Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Atorvastatin on Vascular Function and Structure in Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE Many adult survivors of childhood cancer are at high-risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Cancer therapy may cause damage to the vascular endothelium, thereby initiating atherosclerosis. Atorvastatin has been shown to improve endothelial function independent of reducing cholesterol, as well as reduce/slow arterial stiffness and thickening, yet has never been studied in childhood cancer survivors (CCS). METHODS Twenty-seven young adult (age 26.8 ± 6.2 years) survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia or Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were randomly assigned (1:1) 40 mg/day of atorvastatin or placebo for 6 months. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), small artery reactive hyperemia index (RHI), arterial stiffness, and carotid artery elasticity/thickness were assessed. RESULTS Fifteen participants completed the trial. No significant treatment effect for any vascular outcomes was observed at 6 months; however, a significant decrease in peak FMD (-3.0 [95% confidence interval [CI]: -5.3, -0.7]) and a trending significant decrease in RHI (-0.3 [95% CI: -0.62, 0.01]) was observed in the placebo group, resulting in a trend toward a treatment effects (p < 0.10). No effect on arterial stiffness, carotid arterial elasticity, or thickness was observed. CONCLUSION Six months of atorvastatin treatment did not improve endothelial function or arterial stiffness in young adult CCS. While a trend toward an improvement in endothelial function was present, findings should be interpreted with caution owing to the small number of evaluable participants and subsequent lack of sufficient power. Further research in a larger sample size is needed to fully elucidate the effects of atorvastatin on vascular function. Trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01733953.
Delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction induced in broilers via trachea inoculation of killed Staphylococcus aureus.

A study was conducted to determine whether the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction to killed Staphylococcus aureus antigen in chickens could be induced through multiple intratracheal inoculations. Three criteria were used to assess DTH: 1) delayed footpad reaction (DFR) with a peak response at 24 to 48 h postchallenge, 2) inhibition of monocyte/macrophage migration, and 3) mononuclear cell infiltration at the challenge site. Broilers were sensitized three times with a s.c. injection in the neck or intratracheal inoculation of killed S. aureus in polyethylene glycol at 2, 3, and 4 wk of age. Controls were given polyethylene glycol with a s.c. injection in the neck or intratracheal inoculation. Migration inhibition tests were conducted at 6 wk of age. At 7 wk of age, all birds were challenged intradermally with S. aureus antigen in PBS in the right footpad. The left footpad was injected with PBS. The thickness of the footpad was measured at 0, 4, 24, and 48 h postchallenge to evaluate the DFR. Birds were euthanatized, and both footpads were removed for histopathological examination. Subcutaneously or intratracheally sensitized birds showed significant DFR compared with nonsensitized birds (P < 0.0001), which reached maximum response at 24 h postchallenge. The s.c. sensitization resulted in an inhibition of the in vitro migration of monocytes/macrophages (P < 0.0001), whereas intratracheally sensitized birds did not show migration inhibition of monocytes/macrophages. Histological examination showed typical perivascular infiltration of small lymphocytes in S. aureus-injected footpads from s.c. and intratracheally sensitized birds. These results indicate that multiple intratracheal inoculation, as well as s.c. injection of killed S. aureus antigen, can be used to induce a cell-mediated DTH reaction in chickens.
A Distance-Based Energy Aware Routing Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency and balancing is one of the primary challenges for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) since the tiny sensor nodes cannot be easily recharged once they are deployed. Up to now, many energy efficient routing algorithms or protocols have been proposed with techniques like clustering, data aggregation and location tracking etc. However, many of them aim to minimize parameters like total energy consumption, latency etc., which cause hotspot nodes and partitioned network due to the overuse of certain nodes. In this paper, a Distance-based Energy Aware Routing (DEAR) algorithm is proposed to ensure energy efficiency and energy balancing based on theoretical analysis of different energy and traffic models. During the routing process, we consider individual distance as the primary parameter in order to adjust and equalize the energy consumption among involved sensors. The residual energy is also considered as a secondary factor. In this way, all the intermediate nodes will consume their energy at similar rate, which maximizes network lifetime. Simulation results show that the DEAR algorithm can reduce and balance the energy consumption for all sensor nodes so network lifetime is greatly prolonged compared to other routing algorithms.
The utilization of phytate phosphorus by poultry--a review.

