Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationships Between Strategy Switching and Strategy Switch Costs in Young and Older Adults: A Study in Arithmetic Problem Solving

Background/Study Context: This study investigated age-related differences in within-item strategy switching (i.e., revising initial strategy choices to select a better strategy while solving a given problem) and in strategy switch costs (i.e., longer latencies when participants switch strategies than when they do not switch strategy during strategy execution). Methods: In a computational estimation task, participants had to give approximate products to two-digit multiplication problems (e.g., 41 × 67) while rounding up (i.e., do 50 × 70 for 41 × 67) or rounding down (i.e., do 40 × 60 for 41 × 67) operands to their nearest decades. After executing a cued strategy during 1000 ms, participants had the possibility to switch to another strategy (or repeat the same strategy) in a selection condition. In an execution condition, participants were forced to repeat the same strategy or to switch to another strategy. Results: It was found that (1) older adults were less able than young adults to switch strategy after starting to execute a cued strategy (36.1% vs. 45.8%); (2) older adults showed larger switch costs than young adults (422 vs. 223 ms); and (3) strategy switches and strategy switch costs correlated in older adults but not in young adults. Conclusion: These findings have important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying within-item strategy switching and aging effects on these mechanisms as well as, more generally, of strategic variations during cognitive aging.
Integrated epigenomic analyses of neuronal MeCP2 reveal a role for long-range interaction with active genes

Mutations in MECP2 cause the autism-spectrum disorder Rett syndrome. MeCP2 is predicted to bind to methylated promoters and silence transcription. However, the first large-scale mapping of neuronal MeCP2-binding sites on 26.3 Mb of imprinted and nonimprinted loci revealed that 59% of MeCP2-binding sites are outside of genes and that only 6% are in CpG islands. Integrated genome-wide promoter analysis of MeCP2 binding, CpG methylation, and gene expression revealed that 63% of MeCP2-bound promoters are actively expressed and that only 6% are highly methylated. These results indicate that the primary function of MeCP2 is not the silencing of methylated promoters.
Biochemische Marker können helfen, Störungen der Schleimhautgrenzfläche im Darm aufzuklären

Zusammenfassung Zahlreiche Erkrankungen können ihren Ursprung im Darm haben. Dazu zählen akute und chronische Abdominalbeschwerden, aber auch eine erhöhte Infektanfälligkeit oder psychische Symptome wie Antriebslosigkeit und Schlafstörungen. Denn die Darmschleimhaut ist eine Schnittstelle zwischen Soma und Psyche. Neben einer veränderten Darmmikrobiota spielt v. a. die Störung der Schleimhautgrenzfläche eine Rolle: Ist die Darmbarriere übermäßig durchlässig und gelangen z. B. vermehrt Endotoxine ins Körperinnere, kann eine Silent Inflammation die Folge sein. Die Diagnostik der Darmmikrobiota sowie biochemischer Stuhlparameter können wichtige Hinweise für eine gestörte Darmbarriere geben. Der Artikel erläutert anhand eines Patientenfalls das diagnostische Vorgehen, die naturheilkundlichen Therapieansätze und die möglichen Therapieerfolge.
Round‐Robin Tournaments with a Dominant Player

We analyze the subgame perfect equilibrium of the round‐robin tournament with one strong (dominant) and two weak players, and we compare this tournament and the one‐stage contest with respect to the players' expected payoffs, expected total effort, and their probabilities of winning. We find that if the contest designer's goal is to maximize the players' expected total effort, then – if the asymmetry between the players is relatively low – the one‐stage contest should be used. However, if the asymmetry is relatively high, then the round‐robin tournament should be used.
Failure of effective initial chemotherapy to modify the course of stage IV (MO) squamous cancer of the head and neck

Twenty‐four patients with advanced squamous cancer of the head and neck without distant metastases were given combination chemotherapy including methotrexate, bleomycin and diamminedichloroplatinum before planned local treatment with irradiation or surgery. Of 22 evaluable patients, 17 had objective partial or complete remission to initial chemotherapy. However, only ten patients ever had complete clearing at any time of all tumor on clinical evaluation. Median survival was ten months, and only two patients remained alive 14 and 29 months, respectively, from entry. Toxicity was minimal with the three‐drug treatment, but the addition of mitomycin‐C at the start of chemotherapy substantially increased toxicity without improving efficacy. Subsequent surgery and radiotherapy were accomplished without unusual difficulty.
Lateral Neural Model of Binocular Rivalry

