Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diabesity: therapeutic options

A pathogenic relationship exists between type 2 diabetes and obesity. Over the last decade, the escalation in diabetes cases has paralleled the rapid increase in obesity rates, constituting a global health crisis. Environmental risk factors attributed to the global increase in obesity include the consumption of high‐calorie, high‐fat foods and inadequate physical activity. Obese individuals may also have a genetic predisposition for obesity. Both diabetes and obesity confer an elevated risk of developing a range of complications and comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, which can complicate disease management. This review examines the aetiology of the linkages between diabetes and obesity and the range of available therapies. Recent clinical evidence substantiating the efficacy and safety of incretin‐based antidiabetic therapies is analysed, in addition to data on antiobesity therapeutic strategies, such as antiobesity agents, behaviour modification and bariatric surgery. Glucose control is often accompanied by weight‐neutral or modest weight reduction effects with DPP‐4 inhibitor treatment (sitagliptin, vildagliptin, saxagliptin) and weight loss with GLP‐1 receptor agonist therapy (exenatide, liraglutide). Studies of antiobesity agents including orlistat, sibutramine and rimonabant have shown attrition rates of 30–40%, and the long‐term effects of these agents remain unknown. Bariatric surgical procedures commonly performed are laparoscopic adjustable banding of the stomach and the Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass, and have produced type 2 diabetes remission rates of up to 73%. Therapeutic strategies that integrate glycaemic control and weight loss will assume greater importance as the prevalence of diabetes and obesity increase.
Technical Framework Design of Safety Production Information Management Platform for Chemical Industrial Parks Based on Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things

As chemical industry is a fundamental strategic sector as well as one pillar industry of our national economy, chemical industrial parks of various scales has been built in many places to facilitate the production of chemical enterprises. However, considering the inflammability, explosibility and toxicity of the raw materials and products of such enterprises, accidents are very likely during the production, transportation and storage, forming major threats to human lives, the environment and property. By making use of key technologies of the Internet of Things such as sensing, accessing and networking, massive information storage, analyzing and processing capabilities of big data technology and the data computing methods of cloud computing technology, this paper designs a safety production information management platform for the daily supervision and emergency rescue of chemical industrial parks, proposes the system communication network framework based on the Internet of Things and the three-layer platform technical framework based on cloud computing, describes the technical structure and function of the sensing layer, the transmission layer, the infrastructure layer, the platform layer and the application layer of the platform, and elaborates key technologies including the design thought of uniform big data analyzing platform, regional collaborative emergency management operating mechanism, the combination of RFID technology and sensor network technology and model design of expert decision-making. The platform can realize logistics management of dangerous articles and key environment parameter monitoring of dangerous chemical enterprises, help enterprises in the safety compliance management to the whole production process, allow red light early warning and start responding early warning mechanism and rescue plan automatically, so as to effectively avoid the occurrence of potential accidents and safeguard and improve the economic and social benefits of enterprises.
EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE AUDITORY DETECTION PROCESS ON AVIAN POINT COUNTS

Abstract We have developed a system for simulating the conditions of avian surveys in which birds are identified by sound. The system uses a laptop computer to control a set of amplified MP3 players placed at known locations around a survey point. The system can realistically simulate a known population of songbirds under a range of factors that affect detection probabilities. The goals of our research are to describe the sources and range of variability affecting point-count estimates and to find applications of sampling theory and methodologies that produce practical improvements in the quality of bird-census data. Initial experiments in an open field showed that, on average, observers tend to undercount birds on unlimited-radius counts, though the proportion of birds counted by individual observers ranged from 81% to 132% of the actual total. In contrast to the unlimited-radius counts, when data were truncated at a 50-m radius around the point, observers overestimated the total population by 17% to 122%. Results also illustrate how detection distances decline and identification errors increase with increasing levels of ambient noise. Overall, the proportion of birds heard by observers decreased by 28 ± 4.7% under breezy conditions, 41 ± 5.2% with the presence of additional background birds, and 42 ± 3.4% with the addition of 10 dB of white noise. These findings illustrate some of the inherent difficulties in interpreting avian abundance estimates based on auditory detections, and why estimates that do not account for variations in detection probability will not withstand critical scrutiny. Análisis Experimentales del Proceso de Detección Auditiva en Puntos de Conteo de Aves
Evidence for validity of ileal digestibility coefficients in monogastrics

