Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Music on Caloric Consumption Among Nursing Home Residents with Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type

Maintaining sufficient caloric intake among nursing home residents with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) who are at risk for weight loss is a serious and difficult challenge for health care professionals. Inadequate caloric consumption is often exasperated by an eating environment that creates stress and agitation. Previous research has shown that music may be effective in decreasing agitation among cognitively impaired nursing home residents. The current study examined whether music played during meals, by reducing agitation, would result in increased caloric consumption among 12 nursing home residents with middle dementia. Subjects were observed for 24 meals both with and without the provision of familiar background music using a crossover A-B-A-B design. Food consumption was analyzed by a registered dietitian for total caloric intake using a visual monitor process and the computerized Food Processor PLUS program (ESHA Research, 1996). The results indicated that, overall, subjects consumed 20% more calories when familiar background music was played compared to an eating environment without music. Further analysis of the nutrient content found that increased calories were primarily consumed through carbohydrates, perhaps because of more time spent at the table, which improved the likelihood that more food would be eaten. Although increased caloric consumption among a population at risk for being under weight could be viewed as a positive outcome, the food's nutritional value should also be considered based on individual needs.
Online heart rate estimation in unstable ballistocardiographic records

When recording the pressure oscillations of a seated subject two distinct effects are assessed, ample vibrations due to the person's movement, and periodic oscillations of small amplitude due to cardiopulmonary activity, expressed by the ballistocardiogram (BCG). Embedding a pressure sensor in a chair's back or seat allows unobtrusive monitoring of the BCG. However, inconspicuously acquired signals are affected by numerous artifacts, often generated by the subject's forgetfulness, and posture changes due to lack of constrains. Moreover, the signal changes considerably its shape from person to person, and when the seating posture, or conversely, sensor position, is different. For real-time continuous monitoring, it is still to be found a method which, without introducing significant delays, can deal with such volatility. Thus, tailored calibration of peak detectors and other algorithms is recurrent, and even so, the neighboring samples of artifacts are possibly untreatable. This work evaluates the advantages of Empirical Mode Decomposition, as well as a coarser demodulation approach of the BCG signal, as dependable methods to allow real-time heart rate estimation on unstable BCG records. An analysis of the Fourier transform of the demodulated signals is the method used to provide and compare robustness of heart rate estimates.
Power spectrum of heart rate variability in exercising humans: The effect of exercise intensity

Power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has been estimated by means of a Fourier transform method at rest in seven healthy men and three women, during a 30‐minutes steady state cycle exercise test at 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% respectively, of maximal heart rate reserve (MHRR) defined as (HRmax ‐ HRrest). Total power (PT) of HRV was divided into three separate components (PHf, Plf, and Pvlf). All four indices for HRV decreased significantly with increasing exercise intensity. The fractional Pvlf (%VLF), VLF/LF ratio, and VLF/HF ratio increased significantly with increasing exercise intensity. On the contrary, %LF and %HF decreased significantly with increasing exercise intensity. The following conclusions were made: (1) the contribution of parasympathetic activity to the power spectrum of HRV decreases with exercise intensity; (2) the change in %VLF, VLF/LF ratio, and VLF/HF ratio respectively, can be used as indices of change in sympathovagal balance during exercise; (3) the change in the LF/HF ratio cannot be used during exercise as an index of change in sympathovagal balance, since a change in vagal activity effects predominantly both numerator and denominator of the LF/HF ratio.
How individual Montagu's Harriers cope with Moreau's Paradox during the Sahelian winter.

