Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Serum Leptin with Beta Cell Dysfunction and Insulin Resistance among Different Subgroups of Pre-Diabetes

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that various adipokines released from adipose tissue have been involved in abnormal insulin signalling in obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, it is not entirely clear whether these alterations in serum adipocyte concentrations are already present in the pre-diabetic state. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that elevated levels of serum lepin an index of insulin sensitivity is independently associated with insulinemic indices among different subgroups of prediabetes. Materials: Under an observational cross-sectional design a total of 116 Control subjects (M/F, 58/58) and 99 prediabetic subjects (55/44) consisting of 49 Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) and 50 Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) were investigated. Serum glucose was measured by glucose-oxidase method. Serum insulin and leptin were measured by ELISA techniques. Insulin secretory function (HOMA%B), insulin sensitivity (HOMA%S) and Homeostasis Model Assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated from Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA). Results: Compared to the Control, IFG and IGT subjects had significantly higher levels of serum leptin (ng/mL) (p<0.001) and HOMA-IR (p=0.001) respectively. However, compared to their Control counterparts, IFG and IGT subjects had significantly lower levels of HOMA%B (p=0.001) and HOMA%S (p=0.010). On binary logistic regression analysis, serum leptin (OR (95% CI): 1.074 (1.019-1.131), p=0.007) and reduced HOMA%S (OR (95% CI): 0.972 (0.950-0.995), p=0.015) were found to be significant determinants of IGT group after adjusting the effects of WC and TG. In the same analysis, serum leptin (1.109 (1.054-1.167), p<0.001) and reduced HOMA%B (0.966 (0.951-0.981), p<0.001) were found to be significant predictors of IFG group after adjusting the effects of WC and TG. Conclusion: Elevated levels of serum leptin may have an association with the state of IFG and IGT of prediabetes and this association, in turn, is mediated by insulin secretory dysfunction and reduced insulin sensitivity during this disorder.
Software-defined Networking enabled Resource Management and Security Provisioning in 5G Heterogeneous Networks

Due to the explosive growth of mobile data traffic and the shortage of spectral resources, 5G networks are envisioned to have a densified heterogeneous network (HetNet) architecture, combining multiple radio access technologies (multi-RATs) into a single holistic network. The co-existing of multi-tier architectures bring new challenges, especially on resource management and security provisioning, due to the lack of common interface and consistent policy across HetNets. In this thesis, we aim to address the technical challenges of data traffic management, coordinated spectrum sharing and security provisioning in 5G HetNets through the introduction of a programmable management platform based on Software-defined networking (SDN). To address the spectrum shortage problem in cellular networks, cellular data traffic is efficiently offloaded to the Wi-Fi network, and the quality of service of user applications is guaranteed with the proposed delay tolerance based partial data offloading algorithm. A two-layered information collection is also applied to best load balancing decision-making. Numerical results show that the proposed schemes exploit an SDN controller’s global view of the HetNets and take optimized resource allocation decisions. To support growing vehicle-generated data traffic in 5G-vehicle ad hoc networks (VANET), SDN-enabled adaptive vehicle clustering algorithm is proposed based on the real-time road traffic condition collected from HetNet infrastructure. Traffic offloading is achieved within each cluster and dynamic beamformed transmission is also applied to improve trunk link communication quality. To further achieve a coordinated spectrum sharing across HetNets, an SDN enabled orchestrated spectrum sharing scheme that integrates participating HetNets into an amalgamated network through a common configuration interface and real-time information exchange is proposed. In order to effectively protect incumbent users, a real-time 3D interference map is developed to guide the spectrum access based on the SDN global view. MATLAB simulations confirm that average interference at incumbents is reduced as well as the average number of denied access. Moreover, to tackle the contradiction between more stringent latency requirement of 5G and the potential delay induced by frequent authentications in 5G small cells and HetNets, an SDN-enabled fast authentication scheme is proposed in this thesis to simplify authentication
How to avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism and its avoidance have gained for attention in educating students. A lot of institutes define it using examples. General agreement is that plain copying of existing material is definitely plagiarism. The current information flow in the Internet and the use of computers in the writing process makes it too easy for students to avoid the actual learning-bywriting and just to perform cut-and-paste for their essay or report. At the same time the information flow makes it almost impossible for teachers to detect all of these flaws. Automatic detection tools have been developed to help teachers in this process. However, the detection is just one part of the story. It is much more important that the authors (students as well as researchers) do not copy from others, but say it using their own voice and words. We should also remember that some students have copied material even before the current technology.
Immune Mechanisms in Arterial Homeostasis and Disease

