Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum heart-type fatty acid-binding protein as a predictor for the development of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury

ABSTRACT Background: We analyzed the correlation between heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (HFABP) and the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with sepsis and estimated the predictive capacity of HFABP for sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SAKI). Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we screened 2,452 patients who received the HFABP test in the emergency department. 442 admitted patients with sepsis were finally enrolled. Based on the diagnostic criteria for AKI in Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines, patients were divided into the no-AKI group (n = 317) and AKI group (n = 125). We analyzed the correlation between HFABP and SAKI occurrence by logistic regression analysis and evaluated the predictive ability of HFABP to SAKI using c-index, net reclassification improvement index (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement index (IDI). Results: Patients in the AKI group with significantly higher the level of HFABP and in-hospital mortality. HFABP concentration is an independent risk factor for SAKI (OR: 11.398; 95% CI: 6.218–20.891, P < 0.001), but not for in-hospital mortality (OR: 1.189, 95%CI: 0.954–2.607, P = 0.076). The addition of HFABP to the prediction model significantly improved the ROC area (0.867 vs 0.755, P < 0.001), NRI 25.03% (95% CI 9.72–38.51%) and IDI 14.33 (95% CI 11.04–17.62). Conclusion: Serum HFABP is correlated with SAKI development and could become a potential predictive biomarker.
Myelin degeneration induced by mutant superoxide dismutase 1 accumulation promotes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Myelin is a specialized membrane that wraps around nerve fibers and is essential for normal axonal conduction in neurons. In the central nervous system, oligodendrocytes are responsible for myelin formation. Recent studies have reported pathological abnormalities in oligodendrocytes in human patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a mouse model of ALS expressing the G93A mutation of the human superoxide dismutase 1 (mtSOD1). However, it is unclear whether oligodendrocyte pathology in ALS represents the primary dysfunction induced by mtSOD1 and how mtSOD1 contributes to oligodendrocyte degeneration and ALS pathogenesis. We analyzed GAL4‐VP16‐UAS transgenic zebrafish selectively expressing mtSOD1 in mature oligodendrocytes. We observed that mtSOD1 directly induced oligodendrocyte degeneration by disrupting the myelin sheath and downregulating monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1), thereby causing spinal motor neuron degeneration. Pathological changes observed in this transgenic zebrafish were similar to the pathology observed in the SOD1G93A mouse model of ALS, which is characterized by expression of mtSOD1 in all cells. In addition, oligodendrocyte dysfunction induced by mtSOD1 was associated with anxiety‐related behavioral abnormalities, learning impairments, and motor defects in the early symptomatic stage. We also found that treatment with potassium channel inhibitors rescued behavioral abnormalities without rescuing MCT1 expression, suggesting that myelin disruption induces behavioral abnormalities independently of MCT1. These results indicate that mtSOD1‐induced dysfunction of mature oligodendrocytes is sufficient to induce motor neuron degeneration, thus informing future therapeutic strategies targeted at oligodendrocytes in ALS.
Computer analysis and visualisation of non-linear dynamic system (NDS) in plane

The research of non-linear dynamic system (non-linear DS,NDS) behavior is a widespread task in many fields of human activity. For effective management of NDS it is necessary to know its free behavior (without influence of external effects), conditions which allows NDS to reach stable state, necessary parameter values for the system to provide the required functional characteristics. A phase-plane portrait describes a behavior of DS in the most obvious way. The modern development of computer engineering allows usage of computer heuristic devices as addition to classic analytical methods to create the phase-plane portrait. (Gagarina L.G., Gorodilov A.V., Kondrashov O.O., Kononova A.I., Teplova Y.O., Lisov O.I. Computer analysis and visualisation of non-linear dynamic system (NDS) in plane. Life Sci J 2014;11(12):491-495) (ISSN:1097- 8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 96
pCubee : evaluation of a tangible outward-facing geometric display

This thesis describes the evaluation of pCubee, a handheld outward-facing geometric display that supports high-quality visualization and tangible interaction with 3D content. Through reviewing existing literatures on 3D display technologies, we identified and examined important areas that have yet to be fully understood for outward-facing geometric displays. We investigated the performance of a dynamic visual calibration technique to compensate for tracking errors, and we demonstrated four novel interaction schemes afforded by tangible outward-facing geometric displays, including static content visualization, dynamic interaction with reactive virtual objects, scene navigation through display movements, and bimanual interaction. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of display seams and pCubee’s potential in spatial reasoning tasks respectively. Two stimuli, a path-tracing visualization task and a 3D cube comparison task that was similar to a mental rotation task, were utilized in the experiments. In the first experiment, we discovered a significant effect on user performance in path-tracing that was dependent on the seam thickness. As seam size increased beyond a thickness threshold, subjects relied less on multiple screens and spent longer time to trace paths. In the second experiment, we found that subjects had significant preference for using the pCubee display compared to a desktop display setup when solving our cube comparison problem. Both time and accuracy using pCubee were as good as using a much larger, more familiar desktop display. This proved the utility of outward-facing geometric displays for spatial reasoning tasks. Our analysis and evaluation identified promising potential but current limitations of pCubee. The outcomes from our analysis can help to facilitate development and more systematic evaluations of similar displays in the future.
Endophytes from wild rubber trees as antagonists of the pathogen Corynespora cassiicola.