Hundreds of millions of Afro-Palaearctic migrants winter in the Sahel, a semi-arid belt south of the Sahara desert, where they experience deteriorating ecological conditions during their overwintering stay and have to prepare for spring migration when conditions are worst. This well-known phenomenon was first described by R.E. Moreau and is known ever since as Moreau's Paradox. However, empirical evidence of the deteriorating seasonal ecological conditions is limited and little is known on how birds respond. Montagu's Harriers Circus pygargus spend 6 months of the year in their wintering areas in the Sahel. Within the wintering season, birds move gradually to the south, visiting several distinct sites to which they are site-faithful in consecutive years. At the last wintering site, birds find themselves at the southern edge of the Sahelian zone and have no other options than facing deteriorating conditions. We tracked 36 Montagu's Harriers with GPS trackers to study their habitat use and behaviour during winter and collected data on the abundance of their main prey, grasshoppers, in Senegal. Since grasshopper abundance was positively related to vegetation greenness (measured as normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI), we used NDVI values as a proxy for prey abundance in areas where no field data were collected. Prey abundance (grasshopper counts and vegetation greenness) at wintering sites of Montagu's Harriers decreased during the wintering period. Montagu's Harriers responded to decreasing food availability by increasing their flight time during the second half of the winter. Individuals increased flight time more in areas with stronger declines in NDVI values, suggesting that lower food abundance required more intense foraging to achieve energy requirements. The apparent consequence was that Montagu's Harriers departed later in spring when their final wintering site had lower NDVI values and presumably lower food abundance and consequently arrived later at their breeding site. Our results confirmed the suggestions Moreau made 40 years ago: the late wintering period might be a bottleneck during the annual cycle with possible carry-over effects to the breeding season. Ongoing climate change with less rainfall in the Sahel region paired with increased human pressure on natural and agricultural habitats resulting in degradation and desertification is likely to make this period more demanding, which may negatively impact populations of migratory birds using the Sahel.
Sensitivity of UK butterflies to local climatic extremes: which life stages are most at risk?

There is growing recognition as to the importance of extreme climatic events (ECEs) in determining changes in species populations. In fact, it is often the extent of climate variability that determines a population's ability to persist at a given site. This study examined the impact of ECEs on the resident UK butterfly species (n = 41) over a 37-year period. The study investigated the sensitivity of butterflies to four extremes (drought, extreme precipitation, extreme heat and extreme cold), identified at the site level, across each species' life stages. Variations in the vulnerability of butterflies at the site level were also compared based on three life-history traits (voltinism, habitat requirement and range). This is the first study to examine the effects of ECEs at the site level across all life stages of a butterfly, identifying sensitive life stages and unravelling the role life-history traits play in species sensitivity to ECEs. Butterfly population changes were found to be primarily driven by temperature extremes. Extreme heat was detrimental during overwintering periods and beneficial during adult periods and extreme cold had opposite impacts on both of these life stages. Previously undocumented detrimental effects were identified for extreme precipitation during the pupal life stage for univoltine species. Generalists were found to have significantly more negative associations with ECEs than specialists. With future projections of warmer, wetter winters and more severe weather events, UK butterflies could come under severe pressure given the findings of this study.
Antimalarial drug policy in Malawi

In the Shire Valley, southern Malawi, longitudinal malariometric data collected over 2 years (1993–1995) showed a high prevalence of severe anaemia in pregnant women and their infants. The prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum in primigravidae at first antenatal visit was 39%, and 30% of all primigravidae were severely anaemic (i.e. with <8 g haemoglobin/dl). In infants, anaemia had its onset at about 8 weeks of age. In the population studied, childhood deaths were frequently related to malaria and severe anaemia. A central aim of any malaria-control strategy in the area should be to reduce the prevalence of malaria-related anaemia. In this context, the criteria for the choice of a first-line therapeutic antimalarial drug in Malawi have been based on haematological and parasitological cure. A change in recommendation for first-line therapy in Malawi, from chloroquine to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, was influenced by poor haematological recovery and clinical response after chloroquine use, as well as a high l.
Fully Automated Molecular Mechanics Based Induced Fit Protein-Ligand Docking Method

