Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute exercise leads to increased HbA1c and fructosamine levels in athletes with type 1 diabetes.

We aimed to analyze the effects of chronic and acute exercise on circulating HbA1c and fructosamine levels. In patients with type 1 diabetes, exercise has not consistently been shown to improve glycemic control, as measured using HbA1c levels. Participation in competitive sports may even worsen glycaemic control. Free radicals and oxidative stress markers are known to increase during acute exercise in parallel to decreased circulating antioxidant concentrations.
Identification of Human IKK-2 Inhibitors of Natural Origin (Part I): Modeling of the IKK-2 Kinase Domain, Virtual Screening and Activity Assays

Background Their large scaffold diversity and properties, such as structural complexity and drug similarity, form the basis of claims that natural products are ideal starting points for drug design and development. Consequently, there has been great interest in determining whether such molecules show biological activity toward protein targets of pharmacological relevance. One target of particular interest is hIKK-2, a serine-threonine protein kinase belonging to the IKK complex that is the primary component responsible for activating NF-κB in response to various inflammatory stimuli. Indeed, this has led to the development of synthetic ATP-competitive inhibitors for hIKK-2. Therefore, the main goals of this study were (a) to use virtual screening to identify potential hIKK-2 inhibitors of natural origin that compete with ATP and (b) to evaluate the reliability of our virtual-screening protocol by experimentally testing the in vitro activity of selected natural-product hits. Methodology/Principal Findings We thus predicted that 1,061 out of the 89,425 natural products present in the studied database would inhibit hIKK-2 with good ADMET properties. Notably, when these 1,061 molecules were merged with the 98 synthetic hIKK-2 inhibitors used in this study and the resulting set was classified into ten clusters according to chemical similarity, there were three clusters that contained only natural products. Five molecules from these three clusters (for which no anti-inflammatory activity has been previously described) were then selected for in vitro activity testing, in which three out of the five molecules were shown to inhibit hIKK-2. Conclusions/Significance We demonstrated that our virtual-screening protocol was successful in identifying lead compounds for developing new inhibitors for hIKK-2, a target of great interest in medicinal chemistry. Additionally, all the tools developed during the current study (i.e., the homology model for the hIKK-2 kinase domain and the pharmacophore) will be made available to interested readers upon request.
Assessing attitude towards religion: the Astley–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Theistic Faith

This study builds on the research tradition modelled by the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity, the Katz–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Judaism, the Sahin–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Islam and the Santosh–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Hinduism to propose a generic instrument concerned with attitudes towards theistic faith. The scale properties of this new instrument, established among a sample of 284 (200 female and 84 male) 16–18-year-old students, commend it for use in future research.
Derivation and characterization of a highly pathogenic isolate of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 that causes rapid CD4+ 
cell depletion in Macaca nemestrina

With few exceptions, humans are the only species known to develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) after human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We report here that an isolate of HIV type 2, EHO, readily established persistent infection in 100% of Macaca nemestrina in three consecutive transmission studies. Of the eight infected animals, five showed persistently high virus load and six developed AIDS‐like diseases or CD4+ cell depletion within 4 years of infection. The pathology and clinical signs closely parallel those of HIV‐1 infection of humans, including lymphadenopathy, anemia, CD4+ cell depletion, and opportunistic infections. A cell‐free virus stock was established from the lymph nodes of an animal that developed AIDS‐like diseases. This virus, HIV‐2/287, was highly pathogenic in M. nemestrina, causing CD4+ cell depletion within 2–8 weeks post‐infection. While both HIV‐2 EHO and HIV‐2/287 use predominantly CXCR4, the latter shows greatly enhanced replicative capacity in macaque peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The establishment of a human immunodeficiency virus that causes rapid and reproducible CD4+ cell depletion in macaques could facilitate the study of HIV pathogenesis and the development of effective vaccines and therapy against AIDS.
Motivational cues predict the defensive system in team handball: A model based on regulatory focus theory

This study was based on the naturalistic decision‐making paradigm and regulatory focus theory. Its aim was to model coaches' decision‐making processes for handball teams' defensive systems based on relevant cues of the reward structure, and to determine the weight of each of these cues. We collected raw data by video‐recording 41 games that were selected using a simple random method. We considered the defensive strategy (DEF: aligned or staged) to be the dependent variable, and the three independent variables were (a) numerical difference between the teams; (b) score difference between the teams; and (c) game periods. We used a logistic regression design (logit model) and a multivariate logistic model to explain the link between DEF and the three category independent variables. Each factor was weighted differently during the decision‐making process to select the defensive system, and combining these variables increased the impact on this process; for instance, a staged defense is 43 times more likely to be chosen during the final period in an unfavorable situation and in a man advantage. Finally, this shows that the coach's decision‐making process could be based on a simple match or could require a diagnosis of the situation based on the relevant cues.
Gender and family business: new theoretical directions