Abstract THE metabolism of phosphorus derived from plant tissues is one of the least understood and most debated subjects in the field of mineral nutrition. A small proportion of the total phosphorus in plants is inorganic phosphates located primarily in the vegetative tissues. Most of the phosphorus is in a variety of organic compounds found primarily in the seed, and phytate phosphorus is the predominant organic form. The amount of phytate phosphorus utilized by animals has economic importance because seeds are the major plant-source ingredients used in feeds. Many scientists currently use the rule that monogastric animals metabolize only one-third of the phosphorus in plant materials. This assumption is based on the report by the Committee on Animal Nutrition, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (NAS-NRC) (1960) that approximately 30% of the phosphorus in plant materials in non-phytate and can be considered to be utilized by animals. Many scientists using a …
Intrinsic Valuation of Information in Decision Making under Uncertainty

In a dynamic world, an accurate model of the environment is vital for survival, and agents ought regularly to seek out new information with which to update their world models. This aspect of behaviour is not captured well by classical theories of decision making, and the cognitive mechanisms of information seeking are poorly understood. In particular, it is not known whether information is valued only for its instrumental use, or whether humans also assign it a non-instrumental intrinsic value. To address this question, the present study assessed preference for non-instrumental information among 80 healthy participants in two experiments. Participants performed a novel information preference task in which they could choose to pay a monetary cost to receive advance information about the outcome of a monetary lottery. Importantly, acquiring information did not alter lottery outcome probabilities. We found that participants were willing to incur considerable monetary costs to acquire payoff-irrelevant information about the lottery outcome. This behaviour was well explained by a computational cognitive model in which information preference resulted from aversion to temporally prolonged uncertainty. These results strongly suggest that humans assign an intrinsic value to information in a manner inconsistent with normative accounts of decision making under uncertainty. This intrinsic value may be associated with adaptive behaviour in real-world environments by producing a bias towards exploratory and information-seeking behaviour.
Analysis of Cone Mosaic Reflectance Properties in Healthy Eyes and in Eyes With Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Over Time.

