Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Implementation Fidelity in the Towards No Drug Abuse Dissemination Trial.

PURPOSE The current study examines the influence of contextual and provider-level factors on the implementation fidelity of a research-based substance abuse prevention program. Also, it investigates whether two provider-level factors, self-efficacy and beliefs about the value of the program, statistically moderate and mediate the effects of a provider training intervention on implementation fidelity. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH Using generalized mixed-linear modeling, we examine relationships between program provider-, organizational, and community-level factors and implementation fidelity in a sample of 50 high school teachers from 43 high schools in 8 states across the U.S. Fidelity of implementation was assessed utilizing an observation procedure. FINDINGS Implementation fidelity was negatively associated with the urbanicity of the community and the level of teachers' beliefs about the value of the program, and positively predicted by the organizational capacity of the school. Comprehensive training significantly increased teachers' self-efficacy, which resulted in an increase in implementation fidelity. RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS School-based prevention program implementation is influenced by a variety of contextual factors occurring at multiple ecological levels. Future effectiveness and dissemination studies need to account for the complex nature of schools in analyses of implementation fidelity and outcomes. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Our findings suggest that both provider- and organizational-level factors are influential in promoting implementation fidelity. Before implementation begins, as well as throughout the implementation process, training and ongoing technical assistance should be conducted to increase teachers' skills, self-efficacy, and comfort with prevention curricula. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The present study is one of the few to examine contextual and provider-level correlates of implementation fidelity and use mediation analyses to explore whether provider-level factors mediate the effects of a provider training intervention on implementation fidelity.
Interfacial barriers in interphase transport. II. Influence of additives upon the transport of diethylphthalate across the hexadecane-gelatin-water interface.

The authors recently described a novel method for investigating the effects of an interfacial barrier in interphase transport. The procedures, both theoretical and experimental, were applied to the study of the effects of an adsorbed gelatin at the hexadecane-water interface upon the transport of diethylphthalate between the two phases. The present paper describes the influences of surfactants, electrolyte type, and concentration upon the permeability coefficient for the interfacial barrier. Experiments were conducted as before, employing diethylphthalate as the solute. The transport data were analyzed by the physical model described earlier. The results showed that the two ionic surfactants, sodium lauryl sulfate and dodecylpyridinium chloride, markedly decreased (2 to 12 times) the interfacial barrier even at low concentration (0.001–0.10% in the stock emulsion). Furthermore, the analysis showed that neither the electrolyte type nor concentration influenced the permeability coefficients, although they significantly altered the interphase transport rates themselves by changing the partition coefficients. These findings are particularly interesting as they may represent types of nonspecific situations that give rise to important barriers in in vivo drug transport.
Collaborative, task-specific information delivery for agile processes

Knowledge management (KM) approaches for agile software processes need to be lightweight, and must be able to react quickly to new information needs arising for developers. In this paper, we describe how we extended the existing KM tool PRIME by collaborative filtering techniques, in order to pro-actively provide users with task-specific recommendations of potentially relevant information items. The resulting hybrid system thus allows for both the formal specification of "when to offer what information to whom", and heuristic-based information recommendation functionality. As the latter requires no knowledge engineering effort during operation, we argue that the resulting system supports a lightweight KM approach that is viable for agile teams.
Cloning of murine Stat6 and human Stat6, Stat proteins that are tyrosine phosphorylated in responses to IL-4 and IL-3 but are not required for mitogenesis