This article introduces a two-dimensionally extended, neuron-based model for binocular rivalry. The basic block of the model is a certain type of astable multivibrator comprising excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Many of these blocks are laterally coupled on a medium range to provide a two-dimensional layer. Our model, like others, needs noise to reproduce typical stochastic oscillations. Due to its spatial extension, the noise has to be laterally correlated. When the contrast ratio of the pictures varies, their share of the perception time changes in a way that is known from comparable experimental data (Levelt, 1965; Mueller & Blake, 1989). This is a result of the lateral coupling and not a property of the single model block. The presentation of simple and suitable inhomogeneous stimuli leads to an easily describable perception of periodically moving pictures like propagating fronts or breathing spots. This suggests new experiments. Under certain conditions, a bifurcation from static to moving perceptions is predicted and may be checked and employed by future experiments. Recent paradox (Logothetis, 1999) observations of two different neuron classes in cortical areas MT (Logothetis & Schall, 1989) and V4 (Leopold & Logothetis, 1996), one that behaves alike under rivaling and nonrivaling conditions and another that drastically changes its behavior, are interpreted as being related to separate inhibitor neurons.
A High-Precision Automatic Wire Wrapping Approach Based on Microscopic Vision and Force Information

This paper proposes a wire wrapping approach, which enables high-precision, fully automatic, quality controllable, and visually monitored wire wrapping by actively rotating the rod and coordinately translating the wire based on microscopic vision and force information. Viewing the wire as a one-dimensional object, the proposed paper contributes to both the precision manipulation field and the engineering utilities to fabricate precision helical structures used in many fields. The basic technical contents involved are the active rotation of the rod and the coordinated translation of the manipulator, both of which are designed to keep the relative spatial relationship and the interactive force between the rod and the wire. Extensive experiments were conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method to achieve high-precision wire wrapping. Experimental results show that with discretized active rotation increment about the rod axis of 6°, the local tensile deformation of the wire can be controlled within ±2 μm error range, while the average local helical angle can be controlled within ±0.3° error range with standard deviation less than 1.5°.
Acid Resistance Systems Required for Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in the Bovine Gastrointestinal Tract and in Apple Cider Are Different

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a highly acid-resistant food-borne pathogen that survives in the bovine and human gastrointestinal tracts and in acidic foods such as apple cider. This property is thought to contribute to the low infectious dose of the organism. Three acid resistance (AR) systems are expressed in stationary-phase cells. AR system 1 is σS dependent, while AR systems 2 and 3 are glutamate and arginine dependent, respectively. In this study, we sought to determine which AR systems are important for survival in acidic foods and which are required for survival in the bovine intestinal tract. Wild-type and mutant E. coli O157:H7 strains deficient in AR system 1, 2, or 3 were challenged with apple cider and inoculated into calves. Wild-type cells, adapted at pH 5.5 in the absence of glucose (AR system 1 induced), survived well in apple cider. Conversely, the mutant deficient in AR system 1, shown previously to survive poorly in calves, was susceptible to apple cider (pH 3.5), and this sensitivity was shown to be caused by low pH. Interestingly, the AR system 2-deficient mutant survived in apple cider at high levels, but its shedding from calves was significantly decreased compared to that of wild-type cells. AR system 3-deficient cells survived well in both apple cider and calves. Taken together, these results indicate that E. coli O157:H7 utilizes different acid resistance systems based on the type of acidic environment encountered.
Physical properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes in cell culture and their dispersal due to alveolar epithelial cell response

Abstract Concern over the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on human health has arisen due to advances; however, little is known about the potential toxicity of CNTs. In this study, impurity-free single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), with different physical properties in cell culture medium, were prepared by a novel dispersion procedure. SWCNTs with small bundles (short linear shape) and SWCNTs with large bundles (long linear shape) did not cause a significant inhibition of cell proliferation, induction of apoptosis or arrest of cell cycle progression in A549 alveolar epithelial cells. Expression of many genes involved in the inflammatory response, apoptosis, response to oxidative stress and degradation of the extracellular matrix were not markedly upregulated or downregulated. However, SWCNTs with relatively large bundles significantly increased the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a dose-dependent manner, and the levels of these ROS were higher than those of SWCNTs with relatively small bundles or commercial SWCNTs with residual metals. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that impurity-free SWCNTs were observed in the cytoplasm and vacuoles of cells after 24 h. These results suggested that the physical properties, especially the size and length of the bundles of the SWCNTs dispersed in cell culture medium, contributed to a change in intracellular ROS generation, even for the same bulk SWCNTs. Additionally, the residual metals associated with the manufacturing of SWCNTs may not be a definitive parameter for intracellular ROS generation in A549 cells.
Apoptotic activity of ursolic acid may correlate with the inhibition of initiation of DNA replication

