Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agreement rates between actigraphy, diary, and questionnaire for children's sleep patterns.

OBJECTIVES To describe sleep-wake patterns in kindergarten children by measures derived from questionnaire, diary, and actigraphy and to report rates of agreement between methods according to Bland and Altman. DESIGN Cross-sectional study, data from 7 nights of actigraph recordings and sleep diary and from a questionnaire. SETTING Children studied in their homes. PARTICIPANTS Fifty children, aged 4 to 7 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Sleep start, sleep end, assumed sleep, actual sleep time, and nocturnal wake time derived from different methods. RESULTS Differences between actigraphy and diary were +/- 28 minutes for sleep start, +/- 24 minutes for sleep end, and +/- 32 minutes for assumed sleep, indicating satisfactory agreement between methods, whereas for actual sleep time and nocturnal wake time, agreement rates were not sufficient (+/- 106 minutes and +/- 55 minutes, respectively). Agreement rates between actigraphy and questionnaire as well as between diary and questionnaire were insufficient for all variables. Sex and age of children and socioeconomic status did not influence the differences between methods for all variables. CONCLUSIONS Actigraphy and diary may be interchangeably used for the assessment of sleep start, sleep end, and assumed sleep but not for nocturnal wake times. The diary is a cost-effective and valid source of information about children's sleep-schedule times, while actigraphy may provide additional information about nocturnal wake times or may be used if parents are unable to report in detail. It is insufficient to collect information by a questionnaire or an interview asking about children's normal sleep patterns.
Phase I/II trial of vorinostat with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, etoposide and prednisone as palliative treatment for elderly patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma not eligible for autologous stem cell transplantation

The standard treatment of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in frail elderly patients has not been established. A variation was made on rituximab (R), cyclophosphamide (C), etoposide (E), procarbazine and prednisone (P), substituting vorinostat (V) for procarbazine. Patients ≥aged 60 years with relapsed/refractory DLBCL, not candidates for autologous stem cell transplantation, were treated R‐CVEP [R 375 mg/m2 intravenously (IV), day 1; C 600 mg/m2 IV days 1, 8: E 70 mg/m2 IV day 1, 140 mg/m2 days 2, 3 orally (PO); V (300 vs. 400 mg) PO and P 60 mg/m2 PO days 1–10] every 28 d for six cycles. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed in addition to response. Thirty patients (median age 76 years, 69–88) were enrolled (one died before treatment). Maximum tolerated dose (MTD) for V was 300 mg. For 23 patients at MTD (six phase I + 17 phase II), two were discontinued for toxicity, one withdrew consent, eight achieved complete response (35%), five achieved partial response (22%) and seven progressed (25%). Median overall survival was 17·5 months. Median progression‐free survival was 9·2 months. Nine patients are alive. QoL declined during treatment but improved above baseline for patients who completed treatment. In conclusion, R‐CVEP was tolerated at MTD and produced durable responses with improved QoL.
Precipitation by polycation as capture step in purification of plasmid DNA from a clarified lysate

The demand for highly purified plasmids in gene therapy and plasmid‐based vaccines requires large‐scale production of pharmaceutical‐grade plasmid. Large‐scale purification of plasmid DNA from bacterial cell culture normally includes one or several chromatographic steps. Prechromatographic steps include precipitation with solvents, salts, and polymers combined with enzymatic degradation of nucleic acids. No method alone has so far been able to selectively capture plasmid DNA directly from a clarified alkaline lysate. We present a method for selective precipitation of plasmid DNA from a clarified alkaline lysate using polycation poly(N, N′‐dimethyldiallylammonium) chloride (PDMDAAC). The specific interaction between the polycation and the plasmid DNA resulted in the formation of a stoichiometric insoluble complex. Efficient removal of contaminants such as RNA, by far the major contaminant in a clarified lysate, and proteins as well as 20‐fold plasmid concentration has been obtained with about 80% recovery. The method utilizes a inexpensive, commercially available polymer and thus provides a capture step suitable for large‐scale production. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The role of mRNA degradation in the regulated expression of bacterial photosynthesis genes