We describe a method for docking a ligand into a protein receptor while allowing flexibility of the protein binding site. The method employs a multistep procedure that begins with the generation of protein and ligand conformations. An initial placement of the ligand is then performed by computing binding site hotspots. This initial placement is followed by a protein side-chain refinement stage that models protein flexibility. The final step of the process is an energy minimization of the ligand pose in the presence of the rigid receptor. Thus the algorithm models flexibility of the protein at two stages, before and after ligand placement. We validated this method by performing docking and cross docking studies of eight protein systems for which crystal structures were available for at least two bound ligands. The resulting rmsd values of the 21 docked protein-ligand complexes showed values of 2 A or less for all but one of the systems examined. The method has two critical benefits for high throughput virtual screening studies. First, no user intervention is required in the docking once the initial binding site selection has been made in the protein. Second, the initial protein conformation generation needs to be performed only once for a given binding region. Also, the method may be customized in various ways depending on the particular scenario in which dockings are being performed. Each of the individual steps of the method is fully independent making it straightforward to explore different variants of the high level workflow to further improve accuracy and performance.
Searching for Target-Selective Compounds Using Different Combinations of Multiclass Support Vector Machine Ranking Methods, Kernel Functions, and Fingerprint Descriptors

The identification of small chemical compounds that are selective for a target protein over one or more closely related members of the same family is of high relevance for applications in chemical biology. Conventional 2D similarity searching using known selective molecules as templates has recently been found to preferentially detect selective over non-selective and inactive database compounds. To improve the initially observed search performance, we have attempted to use 2D fingerprints as descriptors for support vector machine (SVM)-based selectivity searching. Different from typically applied binary SVM compound classification, SVM analysis has been adapted here for multiclass predictions and compound ranking to distinguish between selective, active but non-selective, and inactive compounds. In systematic database search calculations, we tested combinations of four alternative SVM ranking schemes, four different kernel functions, and four fingerprints and were able to further improve selectivity search performance by effectively removing non-selective molecules from high ranking positions while retaining high recall of selective compounds.
This scoping review provides general information, but not robust conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of occupational therapy for people with chronic diseases.

SummaryofHand,C. ,Law,M. &McColl,M.A.(2011). Occupational therapy interventions for chronic diseases:A scoping review. American Journal of OccupationalTherapy, 65 (4), 428–436.Objective of review: To determine the effectiveness ofcommunity occupational therapy on occupational perfor-mance for people with chronic diseases.Search strategy: Searches included electronic databasesAMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, the CochraneLibrary and PsycInfo from 1988 to end of 2008 for commu-nity-based or outpatient-focused occupational therapyinterventions and occupational therapy relevant databases,including systematic reviews such as OTseeker. A sensitivesearch strategy was used.Selection criteria: Studies: Randomised controlled trials(RCTs). Participants: community living with one or morecardiovascular disease, COPD, depression, diabetes, osteo-arthritis (OA) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Cerebrovascu-lar diseases were excluded. Interventions: An interventiondelivered by community or outpatient occupational thera-pists or as part of a multidisciplinary team containing occu-pational therapists. Outcomes: occupational performance,health status, quality of life or self-efﬁcacy. Method of the review: Two reviewers independently iden-tiﬁed relevant trials, assessed methodological quality andextracted data. The methodological quality was assessedusing the McMaster University’s Critical Review Form forQuantitative Studies (Law et al., 1998). Disagreements wereresolved by a third researcher. Qualitative analyses anddata synthesis were performed.Main ﬁndings: Sixteen studies of a pool of 141, met all eli-gibility criteria and were included. Studies focused on RA(n = 10), COPD (n = 3), depression (n = 1), chronic heartfailure (n = 1) and multiple conditions (n = 1). Seven studies met all of the methodological quality crite-ria and the others met at least 75%. Ten studies reportedsigniﬁcant positiveresults for improvement of occupationalperformance (n = 4), work outcomes for depression(n = 1), meeting social needs in the short term ( n = 2), psy-chological health for RA and COPD (n = 2), health status orquality of life for COPD or chronic heart failure ( n = 3) forpatients who received the interv entions of interest. Positiveoutcomes on physical health were found only for moder-ate-to-severe RA and COPD (n = 2of11). Theinterventionscommonly included goal setting, energy conservation, jointprotection, exercise, assistive devices and coping strategies,and were applied in groups or individually.Authors’ conclusions: Evidence indicates that occupationaltherapy interventions can improve occupational perfor-mance, health, and quality of life for people with chronicdiseases such as RA, COPD, chronic heart failure anddepression.Contact details of original author: handc@mcmaster.caEsther SteultjensCAPs Advisory Board MemberEmail: Esther.Steultjens@han.nl
Concept-Based Semi-Automatic Classification of Drugs

The anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) classification system maintained by the World Health Organization provides a global standard for the classification of medical substances and serves as a source for drug repurposing research. Nevertheless, it lacks several drugs that are major players in the global drug market. In order to establish classifications for yet unclassified drugs, this paper presents a newly developed approach based on a combination of information extraction (IE) and machine learning (ML) techniques. Most of the information about drugs is published in the scientific articles. Therefore, an IE-based framework is employed to extract terms from free text that express drug's chemical, pharmacological, therapeutic, and systemic effects. The extracted terms are used as features within a ML framework to predict putative ATC class labels for unclassified drugs. The system was tested on a portion of ATC containing drugs with an indication on the cardiovascular system. The class prediction turned out to be successful with the best predictive accuracy of 89.47% validated by a 100-fold bootstrapping of the training set and an accuracy of 77.12% on an independent test set. The presented concept-based classification system outperformed state-of-the-art classification methods based on chemical structure properties.
Refinement of cytogenetic classification in acute myeloid leukemia: determination of prognostic significance of rare recurring chromosomal abnormalities among 5876 younger adult patients treated in the United Kingdom Medical Research Council trials.

Diagnostic karyotype provides the framework for risk-stratification schemes in acute myeloid leukemia (AML); however, the prognostic significance of many rare recurring cytogenetic abnormalities remains uncertain. We studied the outcomes of 5876 patients (16-59 years of age) who were classified into 54 cytogenetic subgroups and treated in the Medical Research Council trials. In multivariable analysis, t(15;17)(q22;q21), t(8;21)(q22;q22), and inv(16)(p13q22)/t(16;16)(p13;q22) were the only abnormalities found to predict a relatively favorable prognosis (P < .001). In patients with t(15;17) treated with extended all-trans retinoic acid and anthracycline-based chemotherapy, additional cytogenetic changes did not have an impact on prognosis. Similarly, additional abnormalities did not have a significant adverse effect in t(8;21) AML; whereas in patients with inv(16), the presence of additional changes, particularly +22, predicted a better outcome (P = .004). In multivariable analyses, various abnormalities predicted a significantly poorer outcome, namely abn(3q) (excluding t(3;5)(q25;q34)), inv(3)(q21q26)/t(3;3)(q21;q26), add(5q)/del(5q), -5, -7, add(7q)/del(7q), t(6;11)(q27;q23), t(10;11)(p11 approximately 13;q23), other t(11q23) (excluding t(9;11)(p21 approximately 22;q23) and t(11;19)(q23;p13)), t(9;22)(q34;q11), -17, and abn(17p). Patients lacking the aforementioned favorable or adverse aberrations but with 4 or more unrelated abnormalities also exhibited a significantly poorer prognosis (designated "complex" karyotype group). These data allow more reliable prediction of outcome for patients with rarer abnormalities and may facilitate the development of consensus in reporting of karyotypic information in clinical trials involving younger adults with AML. This study is registered at http://www.isrctn. org as ISRCTN55678797 and ISRCTN17161961.
ZIF-L to ZIF-8 Transformation: Morphology and Structure Controls

The control of the structure, shape, and components of metal-organic frameworks, in which metal ions and organic ligands coordinate to form crystalline nanopore structures, plays an important role in the use of many electrochemical applications, such as energy storage, high-performance photovoltaic devices, and supercapacitors. In this study, systematic controls of synthesis variables were performed to control the morphology of ZIF-8 during the ZIF-L-to-ZIF-8 transformation of ZIF-L, which has the same building block as ZIF-8 but forms a two-dimensional structure. Furthermore, additional precursors or surfactants (Zn2+, 2mIm, and CTAB) were introduced during the transition to determine whether the alteration could be regulated. Lastly, the partial substitution insertion of a new organic precursor, 2abIm, during the ZIF-L-to-ZIF-8 transformation of ZIF-L was achieved, and modulation of the adsorption and pore characteristics (suppression of gate-opening properties of ZIF-8) has been confirmed.
Changes in hepatic lipogenic and oxidative enzymes and glucose homeostasis induced by an acetyl‐l‐carnitine and nicotinamide treatment in dyslipidaemic insulin‐resistant rats