Immune cells contribute to numerous homeostatic and pathological tissue processes making them an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Large arteries exemplify this paradigm as they naturally harbor immune cells within the arterial wall, accumulating during chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis. Despite our advances in our understanding of these processes, the regulatory networks, ancestry and mechanisms that maintain and propagate arterial immune responses remain unknown. This dissertation aims to elucidate these concepts during homeostasis and during atherosclerosis. The first chapter investigates the molecular signature of tissue resident arterial macrophages, their developmental pathways, and key mechanism that ensure their homeostasis. We show through gene expression profiling and multiple fate mapping approaches that adventitial macrophages represent a unique macrophage population with both primitive and definitive hematopoietic origins. These cells are maintained by self-renewal instead of circulating monocytes in both the steady state and acute inflammation. The second chapter focuses on the role of master transcription factor c-Myb in the development of atherosclerotic disease. Through the use of animals that are hypomorphic for c-Myb or have cell specific c-Myb depletion we show that c-Myb exacerbates atherosclerosis. This occurs
Self-emulsifying drug delivery formulations

As a consequence of modern drug discovery techniques, lipid-based drug delivery systems are the most popular approaches usually used to improve the dissolution and oral bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs. Self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS), as one class of these lipid-based systems, are isotropic mixtures of oil, surfactants and co-surfactants where the drug is usually better soluble than in oil alone. The principal characteristic of SEDDS is their ability to form fine oil in water micro-emulsifying drug delivery systems (MEDDS) upon dilution by an aqueous phase through the gastrointestinal tract. SEDDS are considered promising strategy to improve the rate and extent of oral absorption of drugs. However conventional liquid SEDDS have some limitations, solid SEDDS are prepared by solidification of liquid self-emulsifying ingredients into powders or nanoparticles. This overview gives a particular emphasis on the solidification techniques and applications of liquid SEDDS in the pharmaceutical dosage forms to meet a wide range of the formulation requirements achieving reasonable routes of administration with efficient oral bioavailability.
GLP-1 Obesity and Diabetes Gerald H Tomkin and Daphne Owens

Medical School did not teach us about lizards or if they did we failed to take notice. Now everyone is familiar with two venomous lizards, Heloderma suspectum (Gila monster) and close relative Heloderma horridium (Mexican bearded lizard). They live in the south of North America. The Gila monster is large, by lizard standards, being up to 700g and 22cm length. The venom is not fatal to adults but does cause severe pain, swelling, hypotension and lymphadenopathy. The venom contains more than a dozen peptides including serotonin and various vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-like proteins (Exendins 1.2 and 3) which bind to VIP receptors. Exendin 3 binds to a VIP receptor to stimulate amylase release [1,2]. In 1992 Eng et al. [3] predicted a receptor for Exendin 4. They wrote ‘The presence of the exendin receptor, although functionally undefined at the present time, predicts the existence of an endogenous mammalian analog to the exendin peptides”. Cloning and functional expression of the human islet GLP-1 receptor was described in 1993 Thorens et al. [4]. In 1999 Xu et al. [5] showed that exendin-4 improved glucose tolerance in diabetic rats and increased betacell mass through both beta cell replication and neogenesis. Exendin 4 is a GLP-1 like protein with a 50% homology but with a much longer biological half-life. Szayna et al. [6] showed that exendin-4 reacts with the GLP-1 receptor to induce insulin release. Exendin -4 was found to be much more potent than GLP-1 with a much longer biological half-life. In Zucker fatty rats Exendin 4 was found to lower blood sugars but also to reduce food intake and reduce fat deposition. Edwards et al. [7] showed that GLP-1 reduced blood sugar and decreased energy intake in humans but the very short half-life due to rapid cleavage by the enzyme DPP-4 meant that the drug had to be given by intravenous infusion. Exendin -4 does not have this problem as the molecule is not disrupted by DPP-4 therefore the biological half-life is much longer, it was known that incretins are glucose dependent with regards to their insulin stimulation effect. Egan et al. [8] demonstrated that exendin 4 is a potent and long lasting insulinotropic agent in both non-diabetic and diabetic subjects using a glucose clamp method. In 2003 Exendin-4 given in bolus subcutaneous doses was shown to reduce blood sugars and HbA1c [9]. Exendin 4 was shown to delay gastric emptying and reduce post prandial blood sugars in Type 1 diabetic patients [10].
Transient Stability of Power Grids Comprising Wind Turbines: New Formulation, Implementation, and Application in Real-Time Assessment