Regulation of gene expression in bacteria, as in eukaryotic cells, is often achieved by variation of mRNA levels. Since the steady state levels of mRNA depend on both the rate of synthesis and the rate of decay, both mechanisms are important for gene regulation. After considerable effort undertaken over many years to understand the regulation of transcription, mRNA degradation has recently gained Increasing attention as an important step in the regulation of some bacterial genes, and many investigations have addressed the mechanisms involved in mRNA decay. The puf mRNA of Rhodobacter capsulatus encoding pigment binding proteins has become a model system to study decay of a polycistronic mRNA and the role of mRNA degradation in gene expression. Individual segments of the polycistronic puf mRNA display extremely different half‐lives. These differences in stability of mRNA segments are involved in the differential expression of puf encoded genes and consequently contribute to the stoichiometry of light‐harvesting I and reaction centre complexes that results in optimal growth. In addition, control of mRNA stability is involved in the oxygen‐dependent regulation of photosynthesis genes. High oxygen tension results in decreased stability of the reaction‐centre specific puf mRNA segment, most likely by affecting the rate of endonucleolytic cleavage within the reaction centre coding region. The results obtained from studying puf mRNA degradation in R. capsulatus and Escherichia coli suggest that a specific distribution of decay promoting and decay impeding mRNA elements along the polycistronic mRNA is responsible for the different half‐lives of individual puf segments.
TCP with sender assisted delayed acknowledgement — A novel ACK thinning scheme

TCP - Transmission Control Protocol acts as a logical vehicle for process to process communication. TCP ensures reliability in the form of flow control, error control and congestion control via ACK-Acknowledgement based transmissions. Wireless networks have limited spatial reuse scope which limits amount of data that can be in transmission within a specific geographical area at a time. In such scenarios collision is one of the most critical link layer issues which affects overall performance. Inter flow collision occurs among more than one independent TCP connections while Intra flow collision occurs inside a single TCP connection between data flow and ACK flow. ACK Thinning is a process of reducing the rate of ACKs to spare more communication space - bandwidth for the Data flow inside a single TCP connection. This paper introduces an enhanced ACK Thinning scheme SADA - Sender Assisted Delayed Acknowledgement for MANETs. The scheme has been implemented in NS 2.35.
#TransformFFA: An Analysis of Social Media Content During the 2016 National FFA Convention

The proliferation of social media has the ability to considerably impact stakeholders’ perspective of an organization’s brand. Due to this relationship, social media analysis is crucial to executing informed brand communication strategies. In October 2016, the brand communication strategies of the National FFA Organization were focused on promoting the 89th National FFA Convention. A large portion of these efforts and resources were dedicated towards the utilization of social media. This study was designed as a content analysis of the National FFA Organization’s social media presence during the dates of the convention. The goal was to identify the prominent themes of communication and the alignment of these themes with the organizational brand. Conversations on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat yielded a total of 344 posts for evaluation. The results indicated the presence of seven predominate themes: recognition, connectivity, appreciation, spirit, service, influence, and support. The researchers suggest opportunities exist for closer alignment between published social media content and the defined organizational and event brands. Specific attention should be placed on event-specific theme promotion. Renewed efforts to increase interactivity will allow for stakeholders to take part in the brand co-building process. It should be ensured that all communications are an accurate reflection of the brand’s image, connections, and reputation.
Validation of a portable, deployable system for continuous vital sign monitoring using a multiparametric wearable sensor and personalised analytics in an Ebola treatment centre