Ursolic acid (UA), a pentacyclic triterpene acid, has been reported to exhibit anti‐tumor activity. In this study, we investigated the pro‐apoptotic effect of UA on HepG2 human hepatoblastoma cells. Treatment with UA decreased the viability of HepG2 cells in a concentration‐ and time‐dependent manner. Furthermore, 30 μM of UA induced DNA fragmentation and subdiploid cells and enhanced the release of cytochrome c and the activation of caspase‐3. These results suggest that UA induces cell death through apoptosis, which may be mediated by cytochrome c‐dependent caspase‐3 activation. In addition, cell‐cycle analysis revealed that UA‐treated cells were arrested predominantly in the G0 and G1 phases with a concomitant decrease in the cell population of S phase. Moreover, expression of p21WAF1, a cell‐cycle regulator, was increased by UA, indicating that p21WAF1 might mediate UA‐induced cell‐cycle arrest. However, UA markedly inhibited SV40 DNA replication in the initiation stage in vitro and significantly reduced the DNA cleaving of topoisomerase I and the ssDNA binding activity of replication protein A. These results indicate that the inhibition of DNA replication by UA may result from blockade of the establishment of the replication fork during initiation stage, consequently contributing to UA‐induced cell‐cycle arrest. Taken together, we suggest that UA‐induced cell‐cycle arrest may be mediated by inhibition of DNA replication and the increase of p21WAF1 expression, which induces the release of cytochrome c and the activation of caspase‐3, leading to apoptosis of HepG2 cells. Int. J. Cancer 87:629–636, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Risk Prediction in Cardiovascular Medicine Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Patients With Stable and Unstable Coronary Heart Disease

The American Heart Association estimates that 1 in 3 American adults have cardiovascular (CV) disease, including 16.8 million individuals with ischemic heart disease, 8 million individuals with peripheral arterial disease, and 6.5 million individuals with ischemic stroke.1 In 2005, CV disease accounted for 35% of all deaths in the United States. Given the high prevalence of CV disease and its associated morbidity and mortality, prevention of recurrent events in patients with established CV disease is a major public health objective. A fundamental tenet of preventive medicine is to initiate interventions appropriate to the level of risk for the individual. Therefore, risk assessment is an inextricable component of preventive care. This review is focused on tools for risk assessment in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). A discussion of risk assessment in patients with atherosclerosis limited to the cerebrovascular or peripheral arterial beds is beyond the scope of this review. However, many of the tools and principles discussed here apply also to patients with atherothrombosis throughout the vascular tree. This review addresses both the early phase of risk after presentation with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the chronic phase in stable CHD. After ACS, the risk of CV death in communitybased studies is 3% to 5% at 30 days and 5% to 8% at 6 months.2 Major CV events occur in 15% to 20% of patients by 6 months.3 In patients with stable CHD, the annual mortality rate is 1% to 3%, and the annual rate of major CV events is 1% to 2%. In a registry of 38 602 patients with stable CHD, the 1-year rate of CV death was 1.9% (95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 2.1) and of CV death, myocardial infarction (MI), or stroke was 4.5% (95% confidence interval, 4.2 to 4.8). 4 These data summarize the population average; however, the clinician is able to significantly refine the estimate of risk for the individual using methods described in this review.
Estimating the burden and economic impact of trachomatous visual loss

Objective To estimate the burden (disability-adjusted life years) and economic impact (potential productivity loss) associated with trachomatous visual loss. Data National survey data on trachomatous blindness or visual impairment since 1980. Methods The primary results summarized studies for countries with known or suspected blinding trachoma within World Development Report demographic regions. The number of cases was based on the year 2000 population. The years of life with disability calculation used the age-sex distribution of trachomatous visual loss. The one-year potential productivity loss calculation used the agricultural value added per worker in 1998. Results Countries with known or suspected blinding trachoma have 3.8 million cases of blindness and 5.3 million cases of low vision and a potential productivity loss of $2.9 billion (1995 US $). Prevalent cases of trachomatous visual loss yield 39 million lifetime DALYs. Conclusions For resource allocation, the burden of disease can be compared with the expected costs of eradication of trachomatous blindness.
Analysis of the process of alfalfa seed cleaning using seed processing equipment

This paper presents an analysis of the process of cleaning three alfalfa seed lots using seed processing equipment. The effect of the initial quality of alfalfa seed on the losses and gains of processed alfalfa seed was examined. The quality of alfalfa seed during processing was also examined. During alfalfa seed processing, the losses and gains of processed alfalfa seed depend on the initial seed purity and the technology applied. The experiment was carried out at the seed processing centre of the Institute for Forage Crops in Kruševac. A total of three lots of natural alfalfa seed were processed using the fine-cleaning machine Alfa-4 (Damas, Denmark) and the magnetic machine IV (Emcek Gompper, Germany). The following seed processing parameters were observed in the present study: pure seed (%), weed and other seed crops (%), inert matter (%), seed mass (kg), seed loss (%) and processing output (%). On the basis of the results obtained, it is possible to analyse the processing of alfalfa seed and the required equipment adjustments during the process. The equipment adjustments during processing were made depending on the quantity and type of weeds and other substances found in the natural seed.
Multi-Objective Genetic optimized multiprocessor SoC design