Purpose – This editorial aims to investigate the interface between gendered processes and family business by exploring the extent to which gendered processes are reinforced (or not) in family business operations and dynamics. This approach will complement the agency and resource-based view theoretical bases that dominate family business research (Chrisman et al., 2009) and further contribute to extending gender theories. Design/methodology/approach – Acknowledging that gender is socially constructed, this editorial discusses the interface between gendered processes and family business within entrepreneurship research. Findings – Despite a growing interest in gender and family business, there is limited literature that explores gender theory within family business research. A gender theory approach embracing family business research contributes to a needed theoretical deconstruction of existing perspectives on the operations, sustainability and succession of family businesses in the twenty-first century. O.
The Effects of Weight Training on Bone Density of Premenopausal, Postmenopausal, and Elderly Women: A Review

Weight training in young women aids development of a greater peak bone mass. In the postmenopausal years, resistance training may retard bone loss and delay risk of fracture. Elderly women who weight train may experience fewer falls due to improved strength and balance, and may be capable of increasing bone mass in selected regions. Most studies have been unable to demonstrate greater bone mass at skeletal sites that are vulnerable to bone loss and fracture such as the femoral neck, greater trochanter, and forearm. A common limitation in these studies is that resistance was moderate, typically ranging between 60 and 70% 1-RM. Also, few studies have extended beyond 1 year. Benefits from weight training may improve not only bone mass but also the overall quality of life through fewer falls and more years of independent living. Consequently, resistance training should be encouraged in women throughout the lifespan.
Blood parasites mediate morph‐specific maintenance costs in a colour polymorphic wild bird

Parasites can mediate profound negative effects on host fitness. Colour polymorphism has been suggested to covary genetically with intrinsic physiological properties. Tawny owl colour polymorphism is highly heritable with two main morphs, grey and brown. We show that experimental medication acts to reduce blood parasites and that medicated grey females maintain body mass during breeding, whereas medicated brown females decline in body mass similar to control females of both morphs. We find no effect of medication on general immunoglobulin levels, antigen‐specific humoral response or H/L ratio. In the descriptive data, both morphs have similar blood parasite infection rates, but blood parasite infection is associated with decreased body mass in brown but not in grey females. We conclude that blood parasite infection primarily has somatic costs, which differ between the two highly heritable tawny owl colour morphs with more pronounced costs in the grey (little pigmented) morph than in the brown (heavily pigmented) morph. Because our descriptive results imply the opposite pattern, our findings highlight the need of experimental manipulation when studying heritable variation in hosts’ response to parasitism.
Health and shiftworking in an administrative environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues in the shiftworking literature and to apply these to an administrative environment.Design/methodology/approach – The scope of the paper is the issue of health problems in shiftworkers in administrative environments. The method was to use case study organisations which had introduced shiftwork and discover from semi‐structured interviews of staff what the effects had been.Findings – Given the choice, employees opted for shiftwork, especially women and especially for a night or evening shift; anticipated problems of absenteeism and labour turnover and low performance related to health issues were not present.Research limitations/implications – The design was limited to two organisations which gave access; this may have been because they were able to report positive outcomes. A broader survey may uncover negative aspects which this paper could not.Practical implications – The concerns over health cannot be transferred to an administrative environme.
A framework for fast and accurate collision detection for haptic interaction

We present a framework for fast and accurate collision detection for haptic interaction with polygonal models. Given a model, we pre-compute a hybrid hierarchical representation, consisting of uniform grids and trees of tight-fitting oriented bounding box trees (OBB-Trees). At run time, we use hybrid hierarchical representations and exploit frame-to-frame coherence for fast proximity queries. We describe a new overlap test, which is specialized for intersection of a line segment with an oriented bounding box for haptic simulation and takes 6-36 operations excluding transformation costs. The algorithms have been implemented as part of H-COLLIDE and interfaced with a PHANToM arm and its haptic toolkit, GHOST, and applied to a number of models. As compared to the commercial implementation, we are able to achieve up to 20 times speedup in our experiments and sustain update rates over 1000 Hz on a 400 MHz Pentium II.
Constructions of batch codes with near-optimal redundancy

Batch codes, first studied by Ishai et al., are a coding scheme to encode n information bits into m buckets, in a way that every batch request of k bits can be decoded while at most one bit is read from each bucket. In this work we study the class of multiset primitive batch codes, in which every bucket stores a single bit and bits can be requested multiple times. We simply refer to these codes as batch codes. The main problem under this paradigm is to optimize the number of encoded bits, which is the number of buckets, for given n and k, and we denote this value by B(n, k). Since there are several asymptotically optimal constructions of these codes, we are motivated to evaluate their optimality by their redundancy. Thus we define the optimal redundancy of batch codes to be rB(n, k) ? B(n, k) - n. Our main result in this paper claims that for any fixed k, rB(n, k) = O(√n log(n)).
Neural network velocity field control of robotic exoskeletons with bounded input

