Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Changes in Illness Perceptions Predict Changes in Psychological Distress among Oesophageal Cancer Survivors?

This study aimed to examine whether changes in the illness perceptions of oesophageal cancer survivors explain changes in their levels of psychological distress relative to demographic and biomedical variables and coping strategies. Oesophageal cancer survivors completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire — Revised, the Cancer Coping Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at two points in time, 12 months apart. Cluster analysis was used to identify groups of respondents who reported a similar profile of change in their illness perception scores over time. Findings suggested that enhancing control cognitions and encouraging a positive focus coping strategy may be important in improving psychological health.
Interleukin-22 Suppresses the Growth of A498 Renal Cell Carcinoma Cells via Regulation of STAT1 Pathway

Background Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common kidney cancers and is highly resistant to chemotherapy. Accumulating evidence suggests that interleukin-22 (IL-22) may mediate host defense against varietal pathogens as a proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine. The purpose of this study is to assess the inhibitory effects of IL-22 on human RCC cell line A498 and to investigate the possible mechanisms underlying the anti-tumor effects of this cytokine. Methodology A498 cells, a RCC cell line, were used to assess the inhibitory growth effects of IL-22 using the MTT assay and flow cytometric analysis in vitro. BALB/C nude mice bearing A498 cell xenografts were used to examine the antitumor efficacy of IL-22 in vivo. Western blotting assay was performed to detect the regulation of the intracellular signaling pathway of IL-22. Principal Findings We found that IL-22 suppressed the growth of A498 cells in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited the growth of A498 xenografts. We also observed that IL-22 produced a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on A498 cells that involved the induction of G2/M cell cycle arrest without cell apoptosis. Moreover, we showed that the phosphorylation of STAT1 was increased and the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was attenuated in A498 cells exposed to IL-22. The growth inhibition of A498 cells was partially revised after IL-22 treatment as the expression of STAT1 was knocked down. And inflammatory cytokines, interferon-α and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were barely involved in the suppression of A498 cell xenografts treated with IL-22. Conclusions IL-22 dose-dependently suppresses RCC cell line A498 cells in vitro and induces growth inhibition of A498 cell-bearing mouse xenografts. These results suggest that the anti-RCC effects of IL-22 are at least partially mediated through regulation of STAT1 signaling pathways and G2/M cell cycle arrest, rather than by inducing apoptosis and inflammatory cytokines.
Fluorescent Peptide Biosensor for Probing the Relative Abundance of Cyclin-Dependent Kinases in Living Cells

Cyclin-dependant kinases play a central role in coordinating cell growth and division, and in sustaining proliferation of cancer cells, thereby constituting attractive pharmacological targets. However, there are no direct means of assessing their relative abundance in living cells, current approaches being limited to antigenic and proteomic analysis of fixed cells. In order to probe the relative abundance of these kinases directly in living cells, we have developed a fluorescent peptide biosensor with biligand affinity for CDKs and cyclins in vitro, that retains endogenous CDK/cyclin complexes from cell extracts, and that bears an environmentally-sensitive probe, whose fluorescence increases in a sensitive fashion upon recognition of its targets. CDKSENS was introduced into living cells, through complexation with the cell-penetrating carrier CADY2 and applied to assess the relative abundance of CDK/Cyclins through fluorescence imaging and ratiometric quantification. This peptide biosensor technology affords direct and sensitive readout of CDK/cyclin complex levels, and reports on differences in complex formation when tampering with a single CDK or cyclin. CDKSENS further allows for detection of differences between different healthy and cancer cell lines, thereby enabling to distinguish cells that express high levels of these heterodimeric kinases, from cells that present decreased or defective assemblies. This fluorescent biosensor technology provides information on the overall status of CDK/Cyclin complexes which cannot be obtained through antigenic detection of individual subunits, in a non-invasive fashion which does not require cell fixation or extraction procedures. As such it provides promising perspectives for monitoring the response to therapeutics that affect CDK/Cyclin abundance, for cell-based drug discovery strategies and fluorescence-based cancer diagnostics.
Distributed Scheduling for Multi-Agent Teamwork in Uncertain Domains : Criticality-Sensitive Coordination

We consider a team of agents that are required to coordinate their actions in order to maximize a global objective. Our domains are characterized by uncertainty, dynamism, and distributed information. Determining appropriate actions becomes quite difficult, especially as the number of agents and the coupling between them increases. This paper discusses four contributions toward the goal of coordinating agents under uncertainty in large-scale settings: (i) an approach based on identifying the criticality of various activities with respect to their effect on the team reward; (ii) an architecture and implemented coordinator agent that can execute this approach in a distributed manner; (iii) metrics for evaluating system performance in such settings, and (iv) a proof of concept of our approach on both focused and randomlygenerated experimental domains.
Gender differences in drinking: why do they still exist?