The Corynespora Leaf Fall disease of rubber tree, caused by the necrotrophic fungus Corynespora cassiicola, is responsible for important yield losses in Asian and African plantations, while its impact is negligible in South America. The objective of this study was to identify potential antagonists of C. cassiicola among fungal endophytes (i.e., Pestalotiopsis, Colletotrichum and Trichoderma) isolated from wild and cultivated rubber trees distributed in the Peruvian Amazon. We first tested the endophytes in dual in vitro confrontation assays against a virulent C. cassiicola isolate (CCP) obtained from diseased rubber trees in the Philippines. All Trichoderma isolates overran the CCP colony suggesting some antagonistic mechanism, while species from the other genera behaved as mutual antagonists. Trichoderma isolates were then tested through antibiosis assays for their capacity to produce growth-inhibiting molecules. One isolate (LA279), recovered as an endophyte from a wild Hevea guianensis and identified as T. koningiopsis, showed significant antibiosis capacity. We demonstrated that LA279 was also able to endophytically colonize the cultivated rubber tree species (H. brasiliensis). Under controlled laboratory conditions, rubber plants were inoculated with three Trichoderma strains, including LA279, in combination with the pathogenic CCP. Results showed that one-week pre-inoculation with the endophytes differentially reduced CCP mycelial development and symptoms. In conclusion, this study suggests that T. koningiopsis isolate LA279 -and derivate compounds- could be a promising candidate for the biological control of the important rubber tree pathogen C. cassiicola.
A Resilience-Based Intervention Programme to Enhance Psychological Well-Being and Protective Factors for Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children in China.

BACKGROUND The current study evaluated the preliminary efficacy of a pilot trial of a resilience-based intervention programme designed to decrease depression symptoms and improve protective factors (e.g. personal assets, social resources, cultural adaptation self-efficacy, interpreting adversity, and self-esteem) among rural-to-urban migrant children in China. METHODS Participants were 285 fourth and fifth graders from two migrant children schools in Beijing. One school was cluster-randomly assigned as the intervention group (n = 127) and the other was assigned as the wait-list control group (n = 158). Data were collected at baseline and post-intervention with a follow-up rate of 96.8 per cent. RESULTS Multivariate analyses found significantly greater increases in social resources, cultural adaptation self-efficacy, and making positive sense of adversity in the intervention group than in the control group. In the intervention group, migrant children who had moved more often reported a higher increase in personal assets than those who had fewer mobility experience. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that the resilience-based intervention can be efficacious in improving resilience among migrant children in China.
A review on anticancer potentials of benzothiazole derivatives.

Benzothiazole is an organic compound bearing a heterocyclic nucleus (thiazole) that imparts a broad spectrum of biological activity to it. The significant and potent activity of benzothiazole moiety influenced distinctively by nature and position of substitutions. This review summarizes of the effect of various substituents in recent trends and approaches to design and develop novel benzothiazole derivatives for anticancer potential in different cell lines by interpreting the structure-activity relationship (SAR) and mechanism of action of a wide range of derivatives. The list of derivatives are categorized in different groups and reviewed for their anticancer activity. The structure-activity relationship for the various derivatives revealed an excellent understanding of benzothiazole moiety in the field of cancer therapy against different cancer cell line. Data obtained from the various articles showed the potential effect of benzothiazole moiety and its derivatives to produce the peculiar and significant lead compound. The important anticancer mechanisms found are tyrosine kinase inhibition, topoisomerase inhibition and induction of apoptosis by reactive oxygen species (ROS) activation. Therefore, the design and development of novel benzothiazole have broad scope in cancer chemotherapy.
From Monomers to a Lasagna-Like Aerogel Monolith: An Assembling Strategy for Aramid Nanofibers.