Enhancing penetration of wind turbines in the modern power grids, the assessment of the transient stability has changed to a more complicated issue. This paper proposes an innovative real-time method based on the corrected kinetic energy, which aims to assess the transient stability of a power system comprising wind turbines by calculating critical clearing time. To enhance the accuracy of the calculations, the proposed method utilizes structure preserving for taking details of the network model into consideration. Moreover, a new indirect calculation method based on Taylor expansion of the rotor angle is proposed, which considers the effects of the wind turbine generator controllers on the corrected kinetic energy calculation. Specifically, the latter indirect calculations take the effects of the potential terms of transient energy function into account for calculating critical corrected kinetic energy. Also, the latter method considers the fault-on trajectory impact on the transient stability assessment and simultaneously avoids heavy computational burden, and as a result, it guarantees accurate real-time assessment of transient stability. The simulation results show that the proposed method calculates the critical clearing time of wind turbine generators with notable precision and very good speed, and consequently, it is sufficient for transient stability assessment of power grids comprising wind turbines.
N A ] 5 D ec 2 01 4 Some Results on Regularization of LSQR and CGLS for Large-Scale Discrete Ill-Posed Problems ∗

For large-scale discrete ill-posed problems, LSQR, a Lanczos bidiagonalization process based Krylov method, is most often used. It is well known that LSQR has natural regularizing properties, where the number of iterations plays the role of the regularization parameter. In this paper, for severely and moderately ill-posed problems, we establish quantitative bounds for the distance between the k-dimensional Krylov subspace and the subspace spanned by k dominant right singular vectors. They show that the k-dimensional Krylov subspace may capture the k dominant right singular vectors for severely and moderately ill-posed problems, but it seems not the case for mildly ill-posed problems. These results should be the first step towards to estimating the accuracy of the rank-k approximation generated by Lanczos bidiagonalization. We also derive some other results, which help further understand the regularization effects of LSQR. We draw to a conclusion that a hybrid LSQR should generally be used for mildly ill-posed problems. We report numerical experiments to confirm our theory. We present more definitive and general observed phenomena, which will derive more research.
Security Analysis of Subspace Network Coding

