Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a Self-Efficacy Scale for Adolescents and Young Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background: Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) self-management fits well within a social-cognitive framework. At the heart of social-cognitive theory is self-efficacy, a set of beliefs about one's ability to perform certain tasks. Self-efficacy is a strong predictor of health outcomes in chronic diseases and could serve as an intermediary outcome measure of self-management for pediatric IBD. The aim of this preliminary study was to develop items for the design of a self-efficacy scale specifically for adolescents and young adults with IBD. Methods: Survey development is an iterative process. As defined by the US Food and Drug Administration guidelines for developing a patient-reported outcome measurement, the first step of this process is to obtain patient input. Using qualitative research methods, adolescents and young adults were recruited from an outpatient pediatric gastroenterology clinic to participate in a semistructured interview. Transcriptions of the recorded interviews were reviewed for themes related to self-efficacy around disease management. A consensus panel of gastroenterologists and health psychologists reviewed the initially constructed items. Those specific items were then reviewed and adjusted by a panel of participants for content and understandability using cognitive interview methods. The resulting 13-item scale is presented here. Results: Nineteen patients and 5 parents participated in the study. The study sample was 42% girls, 79% whites, 74% had Crohn disease, and 79% had not required surgery. Median age was 15 years (range 10–22 years). Theme analysis and expert review yielded 13 items across 4 theoretical domains: managing medical care, managing daily life with IBD, managing emotions, and managing the future with IBD. Conclusions: A 13-item disease-specific scale has been developed based on patient input to assess self-efficacy around self-management in adolescents with IBD. Efforts to validate this newly designed scale are presently under way.
REPRINT: Good Laboratory Practice: Preventing Introduction of Bias at the Bench

As a research community, we have failed to demonstrate that drugs that show substantial efficacy in animal models of cerebral ischemia can also improve outcome in human stroke. Accumulating evidence suggests that this may be due, at least in part, to problems in the design, conduct and reporting of animal experiments, which create a systematic bias resulting in the overstatement of neuroprotective efficacy. Here, we set out a series of measures to reduce bias in the design, conduct and reporting of animal experiments modeling human stroke.
Patient Outcomes in Association With Significant Other Responses to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Social processes have been suggested as important in the maintenance of chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis; CFS/ME), but the specific role of close interpersonal relationships remains unclear. We reviewed 14 articles investigating significant other responses to close others with CFS/ME and the relationships between these responses and patient outcomes. Significant other beliefs attributing patient responsibility for the onset and ongoing symptoms of CFS/ME were associated with increased patient distress. Increased symptom severity, disability, and distress were also associated with both solicitous and negative significant other responses. Specific aspects of dyadic relationship quality, including high Expressed Emotion, were identified as important. We propose extending current theoretical models of CFS/ME to include two potential perpetuating interpersonal processes; the evidence reviewed suggests that the development of significant other–focused interventions may also be beneficial.
A Two-Tier Energy-Aware Resource Management for Virtualized Cloud Computing System

The economic costs caused by electric power take the most significant part in total cost of data center; thus energy conservation is an important issue in cloud computing system. One well-known technique to reduce the energy consumption is the consolidation of Virtual Machines VMs. However, it may lose some performance points on energy saving and the Quality of Service QoS for dynamic workloads. Fortunately, Dynamic Frequency and Voltage Scaling DVFS is an efficient technique to save energy in dynamic environment. In this paper, combined with the DVFS technology, we propose a cooperative two-tier energy-aware management method including local DVFS control and global VM deployment. The DVFS controller adjusts the frequencies of homogenous processors in each server at run-time based on the practical energy prediction. On the other hand, Global Scheduler assigns VMs onto the designate servers based on the cooperation with the local DVFS controller. The final evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our two-tier method in energy saving.
Tumor detection in nonstationary backgrounds

The authors introduce two detectors which they use to locate simulated tumors of fixed size in clinical gamma-ray images. The first method was conceived when it was observed that small tumors possess an identifiable signature in curvature feature space, where "curvature" is the local curvature of the image data when viewed as a relief map. Computed curvature values are mapped to a normalized significance space using a windowed statistic. The resulting test statistic is thresholded at a chosen level of significance to give a positive detection. Nonuniform anatomic background activity is effectively suppressed. The second detector is an adaptive prewhitening matched filter, which uses a form of preprocessing known as statistical scaling to adaptively prewhiten the background. Tests are performed using simulated Gaussian-shaped tumors superimposed on twelve clinical gamma ray images. When the tumors to be detected are small-less than 3 pixels in diameter-the curvature detector out-performs the matched filter in true positive/false positive tests. A mean true positive rate of 95% at one false positive per image is achieved when the local signal-to-noise ratio of the tumor-background is >/=2. At larger tumor sizes the best performance is displayed by a different form of matched filter, namely the statistical correlation function proposed by Pratt (1991).
Dropout Prevention Intervention With Secondary Students: A Pilot Study of Project GOAL

