers, replacing or complementing the Same Origin Policy. First, we adapt a recently proposed dynamic information flow enforcement mechanism to support asynchronous I/O. We prove detailed security and precision results for this enforcement mechanism, and implement it for the Featherweight Firefox browser model. Second, we investigate three useful web browser security policies that can be enforced by our mechanism, and demonstrate their value and limitations.
Influence of Functionalization Degree on the Rheological Properties of Isocyanate-Functionalized Chitin- and Chitosan-Based Chemical Oleogels for Lubricant Applications

This work deals with the influence of functionalization degree on the thermogravimetric and rheological behaviour of NCO-functionalized chitosan- and chitin-based oleogels. Chitosan and chitin were functionalized using different proportions of 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) and subsequently dispersed in castor oil to promote the chemical reaction between the –NCO group of the modified biopolymer and the –OH group located in the ricinoleic fatty acid chain of castor oil, thus resulting in different oleogels with specific thermogravimetric and rheological characteristics. Biopolymers and oleogels were characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) measurements were performed on the oleogels. Oleogels presented suitable thermal resistance, despite the fact that the inclusion of HMDI moieties in the polymer structure led to a reduction in the onset temperature of thermal degradation. The insertion of low amounts of HMDI in both chitin and chitosan produces a drastic reduction in the values of oleogel viscoelastic functions but, above a critical threshold, they increase with the functionalization degree so that isocyanate functionalization results in a chemical tool to modulate oleogel rheological response. Several NCO-functionalized chitosan- and chitin-based oleogel formulations present suitable thermal resistance and rheological characteristics to be proposed as bio-based alternatives to traditional lubricating greases.
A five-stage process for establishing contextually valid systematic observation instruments: the case of rugby union.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a five-stage process for establishing both validity and reliability in new systematic observation instruments. The process is contextualized within the working behaviors of elite level rugby union coaches within the practice setting. The sequential stages began with observer training and progressed through the identification of coaching behaviors through induction (to establish content validity), to establishing face validity through a domain-referenced test. The objectivity and reliability of the developed behavioral classifications are determined through an interobserver agreement test while, finally, the researcher’s ability to reliably reproduce data with the developed instrument is determined using a test/retest intraobserver reliability check. The developed instrument (the Rugby Union Coaches Observation Instrument: RUCOI) is deemed able to record the situationally unique behaviors arising from the nature of the sport and of the elite standard, both of which w.
Toward Team or Player? How Trust, Vicarious Achievement Motive, and Identification Affect Fan Loyalty

This study extends literature on the effects of fan identification on fan loyalty, and antecedents that trigger such effects. This study incorporates trust, a key relationship marketing construct, in the sport industry. The relationship between trust and two other critical antecedents of sport fan loyalty, identification and vicarious achievement motive, is examined from the perspectives of both fan-player and fan-team. The results show that antecedents from distinct perspectives influence loyalty differently. Team identification (fan-team level) is the major determinant of fans’ repatronage intention, with trust in the team as the key driver. However, player identification (fan-player level) has an indirect effect, which must go through team identification to repatronage intention. Therefore, sport organizations are recommended to invest a substantial part of their resources on activities that generate long-term effects, such as trust in the team and team identification, rather than on short-term strateg.
Short-stay in-patient rehabilitation of elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: prospective study.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effectiveness of a short-stay in-patient rehabilitation programme. DESIGN Prospective case-control cohort study. SETTING Regional medical centre, Hong Kong. PATIENTS One hundred and thirty symptomatic elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who had been treated for an acute respiratory illness in 1998. They were divided into two groups: the conventional treatment group, which received no rehabilitation (n=65), and the rehabilitation group (n=65). INTERVENTION A short-stay in-patient rehabilitation programme was implemented, which included assessment, patient and caregiver education, an exercise regimen, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and case conference. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Length of stay, hospital re-admission rate, and admission-free interval. RESULTS The mean length of stay in the rehabilitation ward was 6.2 days. The rate of hospital re-admission was significantly higher in the conventional treatment group than in the rehabilitation group, both within 28 days of discharge home (relative risk=3.33; 95% confidence interval, 2.32-4.56; P=0.019) and at 100 days after discharge (relative risk=2.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.78-3.48; P<0.001). The admission-free interval was significantly longer in the rehabilitation group than in the conventional treatment group (1.13 years vs 0.86 years; P<0.001). CONCLUSION A short-stay in-patient rehabilitation programme is effective in reducing hospital re-admission rates. This type of rehabilitation service may be important for elderly patients, as well as for patients with more advanced disease and more functional deficits than others.
Isotope ratio mass spectrometry, compared with conventional mass spectrometry in kinetic studies at low and high enrichment levels: application to lipoprotein kinetics.

