Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kidney and haemostasis

Summary Renal insufficiency is characterized by thrombocytopathy, caused by the accumulation of water soluble and protein bound waste products of protein metabolism, which are not adequately eliminated by the kidney. The kidneys also excrete drugs and their metabolites, which accumulate if dosages are not adjusted to the renal function and may cause clinically relevant bleeding (i. e. synthetic penicillins, vitamin K antagonists, new oral anticoagulants). Therefore, each patients kidney function (GFR) ought to be evaluated by the KDIGO guidelines. The survival of chronic renal patients is lowered by increasing cardiovascular complications. Particularly frequent is non-valvular atrial fibrillation. The recommended prophylaxis with vitamin K antagonists for renal insufficiency is hampered by increased bleeding as well as by augmented (coronary) vascular and valvular calcification. It is not known yet whether prophylaxis with vitamin K may prevent this complication. Conclusion: Because new oral anticoagulants are equally or even more effective and cause less bleeding, they may be favoured in future and even in end-stage renal failure if more is known about dosing, safety and efficacy. The measurement of serum FGF 23 concentration may be helpful as a marker for their use.
The effects of galectin‐3 depletion apheresis on induced skin inflammation in a porcine model

Galectin‐3 (Gal‐3), a β‐galactoside‐binding lectin that is expressed in mammalian cells, is known to modulate several biological functions such as cell‐cell adhesion, macrophage activation, angiogenesis, metastasis, and fibrosis. The goal of this study was to evaluate the ability of Gal‐3 depletion apheresis using an adsorption column with immobilized anti‐Gal‐3‐antibody to reduce inflammation induced by Complete Freund's Adjuvant injection in a skin inflammation porcine model. Here, we report that plasma perfusion by apheresis through a Gal‐3 binding immuno‐affinity column reduces plasma Gal‐3 levels to below limits of quantitative detection, and results in significant decrease in skin inflammation, including degree and duration of inflammatory lesions. Human plasma was tested ex vivo and found to be efficiently depleted using the anti‐Gal‐3 affinity column. This study demonstrates the potential of Gal‐3 depletion apheresis as a therapeutic method for inflammation‐mediated disease, supporting continued research in this area for clinical application.
Social Media Use and Episodic Heavy Drinking Among Adolescents

Objectives Little is known about the consequences of adolescent social media use. The current study estimated the association between the amount of time adolescents spend on social media and the risk of episodic heavy drinking. Methods A school-based self-report cross-sectional study including 851 Norwegian middle and high school students (46.1% boys). Measures: frequency and quantity of social media use. Frequency of drinking four or six (girls and boys, respectively) alcoholic drinks during a single day (episodic heavy drinking). The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale – Brief, the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items for Adolescents, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Peer Relationship problems scale, gender, and school grade. Results Greater amount of time spent on social media was associated with greater likelihood of episodic heavy drinking among adolescents (OR = 1.12, 95% CI (1.05, 1.19), p = 0.001), even after adjusting for school grade, impulsivity, sensation seeking, symptoms of depression, and peer relationship problems. Conclusion The results from the current study indicate that more time spent on social media is related to greater likelihood of episodic heavy drinking among adolescents.
Improving a Gold Standard: Treating Human Relevance Judgments of MEDLINE Document Pairs

Given prior human judgments of the condition of an object it is possible to use these judgments to make a maximal likelihood estimate of what future human judgments of the condition of that object will be. However, if one has a reasonably large collection of similar objects and the prior human judgments of a number of judges regarding the condition of each object in the collection, then it is possible to make predictions of future human judgments for the whole collection that are superior to the simple maximal likelihood estimate for each object in isolation. This is possible because the multiple judgments over the collection allow an analysis to determine the relative value of a judge as compared with the other judges in the group and this value can be used to augment or diminish a particular judge’s influence in predicting future judgments. Here we study and compare five different methods for making such improved predictions and show that each is superior to simple maximal likelihood estimates.
STUDY OF THE WATER ABSORBTIVITY AND PERMEABILITY FOR CONCRETE

This paper describes the influence of the concrete's permeability to structural durability;and studies the water absorptivity and permeability of concrete for different water-cement ratio at different curing age;then discusses the relativity about the strength and the absorptivity,as well as the permeability.The results indicate that the absorptivity and permeability coefficient increases when the w/c ratio is high,and reduces as time developed;the relativity about the strength and the permeability is very good.
Relations Between Third Grade Teachers’ Depressive Symptoms and Their Feedback to Students, With Implications for Student Mathematics Achievement