Project GOAL is a systematic dropout prevention model including individual and peer-mediated group interventions for at-risk students. This article provides an overview of the Project GOAL model and describes a 2-year experimental pilot study of Project GOAL with a cohort of eighth- and ninth-grade students in a low-income school district in the southwest United States. Qualifying eighth-grade students (n = 94) in one middle school were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Project GOAL or a business-as-usual control. Preliminary program outcomes include an increase in educational expectations for Project GOAL students but a decline in their view of school's relevance. The authors provide key insights into effective school-level implementation for settings that embrace a long-term commitment to change.
Inhibition of cAMP-Activated Intestinal Chloride Secretion by Diclofenac: Cellular Mechanism and Potential Application in Cholera

Cyclic AMP-activated intestinal Cl− secretion plays an important role in pathogenesis of cholera. This study aimed to investigate the effect of diclofenac on cAMP-activated Cl− secretion, its underlying mechanisms, and possible application in the treatment of cholera. Diclofenac inhibited cAMP-activated Cl− secretion in human intestinal epithelial (T84) cells with IC50 of ∼20 µM. The effect required no cytochrome P450 enzyme-mediated metabolic activation. Interestingly, exposures of T84 cell monolayers to diclofenac, either in apical or basolateral solutions, produced similar degree of inhibitions. Analyses of the apical Cl− current showed that diclofenac reversibly inhibited CFTR Cl− channel activity (IC50∼10 µM) via mechanisms not involving either changes in intracellular cAMP levels or CFTR channel inactivation by AMP-activated protein kinase and protein phosphatase. Of interest, diclofenac had no effect on Na+-K+ ATPases and Na+-K+-Cl− cotransporters, but inhibited cAMP-activated basolateral K+ channels with IC50 of ∼3 µM. In addition, diclofenac suppressed Ca2+-activated Cl− channels, inwardly rectifying Cl− channels, and Ca2+-activated basolateral K+ channels. Furthermore, diclofenac (up to 200 µM; 24 h of treatment) had no effect on cell viability and barrier function in T84 cells. Importantly, cholera toxin (CT)-induced Cl− secretion across T84 cell monolayers was effectively suppressed by diclofenac. Intraperitoneal administration of diclofenac (30 mg/kg) reduced both CT and Vibrio cholerae-induced intestinal fluid secretion by ∼70% without affecting intestinal fluid absorption in mice. Collectively, our results indicate that diclofenac inhibits both cAMP-activated and Ca2+-activated Cl− secretion by inhibiting both apical Cl− channels and basolateral K+ channels in intestinal epithelial cells. Diclofenac may be useful in the treatment of cholera and other types of secretory diarrheas resulting from intestinal hypersecretion of Cl−.
Raising Awareness of Individual Creative Potential in Bioscientists Using a Web-site Based Approach

Abstract We report the preliminary results of work with a unique, web-site-based approach designed to help individual bioscientists identify and develop their individual creative capacity. The site includes a number of features that encourage individuals to interact with creativity techniques, communicate with colleagues remotely using an electronic notice board, then participate in group sessions. A total of 19 postgraduate students engaged with the web site during two structured sessions, two weeks apart, and were encouraged to communicate with one another during the intervening period. Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to assess individual creativity, and attitudes to creativity and the approach in general, before and after interaction with the web site. Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the site indicating that it helped them see themselves as creative people and offered new ways to generate ideas and/or solve problems. Perhaps not surprisingly, we noted no marked increase in individual creativity during this short study. However, the preliminary data and students’ responses warrant further investigation involving larger numbers of participants using the web site over much longer periods.
Elucidation of the Burkholderia cenocepacia hopanoid biosynthesis pathway uncovers functions for conserved proteins in hopanoid-producing bacteria.

Hopanoids are bacterial surrogates of eukaryotic membrane sterols and among earth's most abundant natural products. Their molecular fossils remain in sediments spanning more than a billion years. However, hopanoid metabolism and function are not fully understood. Burkholderia species are environmental opportunistic pathogens that produce hopanoids and also occupy diverse ecological niches. We investigated hopanoids biosynthesis in Burkholderia cenocepacia by deletion mutagenesis and structural characterization of the hopanoids produced by the mutants. The enzymes encoded by hpnH and hpnG were essential for production of all C35 extended hopanoids, including bacteriohopanetetrol (BHT), BHT glucosamine and BHT cyclitol ether. Deletion of hpnI resulted in BHT production, while ΔhpnJ produced only BHT glucosamine. Thus, HpnI is required for BHT glucosamine production while HpnJ is responsible for its conversion to the cyclitol ether. The ΔhpnH and ΔhpnG mutants could not grow under any stress condition tested, whereas ΔhpnI, ΔhpnJ and ΔhpnK displayed wild-type growth rates when exposed to detergent, but varying levels of sensitivity to low pH and polymyxin B. This study not only elucidates the biosynthetic pathway of hopanoids in B. cenocepacia, but also uncovers a biosynthetic role for the conserved proteins HpnI, HpnJ and HpnK in other hopanoid-producing bacteria.
Water turbidity by algal blooms causes mating system breakdown in a shallow-water fish, the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus

Eutrophication as a result of human activity has resulted in increased algal blooms and turbidity in aquatic environments. We investigated experimentally the effect of algal turbidity on the mating system and sexual selection in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas), a marine fish with a resource–defence mating system and paternal care. Owing to male–male competition and female choice, large males can monopolize multiple mates, while some males do not achieve mating at all. We show that the number of eggs laid was the same in both turbid and clear tanks but that mating success was more evenly distributed among males in turbid than in clear water. The opportunity for sexual selection was lower in turbid conditions. In turbid conditions mating success was less skewed towards large males. Our results suggest that increased turbidity can change mating systems and decrease the opportunity for sexual selection as well as selection intensity.
Differentiation of axon-related Schwann cells in vitro: II. Control of myelin formation by basal lamina

Several recent observations suggest that Schwann cell (SC) differentiation, including myelin formation, is dependent upon the development of basal lamina which characteristically surrounds each axon-SC unit in peripheral nerve. This dependence can be tested in a neuron-SC culture system developed in our laboratory in which SC differentiation, including basal lamina formation and myelination, is faithfully reproduced. The use of serum-free, defined medium (DM) with this culture system allows axon-driven SC proliferation but not basal lamina formation or myelination. We previously demonstrated that ascorbic acid, in the presence of a nondialyzable serum factor(s), stimulates basal lamina assembly and myelin formation with similar dose- response relationships (Eldridge et al., 1987). We hypothesized that ascorbic acid acts to promote SC myelination indirectly, by enabling the assembly of basal lamina. We now provide support for this hypothesis by demonstrating the following. (1) Pepsin-resistant triple- helical collagen molecules were produced only by SCs grown in the presence of ascorbic acid, suggesting that triple-helical type IV collagen may mediate the effect of ascorbic acid on basal lamina formation. (2) The formation of myelin by oligodendrocytes, which myelinate axons in the CNS without the concomitant deposition of basal lamina, was little affected by ascorbic acid, suggesting that the biosynthesis and assembly of myelin per se does not require ascorbic acid. (3) The provision of exogenous basal lamina matrix to SCs grown with neurons in DM without ascorbic acid promoted control levels of myelination (and basal lamina formation); the provision of exogenous fibrillar collagen matrix did not. (4) Purified laminin promoted control levels of myelination in the absence of ascorbic acid, but purified type IV collagen and heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) did not. Laminin caused SCs to assemble basal lamina-like structures that contained not only laminin but also HSPG and non-triple-helical type IV collagen. Thus, several types of experiments demonstrate that SC myelin formation can be controlled by regulating the ability of the SC to assemble basal lamina, illustrating that acquisition of basal lamina is a crucial prefatory step for further SC differentiation.
Vibration budget for observatory equipment

Abstract. Vibration from equipment mounted on the telescope and in summit support buildings has been a source of performance degradation at existing astronomical observatories, particularly for adaptive optics performance. Rather than relying only on best practices to minimize vibration, we present here a vibration budget that specifies allowable force levels from each source of vibration in the observatory (e.g., pumps, chillers, cryocoolers, etc.). This design tool helps ensure that the total optical performance degradation due to vibration is less than the corresponding error budget allocation and is also useful in design trade-offs, specifying isolation requirements for equipment, and tightening or widening individual equipment vibration specifications as necessary. The vibration budget relies on model-based analysis of the optical consequences that result from forces applied at different locations and frequencies, including both image jitter and primary mirror segment motion. We develop this tool here for the Thirty Meter Telescope but hope that this approach will be broadly useful to other observatories, not only in the design phase, but for verification and operations as well.
A High-Speed Multiwavelength Clock Recovery Scheme for Optical Packets

We present a novel scheme for high-speed multiwavelength clock recovery using a low finesse Fabry-Perot filter and a quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier. Performance evaluation based on extensive numerical analysis reveals that the proposed configuration can acquire clock from 40- and 160-Gb/s input data packet streams at four wavelengths with very short rise- and fall-times.
Successful Reconstruction of a Physiological Circuit with Known Connectivity from Spiking Activity Alone