The aim of the present study was to compare the performances of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) in stable isotope kinetic studies. In the analysis of cholesterol and leucine, GC/C/IRMS gave precise and linear results over a large scale of 13C enrichment (-22 to +760 delta/1000 for cholesterol, -26 to +600 delta/1000 for leucine). Compared with GC/MS, GC/C/IRMS was much more accurate and reproducible, especially at low [13C]-cholesterol enrichment (-12 delta/1000), with cholesterol samples ranging from 0.11 to 17 ng. Cholesterol ester kinetics in rabbit plasma low-density lipoproteins was studied after injection of 3 mg [3,4-(13)C]cholesterol. A smooth and regular kinetic curve was obtained with GC/C/IRMS; results were much less reproducible with GC/MS. Finally, the performances of GC/C/IRMS were demonstrated in the simultaneous kinetic study of three human plasma apolipoproteins during a primed constant infusion of 0.7 mg.kg-1.h-1 L-[l-13C]leucine. Kinetic curves were obtained in very-low-density lipoproteins and low-density lipoproteins for apolipoprotein B100, and in high-density lipoproteins for apolipoproteins AI and AIL.
Obama’s Education Plan

Policy makers’ attempts to improve low-achieving schools through reform measures are not new to the 21st century. Research asserts that this policy churn has done little, if anything, to change student achievement levels. Based on the research, I assert that policy reforms such as teacher evaluations and test-based assessment, and school improvement cannot occur without an integration of organizational components. Furthermore, through a theory of action analysis of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, I suggest that the link between what we know about school improvement and what is put forth in policy is tenuous at best. Continuing to pass reform simply for political reasons is not a viable option if our schools are to produce sustainable, positive change in student outcomes.
Multinetwork Control Using OpenFlow

In this paper, we propose to use OpenFlow as a platform for creating a virtual network environment. We analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using OpenFlow and develop a prototype to manage virtual networks. Our prototype allows network visualization, network monitoring, and flow control. Our analysis shows that the developed prototype can be used as the basis for creating a pluralist network infrastructure with high performance, easy management, and high security.
Teachers' Stressors and Strains: A Longitudinal Study of Their Relationships

The authors tested the hypothesized unidirectional or bidirectional effects of 5 types of teachers’ work-related stressors on each of the 4 types of psychological strain: somatic complaints, burnout, and intrinsic and extrinsic job dissatisfaction. The authors used structural regression analyses to analyze the responses of a representative sample of 404 high school teachers who had completed both our T1 (beginning of school year) and T2 (end of school year) questionnaires. The authors found support for the expected unidirectional effects of the T1 work-related stressors on the respondents’ T2 somatic complaints (with baseline somatic complaints controlled for), and also for the expected unidirectional effects of T1 intrinsic and extrinsic job dissatisfaction on the T2 values of the five types of stressors (with baseline stressors controlled for). Only partial support was found for the expected bidirectional relationships between the stressors and teachers’ burnout. The authors suggest that the directionality across time of the relationships between stressors and strains may depend on the intrinsic properties of the strain under consideration.
Individual Signatures Define Canine Skin Microbiota Composition and Variability

Dogs present almost all their skin sites covered by hair, but canine skin disorders are more common in certain skin sites and breeds. The goal of our study is to characterize the composition and variability of the skin microbiota in healthy dogs and to evaluate the effect of the breed, the skin site, and the individual. We have analyzed eight skin sites of nine healthy dogs from three different breeds by massive sequencing of 16S rRNA gene V1–V2 hypervariable regions. The main phyla inhabiting the skin microbiota in healthy dogs are Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. Our results suggest that skin microbiota composition pattern is individual specific, with some dogs presenting an even representation of the main phyla and other dogs with only a major phylum. The individual is the main force driving skin microbiota composition and diversity rather than the skin site or the breed. The individual is explaining 45% of the distances among samples, whereas skin site explains 19% and breed 9%. Moreover, analysis of similarities suggests a strong dissimilarity among individuals (R = 0.79, P = 0.001) that is mainly explained by low-abundant species in each dog. Skin site also plays a role: inner pinna presents the highest diversity value, whereas perianal region presents the lowest one and the most differentiated microbiota composition.
Effect of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on airflow motion using computational fluid dynamics analysis

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) ranked as the fifth leading cause of death in 2002 and it is had been predicted to become fourth leading cause of death worldwide by 2030. COPD is a disease that will narrow the airway progressively and it alters the behaviour of normal breathing flow. This study aims to investigate the changes of flow pattern and pressure distribution with respect the presence of COPD on the airway's lumen. Four airway models were generated based on the fifth to eighth generations of Weibel's lung model. The simulations were carried out using Reynolds number ranging of 200 to 1400, corresponding to an average height man breathing from rest to vigorous state. The three-dimensional (3D) incompressible laminar Navier-Stokes equations are solved using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver on unstructured tetrahedral meshes. This method overcomes the problem of the absence of actual images for different COPD locations. The simulation results show that the obstructed airways significantly alter the air flow rate ratio due to the recirculation happens at the obstructed model which prevents air to enter the lower generation. It is found that, as the Reynolds number increases, the pressure drop also increased drastically in obstructed airway.
International Meshing Roundtable ( IMR 23 ) Delaunay quadrangulation by two-coloring vertices