Measures of amino acid (AA) digestibility are used widely to estimate bioavailability of AA in feed and food ingredients for monogastric animals. In principle, the digestibility assay is simpler than in vivo assessments of AA bioavailability and allows for simultaneous estimation of the bioavailability of all AA in an experimental diet. It is generally assumed that absorption of intact AA in the hindgut of monogastrics is minimal, even though colonocytes do contain AA transporters and have been shown to absorb AA. This assumption is supported by the observation that infusion of AA into the hindgut does not improve nitrogen balance in monogastrics. In addition, growth performance of monogastrics is more highly correlated with ileal than faecal AA digestibility. Therefore, ileal digestibility coefficients provide better estimates of AA bioavailability than faecal digestibility coefficients. Measures of apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of AA are confounded with endogenous gut AA losses (EAAL). The curvilinear increase in AID of AA with increasing dietary AA level has been attributed to the relatively large contribution of EAAL to total ileal AA flows at low dietary AA levels. Subtracting basal EAAL from total ileal AA flows yields standardized ileal digestibility (SID) coefficients that appear to be more additive than AID coefficients in mixtures of feed ingredients. An implicit assumption when using SID AA coefficients in diet formulation is that the post-absorptive utilization of AA is not influenced by the dietary protein source. This assumption appears inappropriate when using feed or food ingredients that have been over-heated, induce large amounts of EAAL, or contain substantial amounts of fermentable fibre. Improved understanding of processes that contribute to the discrepancy between bioavailability and ileal digestibility will allow a more effective use of AA digestibility coefficients in diet formulation.
Collaboration management framework for OEM – suppliers relationships: a trust-based conceptual approach

ABSTRACT Due to the increased competitiveness and the diversity of requirements in today’s markets, manufacturing companies need to join their competencies and resources to propose innovative solutions for each specific market, with the possibility to transpose these solutions to another market, by means of slight adaptations. Thus, manufacturing firms must constantly conduct new collaborations with known partners in most cases, but also with new partners. The critical question for managers in this latter case is how to define the best collaborative strategy according to the goals of the project and the specificity of the target market. This paper tackles the problem by proposing a conceptual framework for supporting the management of collaborative situations in the case of Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Based on the concept of trust level, the framework proposes a classification of different collaboration modes to be adopted in various contexts of inter-enterprise relationships, in manufacturing sector. The aim is to support the flexible navigation between different collaborative situations by taking into account all decision-making levels from the strategy to the implementation of the information technologies (IT) systems at the operational level.
Transmission of Rickettsia massiliae in the tick, Rhipicephalus turanicus

Abstract. Rickettsia massiliae, strain Bar29, was detected in engorged female ticks of the Rhiphicephalus sanguineus group collected in Corsica, a French Mediterranean island. Ticks were identified by molecular analysis as Rhipicephalus turanicus (Pomerantsev) (Acari: Ixodidae). Twenty larvae of the second generation obtained from a R. massiliae‐infected, engorged female were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and all were positive for R. massiliae. Larvae of the same cohort were fed on rabbits and specimens of subsequent stages of the second and third generation of ticks were tested by PCR. Both transovarial and transstadial transmission were demonstrated; the transovarial transmission rate was estimated at 100%. A high filial infection rate was demonstrated; 132 out of 134 larvae obtained from five infected females of the fourth generation were infected. When saliva samples from half‐engorged Rh. turanicus of the second generation were tested by PCR, four out of five were positive. Rickettsia massiliae was detected in faeces of infected ticks by PCR and immunofluorescence assay, although no rickettsiae could be maintained in culture. Co‐feeding/transsexual transmission of R. massiliae Bar29 was demonstrated by feeding male Rh. turanicus on a rabbit with Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) (Acari: Ixodidae) females (the latter were the only uninfected ticks available). Infection was subsequently detected in nine out of the thirteen females (69.2%). These results suggest that Rh. turanicus ticks are potential vectors and reservoirs for R. massiliae Bar29.
Does Deposit Insurance Promote Financial Depth? Evidence from the Postal Savings System During the 1920s

This paper tests whether deposit insurance promotes financial depth by influencing depositor behavior. To do so, we rely on two schemes operating in the U.S. during the 1920s: the Postal Savings System and the deposit insurance schemes that some states had adopted. We exploit the discontinuity in deposit insurance across state borders and compute changes in postal savings deposits in cities located along the borders of states that did and did not have deposit insurance. We examine the relative growth of postal savings deposits in pairs of border cities when bank suspensions occurred within a short radius (10, 20, and 30 miles). Our results indicate that, following a bank suspension within a 10-mile radius, deposits in postal savings offices located in the non-deposit insurance state increased by 16 percent more than deposits in the neighboring postal savings office located in the deposit insurance state. The magnitude of the effect declines with bank suspension distance. It disappears when deposit insurance is not in effect. Using county-level data, we find that deposit insurance is associated with a 56 percent increase in local banking capacity.
Hypertriglyceridemia during Long-Term Interferon-Alpha Therapy: Efficacy of Diet and Gemfibrosil Treatment. A Case Report