Purpose We investigate the reflectance properties of the cone mosaic in adaptive optics (AO) images of healthy subjects and subjects with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) over time. Methods We acquired images of the parafoveal cone mosaic over 5 years in 12 healthy subjects and in six patients with mild NPDR. We analyzed the parameters of the cone intensity histogram distribution (mean, SD, and skewness), two metrics of the cone mosaic texture (sharpness and entropy), and two novel metrics (cone/intercone intensity and slope of the variogram). Each metric was calculated on the same four retinal locations (200 × 200 μm areas, 2° from the fovea along the four meridians) over time for each subject. Results The histogram distributions of cone intensities were similar between the two study groups. However, the cone/intercone intensity, slope of the variograms and entropy showed a significant difference between healthy and NPDR subjects (P = 0.036, P = 0.002, P = 0.014, respectively). All parameters, except for mean cone intensity, did not change with time in this study. Conclusions We observed significant differences in cone mosaic reflectance properties between healthy eyes and eyes with NPDR, in its spatial organization and in its intensity, especially between directional and nondirectional backscattering. We introduced a novel method for the study of the spatial distribution of cone reflectance, the variogram, which was able to quantify differences of the spatial dependence of cone intensities over a short range between NPDR and healthy eyes.
Effects of dietary fat type and xylanase supplementation to rye-based broiler diets on selected bacterial groups adhering to the intestinal epithelium. on transit time of feed, and on nutrient digestibility.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of different fat types, i.e., soybean oil (S) and beef tallow (T), in rye-based broiler diets, either unsupplemented (-) or supplemented (+) with xylanase (Avizyme 1300 at 1 g/kg diet), on selected bacterial groups adhering to the epithelium of crop, duodenum, jejunum, and ileum (Experiment 1, 16 d of age), on mean retention time (MRT) of digesta, and on digestibility of N and dry matter in successive segments of the digestive tract (Experiment 2, 24 d of age). Live weight of enzyme-treated and S-fed chickens was significantly higher than that for unsupplemented or T-fed birds, respectively, in both experiments. In Experiment 1, a reduction in bacterial colonization from crop to duodenum was followed by a continuous increase as far as the ileum. Xylanase supplementation significantly reduced enterobacteria and total anaerobe microbes with a similar trend for Gram-positive cocci and enterococci. The latter two groups were significantly enhanced in birds fed T. In Experiment 2, xylanase supplementation resulted in a decrease in MRT in several segments of the digestive tract. This effect was most pronounced in the small intestine, where MRT of 268, 217, 241, and 209 min in groups S-, S+, T-, and T+, respectively, were measured. Apparent digestibility of N and dry matter was slightly improved by xylanase supplementation in the jejunum and ileum. Nitrogen digestibility by the terminal ileum was 80.3, 83.7, 79.4, and 82.2% for the S-, S+, T-, and T+ groups, respectively, and dry matter digestibility amounted to 61.2, 65.5, 62.1, and 64.0%, respectively.
Customers’ sensitivity to different measures of corporate social responsibility in the Australian banking sector

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received considerable research attention over the past several decades, including a growing body of work examining consumer responses to firms’ socially-responsible initiatives. Much of this has been of an experimental design, with CSR narrowly focused on one or two dimensions of consumer goods. Findings from these studies suggest consumers will respond positively to firms’ CSR initiatives. Prior studies do not, however, provide any indications how sensitive consumers are to a range of different kinds of CSR activities. Furthermore, no studies have so far been undertaken in the context of fairly standardized services which are offered only by a small number of competitors, such as retail banking. This setting is of particular interest in Australia where members of the banking industry are leading the development of CSR. But, given the nature of the banking category, it could be assumed that consumer sensitivity and reactivity would be significantly lower than in the area of consumer goods where brands can easily be substituted by consumers at relatively low switching cost. The aim of the present study is to contribute towards filling these two research gaps by assessing the comparative sensitivity of consumers to different CSR activities in the Australian banking industry. We report positive attitudinal and behavioural intention responses, and differing levels of domain sensitivity, across a range of CSR initiatives.
A dual purpose universal influenza vaccine candidate confers protective immunity against anthrax

Preventive influenza vaccines must be reformulated annually because of antigen shift and drift of circulating influenza viral strains. However, seasonal vaccines do not always match the circulating strains, and there is the ever‐present threat that avian influenza viruses may adapt to humans. Hence, a universal influenza vaccine is needed to provide protective immunity against a broad range of influenza viruses. We designed an influenza antigen consisting of three tandem M2e repeats plus HA2, in combination with a detoxified anthrax oedema toxin delivery system (EFn plus PA) to enhance immune responses. The EFn‐3×M2e‐HA2 plus PA vaccine formulation elicited robust, antigen‐specific, IgG responses; and was protective against heterologous influenza viral challenge when intranasally delivered to mice three times. Moreover, use of the detoxified anthrax toxin system as an adjuvant had the additional benefit of generating protective immunity against anthrax. Hence, this novel vaccine strategy could potentially address two major emerging public health and biodefence threats.
Fast Piecewise-Affine Motion Estimation Without Segmentation

Current algorithmic approaches for piecewise affine motion estimation are based on alternating motion segmentation and estimation. We propose a new method to estimate piecewise affine motion fields directly without intermediate segmentation. To this end, we reformulate the problem by imposing piecewise constancy of the parameter field, and derive a specific proximal splitting optimization scheme. A key component of our framework is an efficient 1D piecewise-affine estimator for vector-valued signals. The first advantage of our approach over segmentation-based methods is its absence of initialization. The second advantage is its lower computational cost, which is independent of the complexity of the motion field. In addition to these features, we demonstrate competitive accuracy with other piecewise-parametric methods on standard evaluation benchmarks. Our new regularization scheme also outperforms the more standard use of total variation and total generalized variation.
Does data cleaning disproportionately affect autistics?