The manipulation of nano-building blocks into a 3D macroscopic monolith with ordered hierarchical structures has been much desired for broad and large-scale practical applications of nano architectures. In this paper, we demonstrate a fully bottom-up strategy for the preparation of aramid aerogel monoliths. The process starts from the synthesis of poly (p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) through the polycondensation of p-phenylenediamine and terephthaloyl chloride, with the assistance of a non-reactive dispersing agent (polyethylene glycol dimethyl ether), which helps the dispersal of the as-synthesized PPTA in an aqueous medium for the formation of p-aramid nanofibers (ANF). Then the vacuum-assisted self-assembly (Vas) technique is skillfully connected with the ice-templated directional solidification (I) technique and the combined VasI method successfully tailors the self-assembly of ANF to transform the 1D nanofibers into a 3D aerogel monolith with a specific long-range aligned, lasagna-like, multilaminated internal structure. The study on the aerogel microstructure revealed the dependence of the lamina orientation on the direction of the freezing front of ice crystals. This direction should be parallel to the deposition plane of the Vas process if a long-range aligned lamellar structure is desired. The anisotropy of the multilaminated aerogel was proven by the different results in the radial and axial directions in the compression and thermal conductivity tests. As a kind of organic aerogel, the ANF monolith has typical low density, high porosity and low thermal conductivity. Additionally, the ANF monolith exhibits high compressive stress and excellent thermal stability. Considering its high performance and facile preparation process, potential applications of the ANF aerogel monolith can be expected.
College Expectations Promote College Attendance: Evidence From a Quasiexperimental Sibling Study

When adolescents are asked how likely they think it is that they will go to college, does their answer influence what they will actually do? Typically, it is difficult to determine whether college expectations promote academic achievement or just reflect a reasonable forecast of what is likely to happen to them. We used a sample of siblings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 1,766) to test whether associations between college expectations and educational attainment remained after accounting for unobserved family factors that may shape both educational expectations and attainment. Compared with their siblings, adolescents with higher college expectations were also 43% more likely to attend college, even when analyses controlled for grades and IQ. The effect of college expectations on college attendance was strongest among youths living in higher-socioeconomic-status families.
Cardiopulmonary dysfunction in perinatally HIV‐infected South African adolescents on antiretroviral therapy: baseline findings from the Cape Town Adolescent Antiretroviral Cohort

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reduced morbidity and mortality in sub‐Saharan Africa, but the burden of coexistent cardiopulmonary disease in perinatally HIV‐positive adolescents on antiretroviral therapy (ART) has not been well described. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and associations of cardiopulmonary dysfunction in adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV on ART.
THE EFFECT OF RELATIVE CLAUSE TYPES ON PROCESSING DIFFICULTY

This study investigated processing difficulty of relative clauses in two groups of Persian-speaking students with high and low level of English proficiency. 165 (92 female) university students aged 18 to 30 were recruited for this study. They answered to sentence comprehension task consisted of four types of restrictive English relative clauses, namely, SS, SO, OS, and OO. The results showed that participants faced less processing difficulty in OS and OO type. In contrast, they experienced the most processing difficulty in SS type. Determining factor in relative clause processing by Persian-speaking participants was the position of relative clause within the matrix clause (embeddedness) rather than the role of the head noun in the relative clause (focus). Moreover, proficiency level of participants did not bring about a drastic change on the relative clause processing. The result of this study provided strong evidence for Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (Kuno, 1977), Non-interruption Hypothesis (Slobin, 1973),and Word Order Difference Hypothesis
Replicating Experimental Impact Estimates with Nonexperimental Methods in the Context of Control Crossover

Ideally, nonexperimental methods that aim to replicate the results of rigorous randomized experiments focus on the intent to treat (ITT) experimental impact estimate, the most causally rigorous measure. This working paper develops a new replication approach that facilitates testing nonexperimental methods against rigorous experimental ITT impact estimates when the experiment includes substantial control crossover.
Acute renal impairment characterization using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging: Validation by histology

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging has been demonstrated to be a simple, noninvasive and accurate method for the detection of renal microstructure and microcirculation, which are closely linked to renal function. Moreover, serum endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) was also reported as a good indicator of early renal injury.
eMap: A Web Application for Identifying and Visualizing Electron or Hole Hopping Pathways in Proteins.

eMap is a web-based platform for identifying and visualizing electron or hole transfer pathways in proteins based on their crystal structures. The underlying model can be viewed as a coarse-grained version of the Pathways model, where each tunneling step between hopping sites represented by electron transfer active (ETA) moieties is described with one effective decay parameter that describes protein-mediated tunneling. ETA moieties include aromatic amino acid residue side chains and aromatic fragments of cofactors that are automatically detected, and, in addition, electron/hole residing sites that can be specified by the users. The software searches for the shortest paths connecting the user-specified electron/hole source to either all surface-exposed ETA residues or to the user-specified target. The identified pathways are ranked based on their effective length. The pathways are visualized in 2D as a graph, in which each node represents an ETA site, and in 3D using available protein visualization tools. Here, we present the capability and user interface of eMap 1.0, which is available at https://emap.bu. edu.
Towards a new ontology of complexity science