Interferon-alpha might increase triglyceride serum levels through the enhancement of hepatic lipogenesis and/or inhibition of the peripheral lipoprotein lipase. Hypertriglyceridemia during interferon-alpha therapy has been only recently described, mostly in patients with previous abnormalities of lipid metabolism. The authors report here a case of a 65-year-old male bearing advanced colon carcinoma who developed hypertriglyceridemia during long-term interferon-alpha treatment in association with 5 fluorouracil administration. Hypertriglyceridemia was maintained within acceptable levels, without adjusting the treatment plan, by an appropriate diet and gemfibrosil administration.
Approaches in modelling long‐term survival: an application to breast cancer

Several modelling techniques have been proposed for non‐proportional hazards. In this work we consider different models which can be classified into three wide categories: models with time‐varying effects of the covariates; frailty models and cure rate models. We present those different extensions of the proportional hazards model on an application of 2433 breast cancer patients with a long follow‐up. We comment on the differences and similarities among the models and evaluate their performance using survival and hazard plots, Brier scores and pseudo‐observations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Auditing the Auditors: Evaluating the Methodology of Performance Audits

It is hard to deny that the last two decades have witnessed an ‘audit explosion. ’ Increasingly, Supreme Audit Institutions in most counties are allocating greater share of their resources for Performance Auditing of government entities. However, this paper finds that serious academic work examining the methodological foundations of Performance Auditing is conspicuous by its absence in the extant literature on Performance Auditing. Much of the literature on the subject comes from various Supreme Audit Institutions. Academics have either only elaborated on the methodology adopted by these Supreme Audit Institutions or taken issue with the magnitude and direction of the impact of Performance Audit on the performance of government entities. This paper seeks to fill an important void in the literature and argues that the current methodology of performance auditing is fundamentally flawed. Using the well-established principles in financial auditing, it points to the necessity for the existence of a ‘performance statement’ before a Performance Audit can be undertaken. The current practice of auditors making this ‘performance statement’ ex-post violates a well-established norm – the creator of a performance statement cannot be the auditor of the same statement. The paper then goes on to suggest a methodology for developing performance statements and auditing them.
First results of the Herschel key program "Dust, Ice and Gas In Time" (DIGIT): Dust and gas spectroscopy of HD 100546

Context. We present far-infrared spectroscopic observations, taken with the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) on the Herschel Space Observatory, of the protoplanetary disk around the pre-main-sequence star HD100546. These observations are the first within the DIGIT Herschel key program, which aims to follow the evolution of dust, ice, and gas from young stellar objects still embedded in their parental molecular cloud core, through the final pre-main-sequence phases when the circumstellar disks are dissipated. Aims. Our aim is to improve the constraints on temperature and chemical composition of the crystalline olivines in the disk of HD100546 and to give an inventory of the gas lines present in its far-infrared spectrum. Methods. The 69 μm feature is analyzed in terms of position and shape to derive the dust temperature and composition. Furthermore, we detected 32 emission lines from five gaseous species and measured their line fluxes. Results. The 69 μm emission comes either from dust grains with ~70 K at radii larger than 50 AU, as suggested by blackbody fitting, or it arises from ~200K dust at ~13 AU, close to the midplane, as supported by radiative transfer models. We also conclude that the forsterite crystals have few defects and contain at most a few percent iron by mass. Forbidden line emission from [C_(II)] at 157 μm and [O_I] at 63 and 145 μm, most likely due to photodissociation by stellar photons, is detected. Furthermore, five H_2O and several OH lines are detected. We also found high-J rotational transition lines of CO, with rotational temperatures of ~300K for the transitions up to J = 22−21 and T ~ 800 K for higher transitions.
Correlation With Placental Kisspeptin in Postterm Pregnancy and Apoptosis

Postterm pregnancy represents a condition associated with trophoblast apoptosis. Kisspeptin is a peptide able to induce apoptosis by a specific receptor, GPR54, through the upregulation of proapoptotic genes. The aims of the study were to evaluate (1) the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of kisspeptin, GPR54, Bax/Bcl2, and p21 in postterm placentas and (2) kisspeptin ability to act on apoptosis in the third trimester placental explants. Placental specimens were collected from spontaneous term and postterm delivery and kisspeptin, GPR54, Bax/Bcl2, and p21 mRNA expression levels were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Placental explants, collected from elective term cesarean sections, treated with different doses of kisspeptin were analyzed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). The expression levels of all the genes studied in postterm placentas were significantly higher than in-term placentas. Kisspeptin-induced apoptosis in placental explants with a dose-dependent effect, and TUNEL assay demonstrated the kisspeptin involvement in the apoptotic placental processes. Our present findings led us to hypothesize that kisspeptin may represent a placental proapoptotic agent acting in physiological and/or pathological pregnancy conditions in which placental apoptosis mechanisms are increased.
COMPARISON OF TWO RAPID METHODS FOR THE DETECTION OF LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES WITH A STANDARD PROCEDURE IN NATURALLY CONTAMINATED ENVIRONMENTS OF RAW POULTRY PROCESSING