Recent studies have observed connections among teachers’ depressive symptoms and student outcomes; however, the specific mechanisms through which teachers’ mental health characteristics operate in the classroom remain largely unknown. The present study used student-level observation methods to examine the relations between third-grade teachers’ (N = 32) depressive symptoms and their academic feedback to students (N = 310) and sought to make inferences about how these factors might influence students’ mathematics achievement. A novel observational tool, the Teacher Feedback Coding System–Academic (TFCS-A), was used that assesses feedback across 2 dimensions—teacher affect and instructional strategy, which have been shown to be important to student learning. Multilevel exploratory factor analysis of TFCS-A data suggested 2 primary factors: positive feedback and neutral/negative feedback. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that positive feedback was related to higher math achievement among students who began the year with weaker math skills and that teachers who reported more depressive symptoms less frequently provided this positive feedback. Results offer new information about a type of instruction that may be affected by teachers’ depressive symptoms and inform efforts aimed at improving teachers’ instructional interactions with students.
Structure, function and evolution of the hemerythrin‐like domain superfamily

Hemerythrin‐like proteins have generally been studied for their ability to reversibly bind oxygen through their binuclear nonheme iron centers. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly evident that some members of the hemerythrin‐like superfamily also participate in many other biological processes. For instance, the binuclear nonheme iron site of YtfE, a hemerythrin‐like protein involved in the repair of iron centers in Escherichia coli, catalyzes the reduction of nitric oxide to nitrous oxide, and the human F‐box/LRR‐repeat protein 5, which contains a hemerythrin‐like domain, is involved in intracellular iron homeostasis. Furthermore, structural data on hemerythrin‐like domains from two proteins of unknown function, PF0695 from Pyrococcus furiosus and NMB1532 from Neisseria meningitidis, show that the cation‐binding sites, typical of hemerythrin, can be absent or be occupied by metal ions other than iron. To systematically investigate this functional and structural diversity of the hemerythrin‐like superfamily, we have collected hemerythrin‐like sequences from a database comprising fully sequenced proteomes and generated a cluster map based on their all‐against‐all pairwise sequence similarity. Our results show that the hemerythrin‐like superfamily comprises a large number of protein families which can be classified into three broad groups on the basis of their cation‐coordinating residues: (a) signal‐transduction and oxygen‐carrier hemerythrins (H‐HxxxE‐HxxxH‐HxxxxD); (b) hemerythrin‐like (H‐HxxxE‐H‐HxxxE); and, (c) metazoan F‐box proteins (H‐HExxE‐H‐HxxxE). Interestingly, all but two hemerythrin‐like families exhibit internal sequence and structural symmetry, suggesting that a duplication event may have led to the origin of the hemerythrin domain.
Robust visual tracking using a contextual boosting approach

Abstract. In recent years, detection-based image trackers have been gaining ground rapidly, thanks to its capacity of incorporating a variety of image features. Nevertheless, its tracking performance might be compromised if background regions are mislabeled as foreground in the training process. To resolve this problem, we propose an online visual tracking algorithm designated to improving the training label accuracy in the learning phase. In the proposed method, superpixels are used as samples, and their ambiguous labels are reassigned in accordance with both prior estimation and contextual information. The location and scale of the target are usually determined by confidence map, which is doomed to shrink since background regions are always incorporated into the bounding box. To address this dilemma, we propose a cross projection scheme via projecting the confidence map for target detecting. Moreover, the performance of the proposed tracker can be further improved by adding rigid-structured information. The proposed method is evaluated on the basis of the OTB benchmark and the VOT2016 benchmark. Compared with other trackers, the results appear to be competitive.
Inducible transcriptional activity of bcn-1 element from laminin γ1-chain gene promoter in renal and nonrenal cells.

Laminin is a major component of the extracellular matrix whose expression is regulated by growth factors. The laminin γ1-chain promoter contains a newly identified transcriptional element denoted bcn-1 that is both active and inducible in mesangial cells. In this study, we explored activation of the bcn-1 element in other renal and nonrenal cells. Treatment of rat glomerular epithelial cells (GEC) with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) increased activity of the bcn-1 transcriptional element, within the context of the native laminin γ1-chain promoter or when cloned upstream of a heterologous promoter. Treatment of GEC with PMA induced nuclear DNA-binding activity, BCN-1, which was recognized by the bcn-1 motif in a gel shift assay. These results provide evidence that the bcn-1 motif and its cognate BCN-1 factor(s) may regulate transcription of the laminin γ1-chain in GEC. The bcn-1 element and its cognate BCN-1 DNA-binding activity were also inducible in monkey kidney COS-7 and in human T cell Jurkat lines. SDS-PAGE of in situ ultraviolet cross-linked nucleoproteins from GEC, COS, and Jurkat cells revealed one major 110-115 kDa adduct in all three cell lines. These results demonstrate that the bcn-1 element is active in renal and nonrenal cells from different mammalian species where the same protein contributes to the inducible BCN-1 DNA-binding activity.
Arabidopsis thaliana GH3.5 acyl acid amido synthetase mediates metabolic crosstalk in auxin and salicylic acid homeostasis