Normal rats fed a sucrose‐rich diet (SRD) develop dyslipidaemia and insulin resistance. The present study examined whether administration of the mitochondrial nutrients nicotinamide and acetyl‐l‐carnitine reversed or improved these metabolic abnormalities. Male Wistar rats were fed an SRD for 90 days. Half the rats then received daily injections of nicotinamide (25 mg/kg, i.p.) and acetyl‐ l‐carnitine (50 mg/kg, i.p.) for a further 90 days. The remaining rats in the SRD‐fed group and those in a normal chow‐fed control group were injected with an equal volume of saline solution for the same period. The following parameters were determined in all groups: (i) liver activity of fatty acid synthase (FAS), acetyl‐CoA carboxylase (ACC) and carnitine‐palmitoyl transferase‐1 (CPT‐1); (ii) hepatic and skeletal muscle triacylglycerol content, plasma glucose, insulin, free fatty acid (FFA) and triacylglycerol levels and pancreatic insulin content; and (iii) glucose tolerance. Administration of nicotinamide and acetyl‐l‐carnitine to the SRD‐fed rats reduced dyslipidaemia, liver steatosis, muscle triacylglycerol content and hepatic FAS and ACC activities and increased CPT‐1 activity. In addition nicotinamide and acetyl‐l‐carnitine improved the glucose disappearance rate (Kg), normalized plasma glucose levels and moderately increased insulinaemia without altering pancreatic insulin content. Finally, nicotinamide and acetyl‐l‐carnitine administration reduced bodyweight gain and visceral adiposity. The results of the present study suggest that altering key hepatic lipogenic and fatty acid oxidative enzymatic activity could improve dyslipidaemia, liver steatosis and visceral adiposity. Indeed, administration of nicotinamide and acetyl‐l‐carnitine improved glucose intolerance and normalized plasma glucose levels.
Role of angiotensin AT2 receptors in natriuresis: Intrarenal mechanisms and therapeutic potential

The renin–angiotensin system is a coordinated hormonal cascade critical for the regulation of blood pressure (BP) and kidney function. Angiotensin (Ang) II, the major angiotensin effector peptide, binds to two major receptors, namely AT1 and AT2 receptors. The AT1 receptors engender antinatriuresis and raise BP, whereas AT2 receptors oppose these effects, inducing natriuresis and reducing BP. There is high AT2 receptor expression in the adult kidney, especially in the proximal tubule. In AT2 receptor‐null mice, long‐term AngII infusion results in pressor and antinatriuretic hypersensivivity compared with responses in wild‐type mice. The major endogenous receptor ligand for AT2 receptor‐mediated natriuretic responses appears to be des‐aspartyl1‐AngII (AngIII) instead of AngII. Recent studies have demonstrated that AngII requires metabolism to AngIII by aminopeptidase A to induce natriuresis and that inhibition of aminopeptidase N increases intrarenal AngIII and augments AngIII‐induced natriuresis. The renal dopaminergic system is another important natriuretic pathway. Renal proximal tubule the D1 and D5 receptor subtypes (D1‐like receptors (D1LIKER)) control approximately 50% of basal sodium excretion. Recently, we have found that natriuresis induced by proximal tubule D1LIKER requires AT2 receptor activation and that D1LIKER stimulation induces recruitment of AT2 receptors to the apical plasma membrane via a cAMP‐dependent mechanism. Initial studies using the potent AT2 receptor non‐peptide agonist Compound 21 demonstrate natriuresis in both the presence and absence of AT1 receptor blockade, indicating the therapeutic potential of this compound in fluid‐retaining states and hypertension.