By searching a database of expressed sequences, we identified a member of the signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stat) family of proteins. Human and murine full-length cDNA clones were obtained and sequenced. The sequence of the human cDNA was identical to the recently published sequence for interleukin-4 (IL-4)-Stat (J. Hou, U. Schindler, W.J. Henzel, T.C. Ho, M. Brasseur, and S. L. McKnight, Science 265:1701-1706, 1994), while the murine Stat6 amino acid and nucleotide sequences were 83 and 84% identical to the human sequences, respectively. Using Stat6-specific antiserum, we demonstrated that Stat6 is rapidly tyrosine phosphorylated following stimulation of appropriate cell lines with IL-4 or IL-3 but is not detectably phosphorylated following stimulation with IL-2, IL-12, or erythropoietin. In contrast, IL-2, IL-3, and erythropoietin induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat5 while IL-12 uniquely induces the tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat4. Inducible tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat6 requires the membrane-distal region of the IL-4 receptor alpha chain. This region of the receptor is not required for cell growth, demonstrating that Stat6 tyrosine phosphorylation does not contribute to mitogenesis.
Characteristics Associated with Recent Recreational Exercise Among Women 20 to 44 Years of Age

ABSTRACT Data on 1,501 control women from a multi-center, population-based, case-control study of breast cancer were used to examine characteristics associated with recreational exercise during the year prior to the interview among women 20 to 44 years of age. In a univariate analysis, higher levels of recreational exercise were associated with: higher education; higher family income; white race; previous participation in recreational exercise above the median level at ages 12 to 13 and at age 20; being nulliparous; ever lactating; being a never or past smoker; having a low current Quetelet's index (QI: weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); and living in Atlanta or Seattle (compared to New Jersey). In a multiple linear regression model, independent predictors of higher levels of recreational exercise were: participation in higher levels of exercise at 20 years of age; having a low current QI; and never having smoked. Though all women should be encouraged to participate in exercise, these findings identity subgroups of women that may need targeting when developing exercise intervention programs.
Design of novel miconazole nitrate transdermal films based on Eudragit RS100 and HPMC hybrids: preparation, physical characterization, in vitro and ex vivo studies

Abstract The objective of this study was to formulate and evaluate transdermal films containing miconazole nitrate (MN), a poorly water-soluble imidazole antifungal agent, with a view to enhancing its delivery across intact skin. Transdermal films of MN were formulated by solvent casting technique using admixtures of film-forming polymers – Eudragit RS100 and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) (2:8, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4 and 8:2) with polyethylene glycol 8000 (plasticizer and permeation enhancer) and Tween 80 (mobile surfactant). The films were evaluated for weight uniformity, folding endurance, thickness, moisture loss and uptake, bioadhesive strength, drug content, skin irritation on rabbits and time-resolved stability. The ex vivo release of MN from the films was carried out using a modified Franz diffusion apparatus while the microbiological evaluation was conducted using a clinical isolate of Candida albicans. Overall results indicate that films made with two portions of Eudragit RS100 and eight portions of HPMC (batch T-1) had the least weight variation (57.33 ± 0.27 mg), folding endurance (307.90 ± 4.17), moisture uptake (1.37 ± 0.28%) and thickness (145.9 ± 2.08 µm), but highest drug content (97.50 ± 2.43%) and bioadhesive strength (81.40 ± 2.03 dyne/cm2), best bioactivity and in vitro skin permeation through rat skin with highest permeation flux (5.161 µg/cm2 h) and permeation coefficient (1.032 × 10−6 cm/h) compared to all other formulations. This study has established that transdermal films based on 2:8 admixtures of Eudragit RS100 and HPMC could offer a promising approach for the treatment of skin infections caused by MN-susceptible fungi.
Improving the Precision of RDF Question/Answering Systems: A Why Not Approach

Given a natural language question qNL over an RDF dataset D, an RDF Question/Answering (Q/A) system first translatesqNL into a SPARQL query graph Q and then evaluates Q over the underlying knowledge graph to figure out the answers Q(D). However, due to the challenge of understanding natural language questions and the complexity of linking phrases with specific RDF items (e.g., entities and predicates), the translated query graph Q may be incorrect, leading to some wrong or missing answers. In order to improve the system's precision, we propose a self-learning solution based on the users' feedback over Q(D. Specifically, our method automatically refines the SPARQL query Q into a new query graph Q′ with minimum modifications (over the original query Q). The new query will fix the errors and omissions of the query results. Furthermore, each amendment will also be used to improve the precision in answering subsequent natural language questions.
Cardiovascular risk in diabetic end‐stage renal disease patients

Diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of end‐stage renal disease (ESRD), accounting for 54% of all incident cases according to the US Renal Data System. These patients suffer an extremely high mortality rate due to the very high incidence of cardiovascular disease. A significant proportion of these patients already has established cardiovascular disease at the time of initiation of dialysis treatment. More importantly, as these patients develop progressive kidney dysfunction, they are not only subjected to traditional Framingham risk factors, but, more importantly, to a whole host of “kidney disease‐related risk factors” that further accelerate the progression of cardiovascular disease and thus contribute to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. The present article provides an updated view on the multitude of traditional Framingham risk factors and kidney disease‐related risk factors that diabetic ESRD patients are subjected to. A better understanding of the different cardiovascular risk factors will be fundamental to institute early detection programs, as well as to provide aggressive cardiovascular management of these patients.
Chemopreventive activity of selenocysteine prodrugs against tobacco‐derived nitrosamine (NNK) induced lung tumors in the A/J mouse

Prodrugs of L‐selenocysteine have potential utility in cancer chemoprevention. This study reports the efficacy of three selenazolidine‐4(R)‐carboxylic acids, (2‐unsubstituted, 2‐oxo, and 2‐methyl derivatives; SCA, OSCA, and MSCA, respectively) against tobacco‐related lung tumorigenesis in a mouse model. Seven days after initiation of an AIN‐76A diet supplemented with sodium selenite (5 ppm Se), L‐selenomethionine (3.75 ppm Se), Se‐methyl‐L‐selenocysteine (3 ppm Se), L‐selenocystine (15 ppm Se), SCA (15 ppm Se), OSCA (15 ppm Se), or MSCA (15 ppm Se), mice received 4‐(methylnitrosamino)‐1‐(3‐pyridyl)‐1‐butanone (NNK; 10 μmol, i.p.). After an additional 16 weeks on the diets, two compounds, OSCA and selenocystine, significantly reduced lung adenoma multiplicity from 7.2 tumors per mouse in the NNK group to 4.5 and 4.6 tumors per mouse, respectively. Neither selenium concentration nor glutathione peroxidase activity in either RBCs or liver served as surrogate indicators of tumor reduction. Hepatic selenium levels were significantly elevated by all selenium‐containing compounds except Se‐methyl‐L‐selenocysteine and SCA; RBC selenium levels by all except sodium selenite and MSCA. With the exception of L‐selenomethionine, RBC glutathione peroxidase activity was increased along with the elevated selenium levels. Hepatic glutathione peroxidase activity was elevated by all Se‐compounds except SCA. The two compounds showing significant tumor reduction (OSCA and selenocystine) were the only two compounds that showed ubiquity of changes, elevating both selenium levels and GPx activity in both liver and RBC. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 19:396‐405, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jbt.20105
Biomarker responses to sewage pollution in freshwater mussels (Diplodon chilensis) transplanted to a Patagonian river

Field and laboratory experiments were combined to evaluate biomarker responses of Diplodon chilensis to sewage pollution. Mussels from an unpolluted area in Lacar lake (S0) were caged at a reference site (S1) and at two sites with increasing sewage pollution (S2, S3) in Pocahullo river (all in Argentina). After 1 month, gill (g) glutathione S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT) activities, and lipid peroxidation (TBARS) were found to be significantly elevated in S3, gGST being positively correlated with fecal bacteria (FC) concentration. Digestive gland (dg) enzyme activities were depressed and dgTBARS were increased in all transplanted mussels. After 3 mo, most variables returned to control levels in S1 mussels except for dgCAT and dgTBARS. After seven months, GST and CAT activities of S0 and S3 mussels were evaluated in the laboratory, before and after acute exposure (8 h) to high fecal bacteria concentration ([FC] in S3x 2). gGST increased in both groups, while dgGST responded only in S3 mussels. gCAT and dgCAT activities were similarly increased by acute exposure in both groups. Our results suggest that gGST and gCAT are suitable biomarkers for high FC pollution regardless of previous exposure history. In addition, we show that dgCAT is sensitive to the acute increase in FC load, both in naive and long-term exposed individuals, while dgGST becomes responsive after long-term acclimatization.
Deletion of Leucine Zipper Tumor Suppressor 2 (Lzts2) Increases Susceptibility to Tumor Development*