In this paper, we introduce a new multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) for mapping a given set of intellectual property onto a network-on-chip architecture such that for a specific application total communication cost and energy consumption become optimized while bandwidth constraints are satisfied. As the main theoretical contribution, we first introduce a generic queuing model to estimate performance and an experimental energy consumption model during the design phase, with acceptable accuracy. Then, an efficient genetic algorithm employs these models to propose a Pareto optimal front for an application and an arbitrary topology. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is very fast which results in a new approach for mapping MPSoC cores on chip.
Economic Stabilization in the Presence of Limited Discretion

Several authors, including Chow [4; 5] Cooper and Fischer [7] and Garbade [9; 10], have investigated the dynamic behavior of stochastic macroeconomic models when policy in each period is set as a function of observed economic activity. The results of those investigations indicate that fluctuations in aggregate activity can be reduced if policy-makers apply discretionary policies rather than fixedly following some pre-selected pattern of instrument choices. None of the studies, however, fully considered the relative importance of limiting the discretionary variation of specific instruments. Garbade treats only the two polar cases of discretionary versus non-discretionary selection of all instruments. Cooper and Fischer, using the St. Louis model [2] with its two instruments of money supply and high employment federal government expenditures, do treat the case where one instrument varies in response to the evolution of economic activity while the other follows a fixed sequence. Those authors, however, limit their choice of fixed policy sequences to either a steady rate of change in the instrument or to the observed historic choice of policies over the interval of simulation. They also limit their discretionary policy to the class of proportional and/or derivative stabilizers [15], where the instuments respond to changes in
TEM Studies of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Cell Labeling and Magnetic Separation

One potential biomedical application for magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) is in cell labeling and separation. This involves tagging desired cells with MNPs and then separating them using a magnetic sensor. Accurate quantification requires that the MNPs be uniform in shape, size, composition, and free from clustering. The Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) is an appropriate tool for characterizing them owing to its sub-nanometer resolution. Four iron oxide MNP samples were analyzed. Commercially available MNPs are “beads” comprising multiple iron-oxide cores encapsulated by polymer shells. The cores are log-normally distributed with large standard deviations. These beads have the tendency to form clusters. MNPs synthesized by our research collaborators are singlecore nanoparticles which exhibit good uniformity in size, crystallinity and are free of clustering. The latter are expected to be superior candidates for the required application.
Combining Segmenter and Chunker for Chinese Word Segmentation

Our proposed method is to use a Hidden Markov Model-based word segmenter and a Support Vector Machine-based chunker for Chinese word segmentation. Firstly, input sentences are analyzed by the Hidden Markov Model-based word segmenter. The word segmenter produces n-best word candidates together with some class information and confidence measures. Secondly, the extracted words are broken into character units and each character is annotated with the possible word class and the position in the word, which are then used as the features for the chunker. Finally, the Support Vector Machine-based chunker brings character units together into words so as to determine the word boundaries.
UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases in Conjugation of 5α- and 5β-Androstane Steroids

We have examined the glucuronidation of androsterone (5α-androstane-3α-ol-17-one), etiocholanolone (5β-androstane-3α-ol-17-one), 5α-androstane-3α-,17β-diol (5α-diol), and 5β-androstane-3α-, 17β-diol (5β-diol) by 19 recombinant human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). The results reveal large differences in stereo- and regioselectivity between UGT2B7, UGT2B15, and UGT2B17. UGT2B7 conjugated all four androgens at the 3-OH but not at the 17-OH that is available in both diols. UGT2B7 exhibited a higher glucuronidation rate toward the steroids with a flat backbone, androsterone and 5α-diol, compared with etiocholanolone and 5β-diol, which have a bent backbone. UGT2B17 readily glucuronidated androsterone and, particularly, etiocholanolone at the 3-OH, but in the two diols it exhibited high preference for the 17-OH and low glucuronidation rate at the 3-OH. UGT2B15 did not glucuronidate any of the studied four androgens at the 3-OH, but it did conjugate both diols at the 17-OH, with a clear preference for 5α-diol. Of the UGT1A subfamily, only UGT1A4 catalyzed the glucuronidation of androsterone and 5α-diol at measurable rates, even if low. UGT2A1 and UGT2A2 glucuronidated most compounds in this study, but mostly at rather low rates. An exception was the glucuronidation of etiocholanolone by UGT2A1 that revealed a very low substrate affinity in combination with very high Vmax value. The results shed new light on the substrate selectivity of individual UGTs in steroid glucuronidation. In addition they bear implications for doping analyses and its dependence of genetic polymorphism because testosterone is a precursor in the biosynthesis of these four androgens, whereas the contribution of UGT2B17 to their glucuronidation varies greatly.