Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tracking of Physical Activity, Sport Participation, and Sedentary Behaviors over Four Years of High School

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent of tracking of physical activity (PA), sports participation (SP), and sedentary behaviors (SB) over four years of high school education among the Croatian Physical Activity in Adolescence Longitudinal Study (CRO-PALS) cohort. Methods: In this investigation, participants were 844 high school students (15.6 years at baseline; 49% girls). The SHAPES questionnaire was used to assess PA, SP, and SB at ages 15, 16, 17, and 18 and tracking was assessed using generalized estimating equations. Results: Tracking coefficients for PA were similar in both sexes, ranged from 0.49 to 0.61, and indicated moderate tracking, while the tracking of SB tended to be somewhat higher over the four years of follow-up (β = 0.60–0.72). Youth that participated in sports at baseline had a 16 to 28 times higher odds of continued participation at follow-up, depending on the type of sport and gender. Finally, both low physical activity and high screen time showed strong tracking in both genders. Conclusion: PA and SB tracked moderately between ages 15 and 18. Moreover, the strong tracking of low PA and high screen time indicates that the detection of these risk factors at the beginning of high school should be advocated.
Phytochemical and Biological Studies of Ochna Species

The genus Ochna L. (Gr, Ochne; wild pear), belonging to the Ochnaceae family, includes ca. 85 species of evergreen trees, shrubs, and shrublets, distributed in tropical Asia, Africa, and America. Several members of this genus have long been used in folk medicine for treatment of various ailments, such as asthma, dysentery, epilepsy, gastric disorders, menstrual complaints, lumbago, ulcers, as an abortifacient, and as antidote against snake bites. Up to now, ca. 111 constituents, viz. flavonoids (including bi‐, tri‐, and pentaflavonoids), anthranoids, triterpenes, steroids, fatty acids, and a few others have been identified in the genus. Crude extracts and isolated compounds have been found to exhibit analgesic, anti‐HIV‐1, anti‐inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activities, lending support to the rationale behind several of its traditional uses. The present review compiles the informations concerning the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and biological activities of Ochna.
Transurethral resection versus minimally invasive treatments of benign prostatic hyperplasia: results of treatments. Our experience.

OBJECTIVE In this non-randomized prospective study the results of standard TURP (Transurethral Resection of the Prostate) versus other minimally invasive treatments were compared. MATERIALS AND METHODS Among all the patients treated at our Institution for bladder outlet obstruction due to BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia) from January 1995 to June 1998, 212 patients have been evaluated; 90 patients underwent to TURP, 13 patients to TVP (Transurethral ElectroVaporization), 24 patients to TUNA (TransUrethral Needle Ablation), 71 patients to ILC (Interstitial Laser Coagulation), and 13 patients to WIT (Water-Induced Thermotherapy). RESULTS TURP achieves the highest decrease of prostate volume (48.8%), the best increase of maximum flow rate (75.3%) and the highest decrease of residual volume (89.8%) in comparison to other methods; these results are substantially stable 24 months after treatment; on the other hand, after WIT a reduction of prostatic volume of 5.2%, an increase of maximum flow rate of 16.7% and a decrease of residual volume of 25.2% can be observed. The relief of bladder outlet obstruction is indicated by the decrease of detrusor pressure at maximum flow rate in comparison to baseline values; it decreases of 27.5% for WIT, of 34.8% for TUNA, of 38.3% for ILC, of 48.4% for TUR, and of 53.3% for T.P The recorded results are substantially stable 24 months after treatment. A marked decrease of IPSS and QL score can be observed for all the procedures after 6 months, ranging from 40.2% for WIT to 76.7% for TUNA; however, these parameters undergo to a slight worsening 24 months after treatment for TURP, TVP and TUNA, while remain substantially stable for ILC and WIT. CONCLUSION From the analysis of our results, it appears that TURP is still the golden standard treatment for BPH; TURP remains the most effective and definitive way of treatment, but it could be less attractive from the patients' perspective, especially after minimally invasive treatments with good tolerability have become available. It is therefore evident that the choice of each method should be performed in consideration of patients' general performance status, of symptoms and of indications and contraindications of each method.
Feature Extraction for Single Trial Record of Visual Mismatch Negativity by Use of Independent Component Analysis