Now I find this a worry, because aren’t we the inheritors of a tradition that has striven for the last two and a half millennia to demonstrate that most moments are not Promethean, that our time and place in the universe are not special? Isn’t it the politicians and spin-masters, not the scientists, who exhort us to think that now is different and that we are different? But the evidence worries me, and, what is more, the implications worry me. So indulge me while I lay out the evidence that, contrary to the null hypothesis, we really are living in a singular moment in the history of this bit of the universe. And then indulge me further while I unfold some of the consequences.
Prisons as Schools: Inmates’ Participation in Vocational and Academic Programs in Chinese Prisons

Although the idea of criminal rehabilitation in China has a long history, research on offender rehabilitation in contemporary China is limited. Although Chinese scholars generally agree that rehabilitation through correctional education helps inmates with social reintegration and reduces recidivism, few have examined factors associated with prisoners’ participation in such programs. Building on relevant theory and studies in Western societies, this study examines how Chinese prisoners’ participation in vocational and academic programs is associated with a range of push and pull factors. Our research questions are addressed with binary and multinomial logistic regressions based on a unique prisoner data set collected in Zhejiang, China. Results show that some factors found to affect inmate participation in the West failed to demonstrate significant relationships with participation among Chinese prisoners. Furthermore, factors most significantly associated with participation appear to be incarceration related, such as prison visits, prison phone calls, and sentence lengths. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our results.
Efficacy of Short-term Treatment of Internet and Computer Game Addiction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Internet and computer game addiction represent a growing mental health concern, acknowledged by the World Health Organization. Objective To determine whether manualized cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), using short-term treatment for internet and computer game addiction (STICA), is efficient in individuals experiencing internet and computer game addiction. Design, Setting, and Participants A multicenter randomized clinical trial was conducted in 4 outpatient clinics in Germany and Austria from January 24, 2012, to June 14, 2017, including follow-ups. Blinded measurements were conducted. A consecutive sample of 143 men was randomized to the treatment group (STICA; n = 72) or wait-list control (WLC) group (n = 71). Main inclusion criteria were male sex and internet addiction as the primary diagnosis. The STICA group had an additional 6-month follow-up (n = 36). Data were analyzed from November 2018 to March 2019. Interventions The manualized CBT program aimed to recover functional internet use. The program consisted of 15 weekly group and up to 8 two-week individual sessions. Main Outcomes and Measures The predefined primary outcome was the Assessment of Internet and Computer Game Addiction Self-report (AICA-S). Secondary outcomes were self-reported internet addiction symptoms, time spent online on weekdays, psychosocial functioning, and depression. Results A total of 143 men (mean [SD] age, 26.2 [7.8] years) were analyzed based on intent-to-treat analyses. Of these participants, 50 of 72 men (69.4%) in the STICA group showed remission vs 17 of 71 men (23.9%) in the WLC group. In logistic regression analysis, remission in the STICA vs WLC group was higher (odds ratio, 10.10; 95% CI, 3.69-27.65), taking into account internet addiction baseline severity, comorbidity, treatment center, and age. Compared with the WLC groups, effect sizes at treatment termination of STICA were d = 1.19 for AICA-S, d = 0.88 for time spent online on weekdays, d = 0.64 for psychosocial functioning, and d = 0.67 for depression. Fourteen adverse events and 8 serious adverse events occurred. A causal relationship with treatment was considered likely in 2 AEs, one in each group. Conclusions and Relevance Short-term treatment for internet and computer game addiction is a promising, manualized, short-term CBT for a broad range of internet addictions in multiple treatment centers. Further trials investigating the long-term efficacy of STICA and addressing specific groups and subgroups compared with active control conditions are required. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01434589.
Intrapuparial Development of Hemilucilia semidiaphana (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and Its Use in Forensic Entomology

Abstract In forensic entomology, the minimum postmortem interval (PMImin) estimative is usually based on the oldest immature recovered from a local of death. The time spent by fly immatures in the intrapuparial period comprises more than 50% of their complete life cycles. An accurate estimate of the duration of this period will improve PMImin estimates. The blow fly Hemilucilia semidiaphana (Rondani 1850) was found in six criminal cases in the city of Curitiba. Even though there is data on the morphology of the larval instars and developmental rate of H. semidiaphana, the intrapuparial period has not been investigated. Here, we provide a detailed description of the intrapuparial morphological changes of H. semidiaphana, which might be useful to estimate minimum PMI. Samples of H. semidiaphana in the intrapuparial period were obtained from immatures reared on an artificial diet in incubators adjusted to 25°C or 20°C temperature regimes. Blow fly puparia of H. semidiaphana were fixed at intervals of 3 and 6 h until emergence of the adult. The external morphological traits of sampled immatures were analyzed using light microscopy. Our analysis of the intrapuparial period of H. semidiaphana provided 21 traits from which nine were age informative. These nine characteristics divide the developmental time (144 h at 25°C and 192 h at 20°C) into smaller sections. The developmental data provided, together with the time line allows a practical way to make interspecific comparisons as well as to estimate the age of H. semidiaphana based on the intrapuparial development.