Significance Plants require precise control over growth regulators during development and in their responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. One strategy for modulating levels of bioactive phytohormones is to conjugate these molecules to amino acids using acyl acid amido synthetases of the Gretchen Hagen 3 (GH3) protein family. Typically, GH3 proteins modify one type of phytohormone. Structural studies, along with in vitro and in planta biochemical analyses, reveal that the GH3.5 protein from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana conjugates multiple molecules from various phytohormone pathways. This activity mediates crosstalk between auxin developmental and pathogen response pathways. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the acyl acid amido synthetase Gretchen Hagen 3.5 (AtGH3.5) conjugates both indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and salicylic acid (SA) to modulate auxin and pathogen response pathways. To understand the molecular basis for the activity of AtGH3.5, we determined the X-ray crystal structure of the enzyme in complex with IAA and AMP. Biochemical analysis demonstrates that the substrate preference of AtGH3.5 is wider than originally described and includes the natural auxin phenylacetic acid (PAA) and the potential SA precursor benzoic acid (BA). Residues that determine IAA versus BA substrate preference were identified. The dual functionality of AtGH3.5 is unique to this enzyme although multiple IAA-conjugating GH3 proteins share nearly identical acyl acid binding sites. In planta analysis of IAA, PAA, SA, and BA and their respective aspartyl conjugates were determined in wild-type and overexpressing lines of A. thaliana. This study suggests that AtGH3.5 conjugates auxins (i.e., IAA and PAA) and benzoates (i.e., SA and BA) to mediate crosstalk between different metabolic pathways, broadening the potential roles for GH3 acyl acid amido synthetases in plants.
Design through cognitive color theme: A new approach for fabric design

Fashion designers conceive color composition as an ensemble of tones, shades and tints that often resemble an abstract or natural theme. Color and tone adjustments are among the most frequent fabric design operations. Color and tone style adjustments are part of a generic process of cognition involved in the creation of new fabric designs. A challenging problem in this process is given a s et of natural images associated with a subject or a theme, the problem is to discover the underlying cognitive relationships that connect textures and color tones that are perceived by an observer or in our case, a fabric designer. These relationships culminate in optimal combinations of colors and tones that resemble the original theme in which a template of colors is defined with respect to an associated verbal description. We formulate the fabric design process as a cognitive process that simultaneously considers multiple color tones to form a desired theme as well as texture characteristics in the fabric. In this paper, we incorporate color assembly and texture knowledge in the fabric design process in order to automatically produce the color combinations learnt from a given natural or abstract theme. We demonstrate that the use of color theme associations can automatically generate new fabric designs that rival complex commercial designs that are otherwise difficult to generate even by experienced designers. Preliminary experiments confirm the effectiveness of our method.
Enhanced Flexible Fluidic actuators for biologically inspired lightweight robots with inherent compliance

The actuation principle of spider legs has served as an analogue for several technological fields. The current generation of Flexible Fluidic actuators (FFA) follows this principle and pushes their performance to meet industrial requirements. These new actuators are fabricated in a new two step vulcanization process with specially developed rubber compounds. In the first step the inner rubber boot is manufactured. The second step bonds the fiber reinforcement and the metal connectors to the inner rubber boot. The Actuators can carry a statical internal pressure of 20 bars and withstand up to 1.200. 000 load cycles at an internal pressure of 6 bars. The new manufacturing process allows applying the biomimetic spider leg approach even for structural robotic links with variable stiffness. In order to exploit the potential of FFAs a compliant mechanism with integrated position sensor was developed. This flexural joint exhibits highly integrated sensors, small weight, and low friction. Over all, actuators and structural links with variable stiffness and inherent compliance as well as light weight composite joints were developed. These components serve as a platform for applications in the field of service robotics, artificial hands, prosthetics, orthotics, and human-robot interaction.
Unsupervised Domain Adaptation: from Simulation Engine to the RealWorld

Large-scale labeled training datasets have enabled deep neural networks to excel on a wide range of benchmark vision tasks. However, in many applications it is prohibitively expensive or time-consuming to obtain large quantities of labeled data. To cope with limited labeled training data, many have attempted to directly apply models trained on a large-scale labeled source domain to another sparsely labeled target domain. Unfortunately, direct transfer across domains often performs poorly due to domain shift and dataset bias. Domain adaptation is the machine learning paradigm that aims to learn a model from a source domain that can perform well on a different (but related) target domain. In this paper, we summarize and compare the latest unsupervised domain adaptation methods in computer vision applications. We classify the non-deep approaches into sample re-weighting and intermediate subspace transformation categories, while the deep strategy includes discrepancy-based methods, adversarial generative models, adversarial discriminative models and reconstruction-based methods. We also discuss some potential directions.
Lesbians’ experiences and attitudes towards parenthood in Greece