Background The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa strained existing healthcare systems well beyond their capacities due to the extreme volume and severity of illness of the patients. The implementation of innovative digital technologies within available care centres could potentially improve patient care as well as healthcare worker safety and effectiveness. Methods We developed a Modular Wireless Patient Monitoring System (MWPMS) and conducted a proof of concept study in an Ebola treatment centre (ETC) in Makeni, Sierra Leone. The system was built around a wireless, multiparametric ‘band-aid’ patch sensor for continuous vital sign monitoring and transmission, plus sophisticated data analytics. Results were used to develop personalised analytics to support automated alerting of early changes in patient status. Results During the 3-week study period, all eligible patients (n=26) admitted to the ETC were enrolled in the study, generating a total of 1838 hours of continuous vital sign data (mean of 67.8 hours/patient), including heart rate, heart rate variability, activity, respiratory rate, pulse transit time (inversely related to blood pressure), uncalibrated skin temperature and posture. All patients tolerated the patch sensor without problems. Manually determined and automated vital signs were well correlated. Algorithm-generated Multivariate Change Index, pulse transit time and arrhythmia burden demonstrated encouraging preliminary findings of important physiological changes, as did ECG waveform changes. Conclusions In this proof of concept study, we were able to demonstrate that a portable, deployable system for continuous vital sign monitoring via a wireless, wearable sensor supported by a sophisticated, personalised analytics platform can provide high-acuity monitoring with a continuous, objective measure of physiological status of all patients that is achievable in virtually any healthcare setting, anywhere in the world.
Two distinct mechanisms of transcriptional control operate on c-myc during differentiation of HL60 cells

We examined the mechanisms that control the downregulation of the c-myc mRNA during differentiation of HL60 cells. On treatment with dimethyl sulfoxide, HL60 cells downmodulated their steady-state c-myc message levels, ceased to proliferate, and underwent terminal differentiation. In nuclear run-on assays in which distinct segments of the c-myc gene were used as probes, an increased blocking to elongation of nascent c-myc transcripts was shown during the early phase of differentiation. During a later phase, however, a loss of transcriptional initiation was observed. This loss of promoter activity correlated well with dramatic changes in the chromatin structure of the c-myc gene, as determined by DNase I-hypersensitive site analysis. In particular, two hypersensitive sites near the two major c-myc promoters disappeared at the time that promotion abated. The newly described, later-acting negative transcriptional control of c-myc also correlated temporally with the inability to reverse the downregulation of the c-myc message quickly on withdrawal of the differentiating agent. Therefore, a terminal step during differentiation may be linked to the later-acting mode of transcriptional regulation of c-myc. The evidence presented in this report has implications for tumorigenesis in Burkitt lymphomas, in which the germ line, nontranslocated c-myc allele is transcriptionally silent.
Small (< 4 cm) Renal Masses: Differentiation of Angiomyolipoma Without Visible Fat From Renal Cell Carcinoma Using Unenhanced and Contrast-Enhanced CT.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate if small (< 4 cm) angiomyolipoma without visible fat can be differentiated from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) using contrast-enhanced CT alone and using unenhanced and contrast-enhanced CT in combination. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-three patients with 24 angiomyolipomas without visible fat and 130 patients with 148 RCCs underwent unenhanced and contrast-enhanced CT. Demographic data and size, shape, CT attenuation, and heterogeneity (entropy and subjective score) of the renal mass on unenhanced CT and contrast-enhanced CT were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression models were constructed for parameters obtained by contrast-enhanced CT alone and by both unenhanced and contrast-enhanced CT. Demographic data and size and shape of renal mass were used in each model. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated. RESULTS Logistic regression model from contrast-enhanced CT data included sex, percentage of exophytic growth, entropy, and CT attenuation on contrast-enhanced CT. Model from both unenhanced and contrast-enhanced CT data included age, sex, short-axis diameter, percentage of exophytic growth, lesion-to-kidney CT attenuation difference on unenhanced CT, and CT attenuation on contrast-enhanced CT. The contrast-enhanced CT-based model and combined unenhanced and contrast-enhanced CT-based model differentiated angiomyolipoma from RCC with sensitivity and specificity of 42% and 98% versus 50% and 98%, respectively. CONCLUSION Combinations of various CT and demographic findings allowed differentiation of angiomyolipoma from RCC.
Output tracking for nonlinear stochastic systems by iterative learning control