In all, 4622 people responded to the survey. Participants who (a) did not specify any connection with autism (n = 19), (b) did not complete all four key questions on describing autism (n = 453), (c) were under 18 years or preferred not to state their age (n = 284) and (d) were not resident in the United Kingdom or preferred not to state their place of residence (n = 396) were excluded from the dataset prior to analysis. Subsequent analysis was therefore based on complete responses from 3470 participants.
Fate of Listeria monocytogenes and pediococcal starter cultures during the manufacture of chicken summer sausage.

Two formulations of chicken summer sausages [100% hand deboned chicken meat (HDCM) and 85% HDCM and 15% chicken hearts (HDCM-CH)] were prepared with a nonpediocin-producing (PED-) Pediococcus acidilactici starter culture and inoculated with 10(4) or 10(7) cfu of a five-strain mixture of Listeria monocytogenes/g of batter. Sausages were fermented to pH 5.0 (11 h), cooked to an internal temperature of 66.5 C, cold-showered, and stored at 4 C (60 days) and 30 C (7 days). For both formulations and inoculation levels, L. monocytogenes populations decreased 1.3 to 1.8 log10 cfu/g by the end of fermentation. No L. monocytogenes organisms were recovered from sausages (by enrichment) following the cook and shower or storage at 4 or 30 C. In contrast, P. acidilactici increased . 7 to 1.2 log10 cfu/g during fermentation, and < 10(2) cfu/g remained after the cook and shower and storage at 4 and 30 C. In a second set of experiments, sausages (HDCM) were prepared with a PED- or a pediocin-producing (PED+) P. acidilactici starter culture and challenged with the L. monocytogenes mixture (10(7) cfu/g). The PED- culture reduced numbers of L. monocytogenes 1.2 log10 cfu/g during fermentation, whereas L. monocytogenes numbers declined 2.6 log10 cfu/g in the presence of the PED+ culture. Although acid production by both starter cultures was equivalent, greater inhibition of L. monocytogenes by the PED+ compared with the PED- starter culture was attributed to in situ production of pediocin. Pediococcal starter cultures and proper cooking eliminated L. monocytogenes from sausages and established that PED+ cultures provide an additional hurdle against poultry-related listeriosis.
Evaluation of Pump Discontinuation and Associated Factors in the T1D Exchange Clinic Registry

Background: The objectives of this study were to examine factors associated with insulin pump discontinuation among children and adults followed longitudinally for 1 year in the multicenter T1D Exchange clinic registry, and to provide participant-reported reasons for stopping pump therapy. Methods: We longitudinally followed 8935 participants of all ages using an insulin pump at the time of registry enrollment. Logistic regressions were used to identify demographic and clinical factors associated with pump discontinuation. Pump discontinuation was self-reported by participants on a first annual follow-up survey. Results: The overall frequency of pump discontinuation was 3%. Discontinuation was higher in adolescents (4%) and young adults (4%) than in younger children (3%) or older adults (1%). In multivariate analysis of children between 6 and <13 and 13 and <18 years, participants who discontinued pump use were more likely to have higher HbA1c levels at baseline (adjusted P < .001 for both). The top participant-reported reasons for discontinuing the pump included problems with wearability (57%), disliking the pump or feeling anxious (44%), and problems with glycemic control (30%). Conclusions: In T1D Exchange registry participants, insulin pump discontinuation is uncommon, but more prevalent among adolescents and young adults, and youth with poor glycemic control. Given the known benefits of pump therapy, these populations should be targeted for support and education on troubleshooting pump use. Common reasons for discontinuation should also be considered in future device design and technological improvement.
A Neurobiologically Motivated Analysis of Distributional Semantic Models