This paper analyzed the security of constant dimensional subspace code against wiretap attacks. The security was measured in the probability with which an eavesdropper guessed the source message successfully. With the methods of linear algebra and combinatorics, an analytic solution of the probability was obtained. Performance of subspace code was compared to several secure network coding schemes from the perspective of security, flexibility, complexity, and independence, etc. The comparison showed subspace code did not have perfect security, but it achieved probabilistic security with low complexity. As a result, subspace code was suitable to the applications with limited computation and moderate security requirement.
Information on Bedtimes and Wake Times Improves the Relation Between Self-Reported and Objective Assessments of Sleep in Adults.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To investigate the correlation between self-reported and objective measures of total sleep time (TST) in adults and examine whether sex, race/ethnicity, and weight status influence this association. METHODS Participants were individuals who screened for sleep intervention studies, providing > 7 days of wrist actigraphy sleep data (TSTobj) and reporting sleep duration (TSTPSQI) using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire (n = 53 men, 60 women; 59% minority/Hispanics; age 30.9 ± 9.7 years; body mass index 26.2 ± 3.2 kg/m2). In addition, TSTbed/wake was calculated as the difference between bedtime and waketime, minus the time to fall asleep, from the PSQI. Univariate regression analyses were performed to assess the relation between TSTobj and TSTPSQI and TSTbed/wake and compare the relation by sex, race, and ethnicity. Bland-Altman tests were done to assess bias by sex, race/ethnicity, weight status, and sleep quality. RESULTS TSTbed/wake correlated with TSTobj (r = .57, P < .0001). TSTPSQI and TSTbed/wake were greater than TSTobj (0.63 ± 0.99 hours and 0.79 ± 0.76 hours, respectively, both P < .0001). The difference between TSTPSQI and TSTobj did not vary by sex (β = .12, P = .52), race/ethnicity (β = .15, P = .48), age (β = -.01, P = .27), or body mass index (β = .04, P = .13) whereas that between TSTbed/wake and TSTobj varied by age (β = -.020, P = .0051), BMI (β = .054, P = .0021), race/ethnicity (β = .36, P = .021), and sleep efficiency (β = -.089, P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS Calculating TST using self-reported bedtimes and wake times provided TST estimate that correlated with TSTobj but greater over-reporting occurred in younger and heavier individuals, non-whites or Hispanics, and those with low sleep efficiency. In clinical and research settings, asking individuals to report bedtimes, wake times, and length of time to fall asleep may more accurately estimate TST than asking about sleep duration alone.
Perceptual map teaching strategy

This paper comprises the design of a strategy to teach perceptual mapping in a Brand Management course, adding a modeling technique in order to elaborate such maps. Perceptual maps are tools used to analyze the positioning of a brand, and are taught in undergraduate and graduate courses. However, very frequently a purely descriptive and theoretical framework is used, disregarding the mechanisms to construct them. Methods based on multiple linear regression and factorial analysis are presented as modeling tools to explain and foster a better understanding of this subject in class. RESUMO. Este documento contém o desenho de uma estratégia para ensinar mapas perceptuais em um curso de gestão de marcas, incluindo uma técnica de modelagem para elaborá-lo. Os mapas perceptuais são ferramentas para a análise do posicionamento da marca, e são ensinados em cursos de graduação e pós-graduação. No entanto, é muito comum o uso de um marco puramente descritivo e teórico, sem explicar os mecanismos para construílos. São apresentados métodos baseados na regressão linear múltipla e em análise fatorial, como ferramentas de modelagem, para explicar na sala de aula e assim fornecer uma melhor compreensão desta matéria.
The effects of discharge training and postdischarge counseling on quality of life after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Background: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is associated with different postoperative problems such as lengthy rehabilitation period and decreased quality of life (QOL). Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of discharge training and postdischarge counseling on QOL after CABG. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out on a convenience sample of 100 patients who underwent CABG surgery in Seyedoshohad Heart Hospital, Urmia, Iran. Using a nonrandom assignment technique, patients were allocated to a control and an intervention group. Patients in the intervention group were provided with an educational booklet as well as discharge training and postdischarge counseling. Training and counseling services continued up to 6 weeks after hospital discharge. Patients in the control group only received routine discharge and postoperative services. The 36-item Short Form Survey was used to measure QOL both in the admission day and 6 weeks after hospital discharge. A home follow-up form was also completed for all patients 2 and 10 days and 6 weeks after hospital discharge. The data were analyzed via the paired-sample t, independent-sample t, Chi-square, Fisher's exact, Mann–Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests. Results: The baseline mean scores of QOL in the control and the intervention groups were respectively 46.89 ± 11.91 and 46.53 ± 15.04, with no between-group difference (P = 0.90). Six weeks after hospital discharge, the mean score of QOL in the intervention group was significantly greater than the control group (93.19 ± 4.45 vs. 47.00 ± 13.43; P < 0.001). Conclusions: Discharge training and postdischarge counseling are effective in improving postoperative QOL among patients who undergo CABG surgery.
Young Children's Metarepresentational Competence in Data Modelling.