AIMS The paper discusses the kinds of reasoning that have been presented as possible mechanisms and reasons for gender differences in alcohol consumption. DESIGN AND METHODS An overview of the existing literature from different countries is presented. FINDINGS The existing studies provide a picture of great cultural variance in patterns of alcohol use among men and women. The gender differences in drinking behaviour have been shown to be linked with many aspects of biological differences between men and women leading to women's greater vulnerability to alcohol, of women's and men's differing needs, reasons and motivations in relation to drinking, of gender-specific roles in other areas of life and of ways in which societies regulate peoples' behaviour, often giving women the role of warden or moderator of others' drinking. CONCLUSIONS The gender differences in drinking behaviour continue to be considerable and are found in all cultures studied so far. Several studies have argued for reasons underlying these differences, but they still remain largely unexplained.
DCF Techniques and Nonfinancial Measures in Capital Budgeting: A Contingency Approach Analysis

This study empirically examines capital budgeting methods. Based on 115 responses from a cross‐sectional survey and two approaches to contingency fit, this study produces three basic findings. First, both discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques and nonfinancial measures are widely used in capital budgeting. However, DCF techniques are more important than nonfinancial measures, and nonfinancial measures appear to serve as a partial substitute when DCF analysis is less efficient. Second, DCF techniques and nonfinancial measures are not unconditionally appropriate. Although the impact of firm strategy on capital budgeting methods is not supported by the present results, the study shows that product standardization affects both capital budgeting methods, as hypothesized. Firms with high product standardization tend to place more emphasis on DCF analysis, while firms with low standardization are more likely to focus on nonfinancial measures. Third, an appropriate fit under contingency theory between product stan.
Novel porous polyimide film doped with carbon black for volatile organic compounds detection

This study developed an inexpensive and simple microsensor for detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In general, solid state based VOC sensors which use metal oxide as the sensing materials have to work at a temperature of about 300 – 350°C. Alternatively, this research developed a VOC sensor capable of sensing VOCs at room temperature, resulting in a sensor system of low energy consumption. This developed VOC sensor is composed of a nano-porous polyimide (PI) film doped with carbon black (CB) as the sensing material. The conductivity of the PI/CB film changed after absorbing VOC contents in the air. A post pore opening procedure by plasma etching is used to enhance the response of the sensor film. SEM images confirm that the micro-pores interconnect with their neighboring pores and also open to the outside air. Results indicate that the developed VOC sensor has a good repeatability for detecting VOCs. PI film with 1% (weight percent) of CB has the best sensitivity due to the well dispersion of CB. The film prepared with pore opening procedure exhibit a response of 5 times faster than the film prepared without pore opening. The sensor developed in this study provides a simple and straight forward method to fabricate low-cost VOC sensors.
The effect of sarcomere non‐uniformity on the sarcomere length‐tension relationship of skinned fibers

It has proved difficult to activate skinned muscle fibers to produce high tension (3 kg/cm2 level) without loss of clear striations. A new method was developed which permits high tension production in skinned muscle fibers while retaining clear striations. Clear striations allow reliable measurement of the sarcomere lengths during contraction by microscopy and diffractometry. The method is to increase the Ca++ concentration of the bathing solution very gradually over a time period of 5 to 10 minutes. Once the skinned fiber is conditioned by this slow activation, subsequent contractions can be elicited by ordinary quick activations without loss of striations. When the experiments are carried out with careful controls for the uniformity of the sarcomere length distribution along the entire length of the fiber, contractions are highly repeatable. Using the new method and stringent quality control of fibers, the sarcomere length‐isometric tension relationship of skinned rabbit soleus fibers was obtained. The results differ from those previously obtained by conventional activation methods in that tension increases with sarcomere length not only at low (pCa = 5.8), but also at high (pCa = 5.2), calcium concentration.
Control of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci: It Is Important, It Is Possible, and It Is Cost-Effective