An iterative learning control (ILC) algorithm, which in essence is a stochastic approximation algorithm, is proposed for output tracking for nonlinear stochastic systems with unknown dynamics and unknown noise statistics. The nonlinear function of the system dynamics is allowed to grow up as fast as a polynomial of any degree, but the system is linear with respect to control. It is proved that the ILC generated by the algorithm a.s. converges to the optimal one at each time t/spl isin/[0,1,. ,N] and the output tracking error is asymptotically minimized in the mean square sense as the number of iterates tends to infinity, although the convergence rate is rather slow. The only information used in the algorithm is the noisy observation of the system output and the reference signal y/sub d/(t). When the system state equation is free of noise and the system output is realizable, then the exact state tracking is asymptotically achieved and the tracking error is purely due to the observation noise.
Interruption Elicits Laughter: Cooperative and Intrusive Interruptions in a Chinese Talk Show Host’s Conversation

This study is designed to examine how the secondary/subordinate host under institutional obligations and restrictions employs the interruption mechanism to supplement the dominant host’s narrative and elicit an audience’s laughter. Ten episodes totaling 239 minutes of the popular Chinese TV talk show Jinxing Show were selected, focusing on the “monologue” narrative section in which the interruption mechanism is given its best play. The data encompass 288 interruption turns and 80 non-interruption turns. Conversation Analysis is used to analyse the type of interruptions and the relation between interruptions and laughter. It is found that interruptions adopted by the assistant host can be analysed according to two aspects: rapport and intrusion, with the former consisting of backchannel and progression, while the latter is characterized by tease, disagreement, and pick-up. Backchannel and pick-up scarcely produce laughter from the audience, while progression and disagreement result in around half of the interruption that embodies laughter, and tease causes the strongest reactions. It is also argued that the interruption-laughter correlation is determined by the role identification and institutional obligations, which are primarily aimed at complementing the storytelling of the dominant host and enliven the atmosphere in the studio. Through administering quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study is expected to develop studies of institutional interruption by displaying how the secondary characters in institutional contexts (talk shows) full of dominance and restrictions exert resistance (interruption), while also accomplishing institutional responsibilities. Helping the audience and viewers appreciate the discursive skills of the talk show hosts is also likely.
Hippocampal Sclerosis Contributes to Dementia in the Elderly

Objective: To assess the relevance of hippocampal sclerosis (HS) to dementia in the elderly. Background: HS is a prominent pathologic finding in some demented elderly, but the anatomic substrate and cognitive profiles of this dementia have not been well established. Design/Methods: An autopsy series, including dot-immunobinding assay to estimate neocortical synaptic density, of eight patients (three men, five women) with HS on whom extensive antemortem neuropsychological testing was available. Results: Mean age at onset was 72.0 (+/- 9.8) (range, 59 to 89) with a mean duration of symptoms of 6.5 (+/- 2.9) years. Patients were only midly impaired with a mean MMSE of 20.9 (+/- 4.9) and a mean DRS of 103.1 (+/- 12.5) at presentation. Cardiovascular disease was present in 88%, with a mean Hachinski score of 3.4 (+/- 2.2). No patient had a history of seizures. Sixty-three percent had depression or depressive symptoms. Neuropsychologically, most patients presented with prominent memory and language deficits and became progressively demented. Neuropathologically, isolated HS was a rare finding; many patients had either very mild or neocortical "plaque only or plaque predominant" Alzheimer's disease (AD) in addition to HS changes. Midfrontal neocortical synaptophysin counts were significantly reduced in all HS patients compared with controls (p = 0.0006). Conclusions: In the elderly, HS can be a neuropathologic substrate of dementia. Clinically, it can be associated with a course that is difficult to distinguish from AD although cardiac disease and depression are frequent concomitants. Deterioration of cognitive function in these subjects may relate to other pathologic features such as neocortical synapse loss. NEUROLOGY 1997;48: 154-160
MAD2 depletion triggers premature cellular senescence in human primary fibroblasts by activating a P53 pathway preventing aneuploid cells propagation