Identifying the structure and dynamics of synaptic interactions between neurons is the first step to understanding neural network dynamics. The presence of synaptic connections is traditionally inferred through the use of targeted stimulation and paired recordings or by post-hoc histology. More recently, causal network inference algorithms have been proposed to deduce connectivity directly from electrophysiological signals, such as extracellularly recorded spiking activity. Usually, these algorithms have not been validated on a neurophysiological data set for which the actual circuitry is known. Recent work has shown that traditional network inference algorithms based on linear models typically fail to identify the correct coupling of a small central pattern generating circuit in the stomatogastric ganglion of the crab Cancer borealis. In this work, we show that point process models of observed spike trains can guide inference of relative connectivity estimates that match the known physiological connectivity of the central pattern generator up to a choice of threshold. We elucidate the necessary steps to derive faithful connectivity estimates from a model that incorporates the spike train nature of the data. We then apply the model to measure changes in the effective connectivity pattern in response to two pharmacological interventions, which affect both intrinsic neural dynamics and synaptic transmission. Our results provide the first successful application of a network inference algorithm to a circuit for which the actual physiological synapses between neurons are known. The point process methodology presented here generalizes well to larger networks and can describe the statistics of neural populations. In general we show that advanced statistical models allow for the characterization of effective network structure, deciphering underlying network dynamics and estimating information-processing capabilities.
AQUAPONIC CORNER On the sustainability of aquaponics

Aquaponics is an evolving closed-system food production technology that integrates recirculating aquaculture with hydroponics. In this paper we give a brief literature overview of the sustainability aspects of aquaponics by discussing its social, environmental, and economic impacts in different potential settings. The technology might be applied to commercial or community based urban food production, industrial scale production in rural areas, small scale farming in developing countries or as systems for education and decoration inside buildings. We conclude that due to the different potential applications and settings for installing the technology, sustainability impacts need to be considered separately and that due the complexity within markets, value chains, communities, urban and rural infrastructure and policy settings, further research and data acquisition is needed to be able to assess all sustainability aspects.
Knee surgery assistance: patient model construction, motion simulation, and biomechanical visualization

The authors present a new system that integrates computer graphics, physics-based modeling, and interactive visualization to assist knee study and surgical operation. First, they discuss generating patient-specific three-dimensional (3-D) knee models from patient's magnetic resonance images (MRIs). The 3-D model is obtained by deforming a reference model to match the MRI dataset. Second, the authors present simulating knee motion that visualizes patient-specific motion data on the patient-specific knee model. Third, the authors introduce visualizing biomechanical information on a patient-specific model. The focus is on visualizing contact area, contact forces, and menisci deformation. Traditional methods have difficulty in visualizing knee contact area without using invasive methods. The approach presented here provides an alternative of visualizing the knee contact area and forces without any risk to the patient. Finally, a virtual surgery can be performed. The constructed 3-D knee model is the basis of motion simulation, biomechanical visualization, and virtual surgery. Knee motion simulation determines the knee rotation angles as well as knee contact points. These parameters are used to solve the biomechanical model. The authors' results integrate 3-D construction, motion simulation, and biomechanical visualization into one system. Overall, the methodologies here are useful elements for future virtual medical systems where all the components of visualization, automated model generation and surgery simulation come together.
Interim management: is it the right career move?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight a service for all executives considering a career change.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology was in‐depth research with industry service providers.Findings – The workshop provides an excellent objective, one‐stop shop for the facts of the industry and how to get started as an independent interim.Research limitations/implications – Material used is taken from Ipsos MORI research and from interviews with Interim Management Association (IMA) members. It is also validated and updated on a six monthly basis.Practical implications – Delegates gain enough information to make an immediate informed decision about interim as a career option, as well as leading industry techniques to make a fast start, if that is their choice.Originality/value – This course is unique to the industry, in terms of its content, availability, and value to delegates.
Universal Leaky Random Oracle

Yoneyama et al. introduces the Leaky Random Oracle Model at ProvSec2008 to capture the leakages from the hash list of a hash function used by a cryptography construction due to various attacks caused by sloppy usages or implementations in the real world. However, an important fact is that such attacks would leak not only the hash list, but also other secret states (e.g. the secret key) outside the hash list. Therefore, the Leaky Random Oracle Model is very limited in the sense that it considers the leakages from the hash list alone, instead of taking into consideration other possible leakages from secret states simultaneously. In this paper, we present an augmented model of the Leaky Random Oracle Model. In our new model, both the secret key and the hash list can be leaked. Furthermore, the secret key can be leaked continually during the whole lifecycle of the cryptography construction. Hence, our new model is more universal and stronger than the Leaky Random Oracle Model and some other leakage models (e.g. only computation leaks model and memory leakage model). As an application example, we also present a public key encryption scheme which is provably IND-CCA secure in our new model.