Background: The leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 2 (LZTS2) has been speculated to be a tumor suppressor for more than a decade. Results: Deletion of Lzts2 increases the susceptibility to spontaneous and carcinogen-induced tumor development in mice. Conclusion: LZTS2 functions as a tumor susceptibility gene. Significance: Identifying a novel role for LZTS2 in tumorigenesis in a novel mouse model. Using an Lzts2 knock-out mouse model, we characterized the biological role of Lzts2 in tumorigenesis. Both heterozygous and homozygous deletion of the Lzts2-targeted allele in mice shows an increased incidence in spontaneous tumor development, although Lzts2 homozygous knock-out mice show significantly higher incidences than heterozygous mice. Treatment of Lzts2-deficient mice with a carcinogen, N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine, increases the susceptibility to N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine-induced bladder carcinoma development. Examination of human prostate cancer tissue specimens shows a reduction of LZTS2 protein expression in prostate cancer cells. Further analyses of mouse embryonic fibroblasts isolated from Lzts2 knock-out embryos show that loss of Lzts2 enhances cell growth. These data provide the first line of evidence demonstrating that deletion of Lzts2 increases susceptibility to spontaneous and carcinogen-induced tumor development.
Simple, Accurate, Serotype-Specific PCR Assay To Differentiate Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C

ABSTRACT In this study, we developed a simple, reliable, serotype-specific PCR method to differentiate Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C. It was more efficient and practical than the assays currently being used to identify serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C. Of 120 selected serogroup 6 isolates from subjects with invasive (n = 101) and noninvasive (n = 19) pneumococcal disease, most of which were collected after 2003 in New South Wales, 45 had been identified as 6A and 75 had been identified as 6B by the Quellung reaction. PCR analysis confirmed the results for serotype 6B isolates and identified two different subtypes. Fourteen of 45 isolates that had been identified as serotype 6A actually belonged to serotype 6C.
Visual Search for Grouped versus Ungrouped Icons in a Computer Interface

The paradigm of visual search was used to investigate how participants looked for a target file among distracter files in an icon-based computer interface. The purpose of these experiments was to study the effect of icons and spatial grouping on scanning speed. Does spatial grouping of identical icons increase the scanning speed? Do icons themselves speed up the search for a target file when compared with a condition in which the files are indicated with mere textual labels? Our results showed that both the presence of icons and their grouping had a significant positive effect on the scanning speed. Potential applications of this research include the design of graphics-based interfaces, such as the effective arrangement of icons in an interface.
Multimodal Hidden Markov Model-Based Approach for Tool Wear Monitoring

In this paper, a novel multimodal hidden Markov model (HMM)-based approach is proposed for tool wear monitoring (TWM). The proposed approach improves the performance of a pre-existing HMM-based approach named physically segmented HMM with continuous output (PSHMCO) by using multiple PSHMCOs in parallel. In this multimodal approach, each PSHMCO captures and emphasizes on a different tool wear regiment. In this paper, three weighting schemes, namely, bounded hindsight, discounted hindsight, and semi-nonparametric hindsight, are proposed, and two switching strategies named soft and hard switching are introduced to combine the outputs from multiple modes into one. As an illustrative example, the proposed approach is applied to TWM in a computer numerically controlled milling machine. The performance of the multimodal approach with various weighting schemes and switching strategies is reported and compared with PSHMCO.
Use of Specific rRNA Oligonucleotide Probes for Microscopic Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Culture and Tissue Specimens