Two rapid methods (the VIDAS test, from bioMerieux and the Gen-Probe test, from AccuPROBE) were compared with a standard procedure (AFNOR V08-055) for the detection of L. monocytogenes in the environment of naturally contaminated raw poultry processing. Both methods were first tested with their given protocols. But as they are more adapted to food sampling than to environmental ones, these protocols were adapted. After adaptation, the results showed that these two tests performed equally well compared to the classical method.
Immersive virtual environment for mobile platform remote operation and exploration

These days, robotic platforms are commonly used in operational conditions where manned operations are not practical, not cost-effective or too dangerous. Those robotic devices rely heavily on remote operations using imagery acquired by on-board sensors that provide quite limited situational awareness to the user. In difficult scenarios, this lack of good situational awareness could lead to the failure of the mission. This paper presents a new concept currently in development that will improve situational awareness of the remote platform operator through an immersive virtual environment. The system uses an immersive chamber (CAVE) in which the operator is able to visualize and interact with an avatar of a robot evolving in a 3D model of its area of operation. The 3D model is incrementally built from the remote platform sensor feeds and provides “persistent data” to the user. This paper presents the first phase of the work which involves the development of a concept demonstration prototype. The implementation uses a robot simulator instead of a real world robot in order to rapidly be able to evaluate the concept and perform experiments. The tools developed in simulation will serve as the base for further developments and support the transition to a real robotic platform.
Prefrontal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation as add on treatment in depression

A growing number of studies report antidepressant effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in patients with major depression. The hypothesis that high frequency (20 Hz) rTMS (HF-rTMS) may speed up and strengthen the therapeutic response to sertraline in MD was tested. Twenty eight patients who had not yet received medication for the present depressive episode (n=12) or had failed a single trial of an antidepressant medication (n=16) were started on sertraline and randomised to receive either real of sham HF-rTMS. HF-rTMS was applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal area in daily sessions (30 trains of 2 s, 20–40 s intertrain interval, at 90% motor threshold) on 10 consecutive working days. The results suggest that in this patient population, HF-rTMS does not add efficacy over the use of standard antidepressant medication.
The impact of blackcurrant juice on attention, mood and brain wave spectral activity in young healthy volunteers

There is a growing body of evidence from randomized controlled trials which indicates that consumption of berries has a positive effect upon the cognitive function of healthy adults. It has been recommended that studies combining cognitive and physiological measures be undertaken in order to strengthen the evidence base for the putative effects of flavonoid consumption on cognitive outcomes. This pilot study utilized a randomized, double-blind and placebo controlled crossover design to assess the influence of the acute administration of anthocyanin-rich blackcurrant juice, standardized at 500 mg of polyphenols, on mood and attention. Additionally, this trial used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess if any changes in cognitive performance are associated with changes in localized prefrontal cortex neuronal activity in nine healthy young adults. Outcomes from the pilot EEG data highlight an anxiolytic effect of the consumption of a single serve blackcurrant juice, as indexed by a suppression of α spectral power, and an increase in the slow wave δ and θ spectral powers. There was also an indication of greater alertness and lower fatigue, as indexed by an increase in β power and suppression of α spectral power. Outcomes from the CogTrack™ system indicated a small acute increase in reaction times during the digit vigilance task.
Development of nanoscale structure in LAT-based signaling complexes

ABSTRACT The adapter molecule linker for activation of T cells (LAT) plays a crucial role in forming signaling complexes induced by stimulation of the T cell receptor (TCR). These multi-molecular complexes are dynamic structures that activate highly regulated signaling pathways. Previously, we have demonstrated nanoscale structure in LAT-based complexes where the adapter SLP-76 (also known as LCP2) localizes to the periphery of LAT clusters. In this study, we show that initially LAT and SLP-76 are randomly dispersed throughout the clusters that form upon TCR engagement. The segregation of LAT and SLP-76 develops near the end of the spreading process. The local concentration of LAT also increases at the same time. Both changes require TCR activation and an intact actin cytoskeleton. These results demonstrate that the nanoscale organization of LAT-based signaling complexes is dynamic and indicates that different kinds of LAT-based complexes appear at different times during T cell activation. Summary: The molecular organization of the adapter proteins LAT and SLP-76 changes during T cell activation. Upon engagement of T cell receptor, they first mix randomly. Later, SLP-76 is restricted to the edges of LAT clusters.