longitudinal study of data modelling across grades 1-3. The activity engaged children in designing, implementing, and analysing a survey about their new playground. Data modelling involves investigations of meaningful phenomena, deciding what is worthy of attention (identifying complex attributes), and then progressing to organising, structuring, visualising, and representing data. The core components of data modelling addressed here are children’s structuring and representing of data, with a focus on their display of metarepresentational competence (diSessa, 2004). Such competence includes students’ abilities to invent or design a variety of new representations, explain their creations, understand the role they play, and critique and compare the adequacy of representations. Reported here are the ways in which the children structured and represented their data, the metarepresentational competence displayed, and links between their metarepresentational competence and conceptual competence.
Is The Combination of Glasgow Coma Scale and Transcranial Doppler Pulsatility Index Improving The Prediction of Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients?

Corresponding Author: Naglaa F. Abdelhaleem Anesthesia and Surgical Intensive Care department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt. E-mail: nfabdelhalim@medicine.zu. edu.eg nogaahmedkareem.fa@gmail.com ABSTRACT Background: Glasgow coma scale (GCS) is a familiar scoring system with a standard statistical association with neurological outcome, it has many limitations that minimize its ability in prediction of Traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients' outcome. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is a noninvasive aid in this field that can improve outcome prediction. Objective: This study aims to explore the effect of combination of GCS and Pulsatility Index (PI) in the prediction of outcome of TBI patients. Patients and Method: This study was performed in Zagazig University Hospital (ZUH). 103 traumatic brain injured patients were engaged in the investigations with hospital days of 1, 2, 3, and 7 or until patient discharge. The study was performed by TCD along with GCS recordings. Prognosis was also assessed by the Glasgow outcome scale (GOS). Results: The sensitivity and negative predictive value of PI was more than GCS in TBI patients (GCS 3-15), as they were (67.5% versus 50%) and (81.1% versus 74.3%), respectively. The combination of both PI and GCS increased the sensitivity and the negative predictive value up to 70% and 83.3%, respectively. PI had higher sensitivity, positive and negative predictive values than GCS in the identification of secondary neurologic deterioration (SND) in mild and moderate TBI patients (73.3% versus 40.0%, 61.1% versus 50.0%, and 92.0% versus 83.9%, respectively), while the combined value of both PI and GCS increased both sensitivity and positive predictive value up to 76.7% and 66.7%, respectively. Conclusion: The combination of GCS and PI would improve the prediction of outcome.
Autosomal dominant neovascular inflammatory vitreoretinopathy — a case series

The objective of our study was to report the course of the disease in a family affected with autosomal dominant neovascular inflammatory vitreoretinopathy (ADNIV, OMIM#193235). ADNIV is a very rare inherited blinding disease due to mutations in CAPN5 gene. We assembled a retrospective observational case series of ADNIV patients. We noticed first symptoms in different ages, similar course of the disease and its progression leading in most cases to complete blindness despite treatment.
APPLICATION OF SYNTHETIC ANALYSIS OF RS，GIS AND GEOLOGY IN THE COPPER AND GOLD ORE-FORMING FORECAST IN YIWU AREA, XINJIANG, CHINA

This paper quantitatively analyzes the relation of geological structure and ore-deposit in Yiwu area, Xinjiang municipality with the synthetic use of remote sensing and geological information. In the study, computer graphics processing and spatial analysis in GIS were synthetically used on the base of linear structure interpreted by remote sensing. At last ore-finding future area was pointed out, which has been practically applied in field and effects are remarkable.