Velocity field control (VFC) is an alternative approach for motion control of robotic systems. It has advantages over the trajectory tacking problem when the timing in the desired task is of less importance in the application of interest. Recently, this control strategy has been emerged as a promising control method in robot-aided rehabilitation. Therefore, this paper addresses the problem of VFC for robotic exoskeletons with dynamic uncertainties. Most existing VFC methods require some knowledge of the dynamic model of the robot, which is usually difficult in practice to precisely identify. Consequently, this paper design an adaptive neural network VFC method to compensate for the dynamic uncertainties. The controller gives a priori bounded control command in order to take into account the saturation of actuators. The controller performance is validated through simulation and experimental studies on a two-degree-of-freedom lower-limb robotic exoskeleton.
Diversity Staff and the Dynamics of Diversity Policy-Making in Large Law Firms

A number of high-profile campaigns relating to diversity have focussed on the large law firm sector since the mid-2000s. Reflecting on what has been called the 'diversity approach' to equality management, they have emphasised voluntary action based on business case reasoning. This paper considers the impact of these campaigns in practice, focusing on the dynamics of diversity policy-making within firms. Drawing upon empirical work conducted in large law firms, it explores the perspective of newly appointed diversity staff who have day to day responsibility for diversity policies in the majority of large law firms. It discusses research findings that show while certain policies were being implemented across the large law firm sector, much turns on the position of diversity staff within firms and their ability to conduct in-house negotiations effectively, to compromise and downplay the potential for disruption to the status quo. On the basis of this research I consider the ongoing debates about holding law firms to account with respect to the diversity of their workforce. While the strategy of pressuring firms to disclose 'diversity data' is gathering pace, the paper recommends an open discussion about the goals of diversity policy-making as a pre-condition of greater accountability.
Efficient blue light emission from In0.16Ga0.84N/GaN multiple quantum wells excited by 2.48-μm femtosecond laser pulses.

We report on the efficient blue light emission from In0.16Ga0. 84N/GaN multiple quantum wells excited by femtosecond laser pulses with long wavelengths ranging from 1.24 to 2.48 μm. It is found that the trap states in GaN barrier layers lead to an efficient cascade multiphoton absorption in which the carriers are generated through simultaneous absorption of n (n=1 and 2) photons to the trap states, followed by simultaneous absorption of m (m=3, 4, and 5) photons to the conduction band. The dependence of the upconversion luminescence on excitation intensity exhibits a slope between n and n+m, which is in good agreement with the prediction based on the rate equation model.
On the stationary distribution of asymmetric numeral systems

The Asymmetric Numeral Systems (ANS) are a family of entropy coders for information sources with a finite alphabet, developed by J. Duda as an alternative to arithmetic coding. We have already proposed an approximation formula to the stationary distribution of the states in a special version (ABS) of ANS. We show that our previous result in ABS, which deals only with binary sources, can be applied to ANS as it is. The previous approximation holds regardless of the alphabet size or source parameters. We prove in a similar way to our previous one that the rate of ANS asymptotically attains the source entropy.
SHP-1 Regulates Lck-induced Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Phosphorylation and Activity*

Ligation of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) activates the Src family tyrosine kinase p56 Lck, which, in turn, phosphorylates a variety of intracellular substrates. The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 are two Lck substrates that have been implicated in TCR signaling. In this study, we demonstrate that SHP-1 co-immunoprecipitates with the p85 regulatory subunit of PI3K in Jurkat T cells, and that this association is increased by ligation of the TCR complex. Co-expression of SHP-1 and PI3K with a constitutively activated form of Lck in COS7 cells demonstrated the carboxyl-terminal SH2 domain of PI3K to inducibly associate with the full-length SHP-1 protein. By contrast, a truncated SHP-1 mutant lacking the Lck phosphorylation site (Tyr564) failed to bind p85. Wild-type but not catalytically inactive SHP-1 induced dephosphorylation of p85. Furthermore, expression of SHP-1 decreased PI3K enzyme activity in anti-phosphotyrosine immunoprecipitates and phosphorylation of serine 473 in Akt, a process dependent on PI3K activity. These results indicate the presence of a functional interaction between PI3K and SHP-1 and suggest that PI3K signaling, which has been implicated in cell proliferation, apoptosis, cytoskeletal reorganization, and many other biological activities, can be regulated by SHP-1 in T lymphocytes.
Les réseaux apprenants comme facilitateurs du changement