Clinical isolates of enterococci resistant to vancomycin were first detected in Europe in 1986 and reported in 1988. By 1989, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were being recovered from cultures of clinical specimens in the United States, and by 1993, VRE made up 7.9% of nosocomial enterococci reported by hospitals in the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the past decade, VRE have spread throughout the country, and the only places where they have not been found are probably in places where no one has looked. Although work remains to be done, the epidemiology of nosocomial VRE is well understood. The most important reservoir is the colonized gastrointestinal tracts of patients. VRE are transmitted between patients by the contaminated hands and clothes of healthcare workers and perhaps indirectly from contamination of the environment, particularly when at least one patient has diarrhea. VRE have been shown to survive for prolonged periods of time in the environment, and an outbreak in a burn unit recurred after 5 weeks from an electrocardiogram lead that had been contaminated by a colonized patient 38 days before VRE was cultured from the lead on the second patient. ^ Risk factors for acquisition of VRE include treatment with vancomycin and cephalosporins, receipt of enteral feedings, sucralfate, or antacids, colonization pressure, and proximity to previously unisolated patients with VRE.
Subcultural Differences in Taiwanese and Burmese Chinese Business Negotiation Styles

The subcultural differences in business negotiation styles between Taiwanese businesspeople and a small group of Burmese Chinese who have businesses in Taiwan were analyzed. Negotiating styles of collaboration, compromise, accommodation, competition, and withdrawal were examined, focusing on influential factors such as subculture and relationship and task-oriented conflicts. Results showed that the main difference between the 2 groups was that whereas Burmese Chinese tend to shun conflict and may even submit to their opponent to prevent a conflict from escalating, Taiwanese are less likely to employ an accommodation strategy. The conclusion was reached that in a task-oriented or relationship conflict, in a business situation Taiwanese and Burmese Chinese people differ significantly in their use of collaboration, accommodation, and withdrawal as negotiation styles.
Social Networks and Configurations in Inner-City Schools: Aggression, Popularity, and Implications for Students with EBD

In this study we explored the relationship between individual characteristics and peer social affiliations among inner-city minority children. A total of 506 students in Grades 4 through 7 (293 girls, 213 boys) from four schools were involved as participants. Assessments on aggression, popularity, academic competence, "Olympian" (e.g., good at sports, good-looking), and affiliation (e.g., smiles a lot, friendly) were obtained from teachers and the students themselves. Students also provided information on social groups within the school as analyzed by the Social Cognitive Map (SCM) procedure. The results indicated that members of the same peer social group were similar on multiple behavioral dimensions. High social network centrality was associated with high levels of popularity among girls. Among boys, however, high social network centrality was associated with high levels of aggressive behavior. Findings are discussed in light of their educational and interventional implications for students with emotional and behavioral disorders.
Salvage of a Below Knee Amputation Utilizing Rotationplasty Principles in a Patient with Chronic Tibial Osteomyelitis

Introduction: Chronic osteomyelitis is a disease that requires fastidious treatment to eliminate. However, when eradication is unable to be achieved through exhaustive modalities of antibiotic therapy and multiple debridements, significant resection of the infected bone and soft tissue must be considered, including amputation. Here we report of a salvage procedure for chronic osteomyelitis of the left tibia by employing a rotationplasty to avoid an above knee amputation and instead provide the patient with a below knee amputation. Case Report: A 51-year-old male presented to the emergency department after noticing dehiscence of an operative wound with exposure of an implant in the left lower extremity. Two years prior to presentation, the patient was involved in a motorcycle accident and underwent four surgeries in the Dominican Republic for an open fracture of the left tibia and fibula, including a procedure that involved the placement of an implant in the left proximal tibia. Tissue biopsies from the wound confirmed that the patient had osteomyelitis of the left proximal tibia. After extensive surgical and antibiotic intervention to eradicate the patient’s osteomyeltis, it was eventually determined that an amputation would be necessary. In order to avoid an above knee amputation, a salvage procedure was conducted by employing a rotationplasty to provide the patient with a below knee amputation. Conclusion: When amputation is deemed necessary, sparing the knee joint is associated with decreased energy expenditures, increased patient satisfaction and overall better postoperative outcomes. As part of a multi-disciplinary team, orthopaedics, plastic surgery, infectious disease, and medical services successfully treated this case of chronic osteomyelitis of the left proximal tibia by employing a rotationplasty to avoid an above knee amputation and achieve a below knee amputation.
Performance Evaluation of Nakagami fading Channel for Frequency Shift Keying ( FSK )

In this paper, the performance of these frequency shift keying communication systems over generalized fading channels. Wherever possible, we shall again make use of the desired forms rather than the classical representations of the mathematical functions the treatment here will be quit brief since indeed the entire machinery that allows determining the results has by this time been developed completely. Thus, for the most part we shall merely present the final results except for the few situations where further developed is warranted.
Place reputation: representing Houston, Texas as a creative destination through culinary culture