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections are a major global health problem. Fast and accurate detection of M. tuberculosis is clearly needed at both the clinical level and the research level. We report a rapid and reliable in situ hybridization technique using rRNA oligonucleotide probes for the identification of M. tuberculosis in tissues and cultures.
Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Evaluation of Textile Antennas

This paper presents a detailed and systematic investigation of the reproducibility of specific absorption rate (SAR) measurements using textile antennas and their simulation accuracy. The ability to accurately predict the SAR is very important for practical textile antenna designers since certified SAR measurements are costly. To that goal, the SAR values of a range of textile antennas operating in various bands of the IEEE 802.15. 6 and 802.11 standards are evaluated. The selected textile antenna topologies for the evaluation differ in terms of the bandwidth behavior (broadband, dual band, and ultrawideband). They are chosen to be distinct, have been fabricated using an array of conductive textiles, and are benchmarked against similar structures made from a flexible conductor. SAR values are evaluated at three different frequencies, i.e., 2.45, 5.2, and 5.8 GHz, respectively, using a commercial electromagnetic solver and a certified experimental setup. Factors affecting the SAR behavior are presented and discussed. Results indicate that antennas without a rear ground plane are producing almost three times the SAR of textile antennas that feature a full ground plane. The results of this paper point out that the repeatability of the measurements is about 10% and that the agreement between simulations and measurements is on the order of about 17%.
A quantum-inspired evolutionary hybrid intelligent approach for stock market prediction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new quantum‐inspired evolutionary hybrid intelligent (QIEHI) approach, in order to overcome the random walk dilemma for stock market prediction.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed QIEHI method is inspired by the Takens' theorem and performs a quantum‐inspired evolutionary search for the minimum necessary dimension (time lags) embedded in the problem for determining the characteristic phase space that generates the financial time series phenomenon. The approach presented in this paper consists of a quantum‐inspired intelligent model composed of an artificial neural network (ANN) with a modified quantum‐inspired evolutionary algorithm (MQIEA), which is able to evolve the complete ANN architecture and parameters (pruning process), the ANN training algorithm (used to further improve the ANN parameters supplied by the MQIEA), and the most suitable time lags, to better describe the time series phenomenon.Findings – This paper finds that, initially, the .
GPFIS-Control: A fuzzy Genetic model for Control tasks

This work presents a Genetic Fuzzy Controller (GFC), called Genetic Programming Fuzzy Inference System for Control tasks (GPFIS-Control). It is based on Multi-Gene Genetic Programming, a variant of canonical Genetic Programming. The main characteristics and concepts of this approach are described, as well as its distinctions from other GFCs. Two benchmarks application of GPFIS-Control are considered: the Cart-Centering Problem and the Inverted Pendulum. In both cases results demonstrate the superiority and potentialities of GPFIS-Control in relation to other GFCs found in the literature.
PLANETS AND DEBRIS DISKS: RESULTS FROM A SPITZER/MIPS SEARCH FOR INFRARED EXCESS

Using the MIPS camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have searched for debris disks around 104 stars known from radial velocity studies to have one or more planets. Combining this new data with 42 already published observations of planet-bearing stars, we find that 14 of the 146 systems have IR excess at 24 and/or 70 μm. Only one star, HD 69830, has IR excess exclusively at 24 μm, indicative of warm dust in the inner system analogous to that produced by collisions in the solar system's asteroid belt. For the other 13 stars with IR excess the emission is stronger at 70 μm, consistent with cool dust (<100 K) located beyond 10 AU, well outside of the orbital location of the known planets. Selection effects inhibit detection of faint disks around the planet-bearing stars (e.g., the stars tend to be more distant), resulting in a lower detection rate for IR excess than in a corresponding control sample of nearby stars not known to have planets (9% ± 3% versus 14% ± 3%). Even taking into account the selection bias, we find that the difference between the dust emission around stars with planets and stars without known planets is not statistically significant.