The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) is a cellular surveillance mechanism that ensures faithful chromosome segregation during mitosis and its failure can result in aneuploidy. Previously, it was suggested that reduction of the MAD2 gene, encoding a major component of the SAC, induced aneuploidy in human tumor cells. However, tumor cell lines contain multiple mutations that might affect or exacerbate the cellular response to Mad2 depletion. Thus, the scenario resulting by Mad2 depletion in primary human cells could be different and more complex that the one depicted so far. We used primary human fibroblasts (IMR90) and epithelial breast cells (MCF10A) to gain further insight on the effects of genomic instability caused by transient Mad2 depletion. To this aim we depleted Mad2 by RNAi to a level shown by Mad2 haplo‐insufficient cells and found that induced aneuploidy caused premature cellular senescence in IMR90 cells. IMR90 cells showed typical features of senescent cells, like senescence‐associated (SA) ${\rm {\tilde {\beta }}}$ galactosidase expression, including up‐regulation of p53 and p14ARF proteins and of p21waf1 as well, but not of p16(INK4A) cyclin‐dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor. In contrast, after MAD2 post‐transcriptional silencing MCF10A cells in which the INK4A/ARF locus is deleted, showed both aneuploidy and a small increase of p53 and p21waf1 proteins, but not premature cellular senescence. Finally, our results provides an explanation of how a p53 controlled pathway, involving initially p21waf1 and then p14ARF, could minimize the occurrence of genomic alterations derived from chromosome instability induced by low amounts of MAD2 protein. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 3324–3332, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Activity in the Nucleus Accumbens and Amygdala Underlies Individual Differences in Prosocial and Individualistic Economic Choices

Much decision-making requires balancing benefits to the self with benefits to the group. There are marked individual differences in this balance such that individualists tend to favor themselves whereas prosocials tend to favor the group. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this difference has important implications for society and its institutions. Using behavioral and fMRI data collected during the performance of the ultimatum game, we show that individual differences in social preferences for resource allocation, so-called “social value orientation,” is linked with activity in the nucleus accumbens and amygdala elicited by inequity, rather than activity in insula, ACC, and dorsolateral pFC. Importantly, the presence of cognitive load made prosocials behave more prosocially and individualists more individualistically, suggesting that social value orientation is driven more by intuition than reflection. In parallel, activity in the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, in response to inequity, tracked this behavioral pattern of prosocials and individualists. In addition, we conducted an impunity game experiment with different participants where they could not punish unfair behavior and found that the inequity-correlated activity seen in prosocials during the ultimatum game disappeared. This result suggests that the accumbens and amygdala activity of prosocials encodes “outcome-oriented emotion” designed to change situations (i.e., achieve equity or punish). Together, our results suggest a pivotal contribution of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala to individual differences in sociality.
Hypothermic regulation of astrocyte proteome profile in experimental stroke

Astrocytes provide physical and metabolic support for neurons in the central nervous system. Reactive astrocytes, however, play a crucial role in neuroinflammation after brain injury. Therapeutic hypothermia has been shown to be neuroprotective in brain injury patients. In order to understand the effect of therapeutic hypothermia on astrocytes in stroke patients, we performed a proteomic profiling of astrocytes following transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats under normothermic (37°C) or mild hypothermic condition (33°C). Primary astrocytes were prepared from rat brain using a Percoll gradient method, and their proteome profiles were determined by using LC/ESI‐MS/MS followed by high‐throughput label‐free quantification. Comparison of proteome profiles of astrocytes following transient focal ischemia revealed that hypothermia upregulated (≥1.5‐fold) 86 proteins and downregulated (≤0.6‐fold) 47 proteins compared to normothermic condition. The changes of protein expression were validated by Western blot or RT‐PCR. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis and Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery analyses of the up‐ or downregulated proteins indicate that hypothermia influences glutamatergic signaling, cell death, and stress response of astrocytes in the ischemic brain. Therefore, therapeutic hypothermia may be neuroprotective in stroke patients by modulating astrocytic functions and survival.