Signal averaging method is usually utilized for extracting the characteristics of event related potentials (ERPs). However, the amplitude and duration of ERPs are not constant for each stimulus due to the fluctuation of the subject's state, accordingly the appropriate selection of available data is crucial for realizing the accurate averaging. Independent component analysis (ICA) is one of powerful tool for signal processing, and some application to analyze the neurological signal processing such as electroencephalogram (EEG), evoked potentials (EPs), ERPs and so on were done. In this study, ICA was applied to process the visual mismatch negativity (V-MMN) for extracting the features and for selecting the appropriate single trial data for averaging. From the grand average waveform of V-MMN, signal separation matrix was determined by use of ICA. Characteristic parameters for evaluating single trial data were calculated from the decomposed components of ERPs. Then, the available single trial data was selected based on the value of evaluation parameter. Waveforms of selective averaging method and conventional averaging method were compared and the effectiveness of the proposed method was examined.
Evaluating the role of mixed frequency real-time weather data in economic forecasts

This thesis examines the role of weather forecasts in economic decision making and proposes a state-space model for evaluating multi-horizon forecasts. Our first application sets the scene by using mixed frequency real-time weather data to improve the predictive performance of retail sales forecasts. Our findings illustrate that significant improvements in predictive accuracy can be achieved when weather variables are incorporated into a mixed frequency forecasting model. However, once we move to a real-time environment, substituting meteorological forecasts for observed weather variables, meteorological forecast uncertainty leads to a somewhat muted improvement in predictive accuracy. The implication is that real-time data constraints are a limitation of forecasting models that use weather variables as an input. This points to a role for forecast evaluation and the need to better understand the structure of forecasting error. Our state-space model of multi-horizon forecasts is based on the forecast revision structure implied by forecast rationality. The parameters of this model allow us to identify rational forecast revision components, that we call information content, as well as residual forecasting error components, that we call implicit forecasting error. A key contribution of this thesis is the demonstration of how our model based approach to forecast evaluation nests existing test based approaches as special cases. We illustrate our proposed multi-horizon forecast evaluation approach using two empirical applications. First, we employ our model based approach to examine the structure of forecasting error in multi-horizon meteorological forecasts of daily temperature. Multi-horizon temperature forecasts are found to contain multiple sources of forecasting error. The structure of meteorological forecasting error depends on the length of the forecast horizon. Second, we employ our model to examine the information content of multi-horizon electricity demand forecasts for the New South Wales region of the Australian National Electricity Market. We discover that the information content of electricity demand forecasts depends not only on the length of the horizon at which the forecasts are made, but also the time of day the forecasts are made.
Servicization with skill premium in the digital economy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine an endogenous growth model, as a component of a broader study of servicization with skill premium and its policy implications in the evolving digital economy. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops a two-sector endogenous growth model which allows for the observed characteristics of digitally empowered structural changes. Specifically, the driving force of economic growth is the expanding variety of intermediate services as a consequence of innovation in services. The introduction of new intermediate services specifically contributes to total factor productivity in the production of service sector, and thus an uneven growth path with skill premium toward a service economy generally exists. Findings The principal finding of this paper is that the digitally empowered expanding variety of intermediate services due to innovation contributes significantly to total factor productivity in the production of service sector, and thus a servicization with skill premium generally exists along a steady-state path. In addition, this paper derives an optimal innovation policy to rule out the market failures due to innovation externality and market power in monopolistic competition conditions, and shows the Rybczynski effects of exogenous endowment changes in the evolving digital economy. Originality/value The principal contribution of this paper is to determine how unbalanced endogenous growth along a steady-state path is linked with a service economy with skill premium in the evolving digital economy. In addition to this analysis, this paper provides policy implications – namely, that a positive but finite innovation subsidy can achieve the social optimum in the digital economy, and that an exogenous increase in high-skilled labor can speed up a digitally empowered economic growth.
Facilitators and Barriers to Use of the Female Condom: Qualitative Interviews with Women of Diverse Ethnicity

ABSTRACT Women in the United States, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics, are at increased risk for HIV. The female condom now offers women a potentially important option for HIV prevention, yet few efforts have been made to increase its use. To elucidate strategies to promote the use of the female condom, we conducted in-depth interviews with 62 women recruited from the four major racial/ethnic groups of the U.S. (African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, and white). Subject recruitment took place at a family planning clinic in San Francisco during 1996–97. We identified four major types of facilitators and barriers to use of the female condom: mechanical, psychosexual, interpersonal, and situational. Specifically, the mechanical facilitators and barriers included positive and negative aspects of the device, and difficulty with insertion. The psychosexual factors were female empowerment, more options for contraception and disease prevention, discomfort with vaginal insertion, and condom use norms. The interpersonal factors included: enhanced communication, relationship status, partner preferences, and partner objections. Finally, the situations that made women disinclined to use the device were: no access to the female condom when having sex and using other forms of contraceptives. The implications of these findings for HIV prevention and future research are discussed.
Structural Change Through Public Education Expenditure: Evidence from China