We introduce a bichromatic Delaunay quadrangulation principle by assigning the vertices of a Delaunay triangulation one of two colors, then discarding edges between vertices of the same color. We present algorithms for generating quadrangulations using this principle and simple refinements. The global vertex coloring ensures that only local refinements are needed to get all quads. This is in contrast to triangle-pairing algorithms, which get stuck with isolated triangles that require global refinement. We present two new sphere-packing algorithms for generating the colored triangulation, and we may also take as input a Delaunay refinement mesh and color it arbitrarily. These mesh non-convex planar domains with provable quality: quad angles in [10 , 174 ] and edges in [0.1, 2]r. The algorithms extend to curved surfaces and graded meshes. The “random” algorithm generates points with blue noise. The “advancing-front” algorithm produces large patches of boundary-aligned square tilings. c 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the 23rd International Meshing Roundtable (IMR23).
Rule- and Cost-Based Optimization of OLAP Workloads on Distributed RDBMS with Column-Oriented Storage Function

Database systems have recently utilized both row-and a column-oriented storage systems, also termed as hybrid storage, as their storage devices for large scale data management. The hybrid storage based database systems should ideally be operated on distributed computing environments for query optimization, however, studies on query optimization of such database systems are not available in literature. Therefore, the selection of the storage type and the accurate estimation of query workload are critical factors for efficient query processing on distributed computing environments. In this paper, we describe a novel storage selection method of a RDBMS with a column-oriented storage function, which is a type of DBMSs with the hybrid storage, on distributed computing environments. Our storage selection method is designed for efficient query processing based on rule-and cost-based optimization in the research field of RDBMS, and it can help to improve query optimization of RDBMSs with the hybrid storage.
Expression of IFN‐γ, IL‐4, and IL‐17 in cutaneous schistosomal granuloma

Cutaneous schistosomal granuloma (CSG) is a rare dermatological disease, the clinical and histopathological features of which are well defined. Although a panoramic picture of its immunopathogenesis in humans is not yet available, it is believed to be induced by T helper 1 (Th1), Th2, or Th17 cytokines in animals. This study evaluated the expression of different types of Th cytokines, including Th1 cytokine interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ), Th2 cytokine interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), and Th17 cytokine IL‐17, in human CSG.
Premarin improves outcomes of spinal cord injury in male rats through stimulating both angiogenesis and neurogenesis*

Objective:To ascertain whether Premarin improves spinal cord injury outcomes in male rats by stimulating both angiogenesis and neurogenesis. Design:Chi Mei Medical Center research laboratory. Subjects:Male Sprague-Dawley rats 240–258 g. Interventions:Anesthetized rats, after the onset of spinal cord injury, were divided into two groups and given the vehicle solution (1 mL/kg of body weight) or Premarin (1 mg/kg of body weight). Saline or Premarin solutions were administered intravenously and immediately after spinal cord injury. Measurements and Main Results:Premarin (an estrogen sulfate) causes attenuation of spinal cord injury-induced spinal cord infarction and hind limb locomotor dysfunction. Spinal cord injury-induced apoptosis as well as activated inflammation was also significantly Premarin-reduced. In injured spinal cord, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and production of an antiinflammatory cytokine were all Premarin therapy-promoted. Conclusions:Our results indicate that Premarin therapy may protect against spinal cord apoptosis after spinal cord injury through mechanisms stimulating both angiogenesis and neurogenesis in male rats.
Properties of the kinetochore in vitro. II. Microtubule capture and ATP- dependent translocation

We have studied the interaction of preformed microtubules (MTs) with the kinetochores of isolated chromosomes. This reaction, which we call MT capture, results in MTs becoming tightly bound to the kinetochore, with their ends capped against depolymerization. These observations, combined with MT dynamic instability, suggest a model for spindle morphogenesis. In addition, ATP appears to mobilize dynamic processes at captured MT ends. We used biotin-labeled MT seeds to follow assembly dynamics at the kinetochore. In the presence of ATP and unlabeled tubulin, labeled MT segments translocate away from the kinetochore by polymerization of subunits at the attached end. We have termed this reaction proximal assembly. Further studies demonstrated that translocation could be uncoupled from MT assembly. We suggest that the kinetochore contains an ATPase activity that walks along the MT lattice toward the plus end. This activity may be responsible for the movement of chromosomes away from the pole in prometaphase.