Le changement est en general deploye au travers de projets avec un debut, une fin et des livrables. Cette maniere de conduire le changement tient peu compte de l’appropriation des dimensions du changement. Pour pallier les limites d’appropriation des changements en mode projet, la SNCF a mis en place des reseaux apprenants. Couples avec le mode projet, les reseaux apprenants peuvent constituer une modalite efficace d’appropriation du changement. Une methodologie qualitative d’analyse a posteriori de mises en place de reseaux apprenants a constitue un terrain pour traiter la problematique suivante : Comment les reseaux apprenants facilitent-ils les changements ?
Requirements Volatility and Its Impact on Change Effort: Evidence-based Research in Software Development Projects Return to Published Papers

It is widely acknowledged that requirements volatility (RV) is inevitable and that it causes difficulties during the software development lifecycle. As a major source of risk, the impact of RV is often underestimated; particularly the impact of small changes to requirements in the later stages of the development lifecycle. This paper presents evidence-based research on RV and its impact on software development effort. The findings are derived from two software project releases within a multi-site software organisation. The paper discusses the usage of a requirements change classification to assist in identifying and assessing the extent of effort required to implement requirements changes. Our research findings reveal that the rate of RV decreases toward the end of the project lifecycle. These empirical findings demonstrate that changing requirements, particularly adding new requirements, at the later phases is considered a high risk because it will cost the organisation in terms of budget overruns or schedule delays.
Temperature effects in articular cartilage biomechanics

SUMMARY Articular cartilage is the soft tissue that covers contacting surfaces of bones in synovial joints. Cartilage is composed of chondrocytes and an extracellular matrix containing numerous biopolymers, cations and water. Healthy cartilage functions biomechanically to provide smooth and stable joint movement. Degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis involve cartilage deterioration, resulting in painful and cumbersome joint motion. Temperature is a fundamental quantity in mechanics, yet the effects of temperature on cartilage mechanical behavior are unknown. This study addressed the questions of whether cartilage stiffness and stress relaxation change with temperature. Samples of middle-zone bovine calf patellofemoral cartilage were tested in unconfined compression first at 24°C and then again after heating to 60°C. The data reveal that when temperature increases: (1) both peak and equilibrium stiffness increase by 150 and 8%, respectively, and (2) stress relaxation is faster at higher temperature, as shown by a 60% decrease in the time constant. The increases in temperature-dependent stiffness are consistent with polymeric mechanisms of matrix viscoelasticity but not with interstitial fluid flow. The changes in the time constant are consistent with a combination of both fluid flow and matrix viscoelasticity. Furthermore, we discovered a novel phenomenon: at stress-relaxation equilibrium, compressive stress increased with temperature. These data demonstrate a rich area of cartilage mechanics that has previously been unexplored and emphasize the role of polymer dynamics in cartilage viscoelasticity. Further studies of cartilage polymer dynamics may yield additional insight into mechanisms of cartilage material behavior that could improve treatments for cartilage degeneration.
Nursing assistants' job commitment: effect of nursing home organizational factors and impact on resident well-being.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) whether certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are more committed to nursing home jobs when they perceive their jobs as enhanced (greater autonomy, use of knowledge, teamwork), and (b) whether CNA job commitment affects resident satisfaction. DESIGN AND METHODS A qualitative exploration of management philosophy and practice and of CNAs' views of their jobs in 18 Massachusetts nursing homes formed the basis for a survey administered to 255 CNAs in 15 homes. A quality-of-life questionnaire was administered to 105 residents. Logistic regression accounting for clustering estimated the effect of personal characteristics, satisfaction with tangible job rewards, and aspects of job design on CNAs' intent to stay in current jobs. A general linear model estimated the effect of job commitment on residents' satisfaction with their relationship to nursing staff. RESULTS After we accounted for satisfaction with wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities, good basic supervision was most important in affecting CNAs' intent to stay in their jobs. Job enhancements were not significantly related to intent to stay. Residents were more satisfied with their relationships to nursing staff and their quality of life on units where a higher proportion of CNAs were committed to their jobs. IMPLICATIONS The finding that greater job commitment of CNAs is associated with better quality of relationships and life for residents implies that better jobs lead to better care. Culture change transformation that increases CNA autonomy, knowledge input, and teamwork may not increase workers' commitment to jobs without improvements in basic supervision.
Use of Molecular Beacons To Detect an Antifolate Resistance-Associated Mutation in Plasmodium falciparum

ABSTRACT A PCR-based technique using new fluorescent probes, called molecular beacons, was developed to detect the antifolate resistance-associated S108N point mutation in Plasmodium falciparum. One hundred African clinical isolates were tested by the new method in comparison with the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. This new molecular technique appears to be a promising tool for epidemiological studies.