Under China's hukou system, I analyze the relationship between public education expenditure and structural change as measured by labor transfer from the agricultural to the industrial sector. I construct a two‐sector general equilibrium model, which shows that in the short term, public education expenditure crowds out industrial capital accumulation and temporarily hinders structural change, but in the long term, public education expenditure permanently reduces rural residents' education costs. An inverted U‐shape relationship implied by the empirical evidence indicates that China's current public education expenditure is far from optimal, suggesting that China should increase it, especially for rural residents. (JEL I28, O11, O15)
Protein targeting to the plasma membrane of adult skeletal muscle fiber: an organized mosaic of functional domains.

The plasma membrane of differentiated skeletal muscle fibers comprises the sarcolemma, the transverse (T) tubule network, and the neuromuscular and muscle-tendon junctions. We analyzed the organization of these domains in relation to defined surface markers, beta-dystroglycan, dystrophin, and caveolin-3. These markers were shown to exhibit highly organized arrays along the length of the fiber. Caveolin-3 and beta-dystroglycan/dystrophin showed distinct, but to some extent overlapping, labeling patterns and both markers left transverse tubule openings clear. This labeling pattern revealed microdomains over the entire plasma membrane with the exception of the neuromuscular and muscle-tendon junctions which formed distinct demarcated macrodomains. Our results suggest that the entire plasma membrane of mature muscle comprises a mosaic of T tubule domains together with sareolemmal caveolae and beta-dystroglycan domains. The domains identified with these markers were examined with respect to targeting of viral proteins and other expresseddomain-specific markers. We found that each marker protein was targeted to distinct microdomains. The macrodomains were intensely labeled with all our markers. Replacing the cytoplasmic tail of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein with that of CD4 resulted in retargeting from one domain to another. The domain-specific protein distribution at the muscle cell surface may be generated by targeting pathways requiring specific sorting information but this trafficking is different from the conventional apical-basolateral division.
Frequency- and Phase-Tunable Optoelectronic Oscillator

An optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) for the generation of a microwave signal with both tunable frequency and phase is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In the proposed OEO, a single-sideband (SSB) polarization-modulated signal is generated by a polarization modulator (PolM) and a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG). The SSB polarization-modulated signal is then split into two parts. One part is sent to a photodetector (PD) and then fed back to the PolM to form the OEO loop. The other part is sent to an electronically tunable polarizer (ETP) and then applied to a second PD. The frequency tunability is achieved by tuning the wavelength of the optical carrier. The tunable phase is introduced by tuning the principal axis of the ETP. An experiment is performed, and a microwave signal with a tunable frequency from 6.6 to 13.1 GHz and a tunable phase from -180° to 180° is generated. The phase noise performance of the generated microwave signal is also evaluated, which is -101.9 dBc/Hz at an offset of 10 kHz.
The clinical picture of the Börjeson–Forssman–Lehmann syndrome in males and heterozygous females with PHF6 mutations

The usual description of the Börjeson–Forssman–Lehmann syndrome (BFLS) is that of a rare, X‐linked, partially dominant condition with severe intellectual disability, epilepsy, microcephaly, coarse facial features, long ears, short stature, obesity, gynecomastia, tapering fingers, and shortened toes. Recently, mutations have been identified in the PHF6 gene in nine families with this syndrome. The clinical history and physical findings in the affected males reveal that the phenotype is milder and more variable than previously described and evolves with age. Generally, in the first year, the babies are floppy, with failure to thrive, big ears, and small external genitalia. As schoolboys, the picture is one of learning problems, moderate short stature, with emerging truncal obesity and gynecomastia. Head circumferences are usually normal, and macrocephaly may be seen. Big ears and small genitalia remain. The toes are short and fingers tapered and malleable. In late adolescence and adult life, the classically described heavy facial appearance emerges. Some heterozygous females show milder clinical features such as tapering fingers and shortened toes. Twenty percent have significant learning problems, and 95% have skewed X inactivation. We conclude that this syndrome may be underdiagnosed in males in their early years and missed altogether in isolated heterozygous females.
Underuse of the health care system by persons with diabetes mellitus and diabetic macular edema in the United States.