Place reputation refers to the composite of ideas held by external audiences that play an important role in the development and success of that place. A negative place reputation can be very slow and difficult to change, but place reputation management seeks to adjust it so that it is closer to how stakeholders would like the place to be perceived. Research suggests that this should reflect the quality of place (i.e. what is there, who is there, and what is going on there) that defines it and makes it attractive to both residents and tourists. This research examines a place reputation management strategy employed by the Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau (HCVB) in which the organization's website features media articles as an ‘objective’ depiction of the city. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 66 media articles, including 425 photographs, revealed an emphasis on Houston's culinary culture. In particular, the manifest content shows that independent local restaurants driven by innovative chefs inspired by various influences are creating a vibrant culinary culture. The latent content shows that an understanding of this culinary culture can offer greater insight into the city, beyond the stereotypes, that allows one to better appreciate the quality of place that makes it a creative destination.
Divergent MLS1 Promoters Lie on a Fitness Plateau for Gene Expression

Qualitative patterns of gene activation and repression are often conserved despite an abundance of quantitative variation in expression levels within and between species. A major challenge to interpreting patterns of expression divergence is knowing which changes in gene expression affect fitness. To characterize the fitness effects of gene expression divergence we placed orthologous promoters from eight yeast species upstream of malate synthase (MLS1) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As expected, we found these promoters varied in their expression level under activated and repressed conditions as well as in their dynamic response following loss of glucose repression. Despite these differences, only a single promoter driving near basal levels of expression caused a detectable loss of fitness. We conclude that the MLS1 promoter lies on a fitness plateau whereby even large changes in gene expression can be tolerated without a substantial loss of fitness.
System Reliability, Fault Tolerance and Design Metrics Tradeoffs in the Distributed Minority and Majority Voting Based Redundancy Scheme

The distributed minority and majority voting based redundancy (DMMR) scheme was recently proposed as an efficient alternative to the conventional N-modular redundancy (NMR) scheme for the physical design of mission/safety-critical circuits and systems. The DMMR scheme enables significant improvements in fault tolerance and design metrics compared to the NMR scheme albeit at the expense of a slight decrease in the system reliability. In this context, this paper studies the system reliability, fault tolerance and design metrics tradeoffs in the DMMR scheme compared to the NMR scheme when the majority logic group of the DMMR scheme is increased in size relative to the minority logic group. Some example DMMR and NMR systems were realized using a 32/28nm CMOS process and compared. The results show that 5-of-M DMMR systems have a similar or better fault tolerance whilst requiring similar or fewer function modules than their counterpart NMR systems and simultaneously achieve optimizations in design metrics. Nevertheless, 3-of-M DMMR systems have the upper hand with respect to fault tolerance and design metrics optimizations than the comparable NMR and 5-of-M DMMR systems. With regard to system reliability, NMR systems are closely followed by 5-of-M DMMR systems which are closely followed by 3-of-M DMMR systems. The verdict is 3-of-M DMMR systems are preferable to implement higher levels of redundancy from a combined system reliability, fault tolerance and design metrics perspective to realize mission/safety-critical circuits and systems.
Relation between inflammation and symptoms in asthma

Asthma symptoms are the main reason for healthcare utilization and are a fundamental parameter for the evaluation of asthma control. Currently, asthma is defined as a chronic inflammatory disease. A French expert group studied the association between inflammation and asthma symptoms by carrying out a critical review of the international literature. Uncontrolled asthmatics have an increased number of polynuclear eosinophils in the induced sputum and an increased production of exhaled NO. Control by anti‐inflammatory treatment is accompanied by a reduction in bronchial eosinophilia and exhaled NO. Asthma symptoms are the result of complex mechanisms and many factors modify their perception. Experimental data suggest that there is a relationship between the perception of symptoms and eosinophilic inflammation and that inhaled corticoid therapy improves this perception. Although they are still not applicable in routine practice, follow‐up strategies based on the evaluation of inflammation are thought to be more effective in reducing exacerbations than those usually recommended based on symptoms and sequential analysis of respiratory function. Inhaled corticosteroid therapy is the reference disease‐modifying therapy for persistent asthma. Recent studies demonstrated that adjustment of anti‐inflammatory treatment based on symptoms is an effective strategy to prevent exacerbations and reduce the total number of doses of inhaled corticosteroids.
The Failure of Civil Society? The Third Sector and the State in Contemporary Japan (review)

the perception of living in a society of social gaps on the one hand and the actual social disparities as they can be traced in data about Tokyo’s sociospatial pattern on the other. Even if data on income equality and poverty indicate growing social disparities, it seems to take longer for such a situation to surface in spatial data. This difference highlights the complexity of a challenging research issue, namely, to analyze both the relationship between the transformation of urban space due to socioeconomic changes and the way people perceive these transformations. Lützeler’s study has laid a thorough basis for related research projects.