The pervasive use of distributional semantic models or word embeddings in a variety of research fields is due to their remarkable ability to represent the meanings of words for both practical application and cognitive modeling. However, little has been known about what kind of information is encoded in text-based word vectors. This lack of understanding is particularly problematic when word vectors are regarded as a model of semantic representation for abstract concepts. This paper attempts to reveal the internal information of distributional word vectors by the analysis using Binder et al.'s (2016) brain-based vectors, explicitly structured conceptual representations based on neurobiologically motivated attributes. In the analysis, the mapping from text-based vectors to brain-based vectors is trained and prediction performance is evaluated by comparing the estimated and original brain-based vectors. The analysis demonstrates that social and cognitive information is better encoded in text-based word vectors, but emotional information is not. This result is discussed in terms of embodied theories for abstract concepts.
Acute hypoxia tolerance of the chick.

Abstract THE resistance of neonatal mammals to hypoxia is well known (Britton and Kline, 1945; Chiodi, 1963; Van Liere and Stickney, 1963; Fazekas et al., 1941). This tolerance decreases in all mammals until within a few days or weeks they are as susceptible as adults. The hypoxic tolerance of the newly hatched chick, however, has never been determined. Several investigations, however, have found that newly hatched chicks are not completely homeothermic until they are several days old (Romanoff, 1941; Randall, 1943; King, 1956; Lamoreux and Hutt, 1939; Deaton and Reece, 1968; Klieber and Winchester, 1933; Klieber, 1938). Since it is well known that poikiliothermic animals are very tolerant to hypoxia (Hock, 1964), it would be anticipated that newly hatched chicks would be very tolerant to reduction in environmental oxygen. METHODS Single Comb White Leghorn chicks, 0 to 31 days of age were exposed in groups of 10 to acute hypoxia in…
dynSMAUG: A dynamic security management framework driven by situations

We present a dynamic security management framework where security policies are specified according to situations. A situation allows to logically group dynamic constraints and make policies closer to business. Situations are specified and calculated by using complex events processing techniques and security policies are written in XACMLv3. Finally, the framework is supported by a modular event based deployment infrastructure. The whole framework has been implemented and its performance is evaluated.
Modeling protein–DNA binding via high-throughput in vitro technologies

Abstract Protein–DNA binding plays a central role in gene regulation and by that in all processes in the living cell. Novel experimental and computational approaches facilitate better understanding of protein–DNA binding preferences via high-throughput measurement of protein binding to a large number of DNA sequences and inference of binding models from them. Here we review the state of the art in measuring protein–DNA binding in vitro, emphasizing the advantages and limitations of different technologies. In addition, we describe models for representing protein–DNA binding preferences and key computational approaches to learn those from high-throughput data. Using large experimental data sets, we test the performance of different models based on different measuring techniques. We conclude with pertinent open problems.
Inter-group cooperation in humans and other animals

Social interactions are often characterized by cooperation within groups and conflict or competition between groups. In certain circumstances, however, cooperation can arise between social groups. Here, we examine the circumstances under which inter-group cooperation is expected to emerge and present examples with particular focus on groups in two well-studied but dissimilar taxa: humans and ants. Drivers for the evolution of inter-group cooperation include overarching threats from predators, competitors or adverse conditions, and group-level resource asymmetries. Resources can differ between groups in both quantity and type. Where the difference is in type, inequalities can lead to specialization and division of labour between groups, a phenomenon characteristic of human societies, but rarely seen in other animals. The ability to identify members of one's own group is essential for social coherence; we consider the proximate roles of identity effects in shaping inter-group cooperation and allowing membership of multiple groups. Finally, we identify numerous valuable avenues for future research that will improve our understanding of the processes shaping inter-group cooperation.