Abstract Same-sex parenthood is controversial subject. In this paper, we provide insights into the attitudes and experiences of self-reported lesbians regarding parenthood or the prospect of becoming a parent in the current Greek social and cultural context. In Greece, lesbians are not allowed access to in vitro fertilisation (IVF), while a solitary (‘single’) woman is allowed access for medical reasons. Fifty-nine (59) semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with women. What emerged from our data was a clear trend for participants to wish to have their own biological children based mostly on the belief that pregnancy would lead to a sense of self-completeness and/or fulfilment. Women also reported the negative impact of prejudice and social oppression on their reproductive autonomy. Interviewees reported that their reproductive choices were negatively influenced by their family and the wider socio-cultural environment. Even within a semi-permissive legal framework, impaired social acceptance of lesbian parenthood prohibits lesbians from becoming mothers. A major reason responsible for the positive attitude of most participants to shared biological motherhood was an altruistic attitude towards their partners.
Part-whole reasoning in medical ontologies revisited-introducing SEP triplets into classification-based description logics

The development of powerful and comprehensive medical ontologies that support formal reasoning on a large scale is one of the key requirements for clinical computing in the next millennium. Taxonomic medical knowledge, a major portion of these ontologies, is mainly characterized by generalization and part-whole relations between concepts. While reasoning in generalization hierarchies is quite well understood, no fully conclusive mechanism as yet exists for part-whole reasoning. The approach we take emulates part-whole reasoning via classification-based reasoning using SEP triplets, a special data structure for encoding part-whole relations that is fully embedded in the formal framework of standard description logics.
Medium- to long-term persistence with non-vitamin-K oral anticoagulants in patients with atrial fibrillation: Australian experience

Abstract Objective: Long-term anticoagulant therapy with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) is essential to prevent thromboembolic complications, especially ischemic stroke. This study examines medium-term persistence in AF patients using a non-vitamin-K antagonist oral anticoagulant drug (NOAC). Research design and methods: We assessed national Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme records December 2013 through September 2016 for initial prescription of a NOAC in a 10% random sample of concessional patients. Key outcome measures were: (a) proportions filling first repeat prescription, (b) proportions persisting with NOAC over 12 and 30 months and (c) proportions switching to another NOAC or warfarin. Results: A total of 8656 patients with AF initiated a NOAC (3352 apixaban, 1340 dabigatran, 3964 rivaroxaban). Mean age was 77 years, 53% male; 91% collected the first repeat prescription for any NOAC, 70% and 57% collected any NOAC or subsequent warfarin prescription over 12 months and 30 months respectively; 8.9% had switched to warfarin. The proportions switching from apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban to a different NOAC were 14%, 31% and 17% respectively. In a regression model adjusting for age, gender and comorbidity, apixaban-initiated patients over 30 months were 28% more likely to persist with any anticoagulant therapy compared with dabigatran-initiated patients (hazard ratio [95% CI] 1.28 [1.16–1.42]) and 15% more likely to persist compared with rivaroxaban-initiated (1.15 [1.06–1.24]). Rivaroxaban-initiated patients were 12% more likely to persist compared with dabigatran-initiated patients (1.12 [1.02–1.24]). Conclusions: Long-term persistence with anticoagulation in patients with AF remains a concern, even with NOACs. Patients initiated to apixaban appear to experience better medium-term persistence compared with rivaroxaban or dabigatran.
Dynamic expression analysis of armc10, the homologous gene of human GPRASP2, in zebrafish embryos

G protein-coupled receptor-associated sorting protein 2 (GPRASP2), a member of the GASP family, has been reported to be involved in the modulation of transcription. However, few studies have revealed the role of GPRASP2 in the development and progression of diseases. As a model organism, zebrafish have been widely used to investigate human diseases. In the present study, zebrafish armadillo repeat-containing 10 (armc10), an orthologous gene of human GPRASP2 was identified, and the spatial and temporal expression patterns of armc10 in zebrafish during early embryonic development were revealed. Bioinformatics analyses showed that ARMC10 protein sequences were highly conserved. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis and whole mount in situ hybridization revealed that zebrafish armc10 was maternally expressed and was detected at a weak level up to 12 h post-fertilization (hpf), however, its expression increased to a high level at 24 hpf. At the 75% epiboly stage and 12 hpf, armc10 was widely expressed in the embryo. At 24 hpf, armc10 mRNA was expressed in the nervous system of the zebrafish head. When the embryo was 2 days old, the wide expression of armc10 was maintained in the nervous system of the zebrafish head. At 72 hpf, the mRNA expression of armc10 was located specifically in the otic vesicles in addition to the nervous system of the head. At 96 hpf, the expression of armc10 was maintained in the otic vesicles and the nervous system of the head. The results of the present study provided novel insight into the spatial and temporal mRNA expression of armc10 in zebrafish, for the further investigation of nervous system diseases.