IMPORTANCE Thickening of the center of the retina, diabetic macular edema (DME), is the most common cause of visual loss due to diabetes mellitus. Treatment of DME has improved dramatically, and the prompt diagnosis of DME and referral of these patients have become more critical. Nonetheless, awareness of and care for DME in the US population is uncharacterized. OBJECTIVE To characterize eye care and awareness of eye disease among persons with DME in the general US population. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional analysis of data from participants in the 2005 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 40 years or older with diabetes mellitus and fundus photographs. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Among persons with DME, (1) awareness that diabetes has affected their eyes; (2) report on the last time they visited a diabetes specialist; (3) report on their last eye examination with pupil dilation; and (4) prevalence of visual impairment. RESULTS In 2010, only 44.7% (95% CI, 27.0%-62.4%) of US adults 40 years or older with DME reported being told by a physician that diabetes had affected their eyes or that they had retinopathy; 46.7% (95% CI, 27.5%-66.0%), that they had visited a diabetes nurse educator, dietician, or nutritionist for their diabetes mellitus more than 1 year ago or never; and 59.7% (95% CI, 43.5%-75.9%), that they had received an eye examination with pupil dilation in the last year. Among persons with DME, 28.7% (95% CI, 12.7%-44.7%) were visually impaired (defined as visual acuity worse than 20/40 in the eye with DME) based on visual acuity at the initial examination and 16.0% (95% CI, 2.5%-29.4%) based on best-corrected visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Many persons with diabetes mellitus in the United States are not getting care that can prevent visual impairment and blindness. Strategies to increase awareness are warranted, especially given the recent availability of improved therapies for DME.
Complement 3 is involved in changing the phenotype of human glomerular mesangial cells

Complement activation contributes to tissue injury in various forms of glomerulopathy and is characterized by deposition of complement components, which accelerates the progression of chronic renal damage. We recently reported that complement 3 (C3), a critical component of the complement system, is associated with the synthetic phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells. It is possible that C3 stimulates mesangial cells to assume the synthetic phenotype to, in turn, induce glomerular injury and sclerosis. We investigated the role of C3 in the growth and phenotype of mesangial cells. Cultured human mesangial cells (HMCs) expressed C3 mRNA and protein, and levels were increased in response to IFN‐γ and TNF‐α. HMCs also expressed C3a receptor mRNA and protein. Exogenous C3a stimulated DNA synthesis in HMCs in a dose‐dependent manner. C3a decreased expression h‐caldesmon mRNA, a marker of the contractile phenotype, and increased the expression of osteopontin, matrix Gla, and collagen type1 α1 (collagen IV) mRNAs, which are markers of the synthetic phenotype. C3a decreased expression of α‐smooth muscle actin in HMCs. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting C3 reduced the DNA synthesis and proliferation of HMCs, increased expression of h‐caldesmon mRNA, and decreased expression of osteopontin, matrix Gla, and collagen IV mRNAs in HMCs. These results indicate that C3 causes HMCs to convert to the synthetic phenotype and stimulates growth of mesangial cells, suggesting that C3 may play an important role in phenotypic regulation of mesangial cells in renal diseases. J. Cell. Physiol. 213: 495–501, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Structural basis for binding and transfer of heme in bacterial heme‐acquisition systems

Periplasmic heme‐binding proteins (PBPs) in Gram‐negative bacteria are components of the heme acquisition system. These proteins shuttle heme across the periplasmic space from outer membrane receptors to ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) heme importers located in the inner‐membrane. In the present study, we characterized the structures of PBPs found in the pathogen Burkholderia cenocepacia (BhuT) and in the thermophile Roseiflexus sp. RS‐1 (RhuT) in the heme‐free and heme‐bound forms. The conserved motif, in which a well‐conserved Tyr interacts with the nearby Arg coordinates on heme iron, was observed in both PBPs. The heme was recognized by its surroundings in a variety of manners including hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds, which was confirmed by isothermal titration calorimetry. Furthermore, this study of 3 forms of BhuT allowed the first structural comparison and showed that the heme‐binding cleft of BhuT adopts an “open” state in the heme‐free and 2‐heme‐bound forms, and a “closed” state in the one‐heme‐bound form with unique conformational changes. Such a conformational change might adjust the interaction of the heme(s) with the residues in PBP and facilitate the transfer of the heme into the translocation channel of the importer.