Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Percezione del sé in età di sviluppo: Il contributo dell’attività fisica, della sedentarietà e delle abitudini alimentari

In last years, the incorrect eating habits, the physical inactivity and the consequent sedentary behavior among children are one of the main problems for the Western society that may negatively affect the psychological well-being during childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations among eating habits, physical activity levels, including sedentary behavior, and self-perception during childhood. Hundred twenty-one children of primary schools participated (mean age 8.95 ± 0.78 anni; F = 48.33%) in the study. The participants drew up the «Self-Description Questionnaire» (SDQ) and a self-report questionnaire concerning the life style of the children, about their alimentary, physical habits and sedentary. Hierarchical multiple regressions analyses highlight that age, gender, eating habits, phisical activity and sedentary levels explained the 16.8% variance for physical ability perception (R2 = 0.168; F(5.111) = 4.474; p = 0.001) and the 14.3% variance for global self-perception (R2 = 0.143; F(5.113) = 3.768; p = 0.003). The study underlines the contribution of eating habits and physical activity on the perception of physical abilities, the physical appearance and the global self-perception. The results underline as intervention projects in the schools might improve the life style and therefore increase the self-perception, an important aspect for the child’s psychological well-being.
Low-Rate and High-Rate Distributed DoS Attack Detection Using Partial Rank Correlation

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks pose a serious threat to efficient and uninterrupted Internet services. During Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), attackers make fool of innocent servers (i.e., Slave) into reddening packets to the victim. Most low-rate DDoS attack detection mechanisms are associated with specific protocols used by the attacks. Due to the use of slave, it has been found that the traffic flow for such an attack and their response flow to the victim may have linear relationships with another. Based on this observation, we propose the Partial Rank Correlation-based Detection (PRCD) scheme to detect both low-rate and high-rate DDoS attacks. Our experimental results confirm theoretical analysis and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in practice.
Adherence to and damage of endothelial cells by Cryptococcus neoformans in vitro: role of the capsule

Escape from the intravascular compartment is likely a critical step in the development of hematogenously disseminated cryptococcal infections, such as meningitis. The capsule of Cryptococcus neoformans is considered to be a virulence factor because of its antiphagocytic properties. To further investigate the role of the capsule in escape from the intravascular compartment, we used isogenic strain pairs, an acapsular mutant, and an encapsulated clinical isolate to determine the effects of the capsule of C. neoformans on adherence to, phagocytosis by, and damage of endothelial cells in vitro. Acapsular C. neoformans adhered significantly more to endothelial cells and caused greater endothelial cell injury than did encapsulated organisms. Coating of an acapsular strain with cryptococcal glucuronoxylomannan decreased both adherence to and damage of endothelial cells by 61.7% +/- 9.1% and 76.6% +/- 10.2%, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated internalization of acapsular, but not encapsulated, organisms by endothelial cells. Internalization of an acapsular strain occurred through endothelial cell phagocytosis and was inhibited by cytochalasin D. Phagocytosis required a heat-labile serum factor, probably complement. These results suggest that acapsular or poorly encapsulated C. neoformans may be the form(s) that escapes from the vasculature during initiation of hematogenously disseminated disease.
Dissecting MHC Class II Export, B Cell Maturation, and DM Stability Defects in Invariant Chain Mutant Mice1

Invariant (Ii) chain loss causes defective class II export, B cell maturation, and reduced DM stability. In this study, we compare Ii chain and class II mutant mouse phenotypes to dissect these disturbances. The present results demonstrate that ER retention of αβ complexes, and not β-chain aggregates, disrupts B cell development. In contrast, we fail to detect class II aggregates in Ii chain mutant thymi. Ii chain loss in NOD mice leads to defective class II export and formation of αβ aggregates, but in this background, downstream signals are misregulated and mature B cells develop normally. Finally, Ii chain mutant strains all display reduced levels of DM, but mice expressing either p31 or p41 alone, and class II single chain mutants, are indistinguishable from wild type. We conclude that Ii chain contributions as a DM chaperone are independent of its role during class II export. This Ii chain/DM partnership favors class II peptide loading via conventional pathway(s).
Ambiguity as a Condition of Possibility: the European Endowment for Democracy and Democracy Promotion in the Caucasus

In June 2012, the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) was established with an aim to address the shortcomings of existing EU programmes and provide direct assistance to opposition forces and civil society groups in both the Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood. According to its Statutes, the EED is governed by EU member states and institutions, but is officially registered as a private foundation under the Belgian law. Institutional ambiguity was meant to enable the EED to operate in a more flexible and less bureaucratic manner. Yet, the blurred position of the Endowment has also catalysed a constellation of interests and divergent approaches related to the mere methods and objectives of democratisation policies (regime change vs. incremental transformation, empowering subjects vs. democratising institutions, visibility vs. discrete operations). Through a particular focus on EED interventions in Armenia and Azerbaijan, based on participant observation and a series of interviews conducted in Brussels and the Caucasus, the contribution argues that ambiguity does not represent an obstacle to the operationalisation of the EU democracy support policy. On the contrary, oversights and differences of interpretation about the “problem” to be addressed and the methods to be implemented constitute the very condition of possibility for the autonomisation of democracy assistance and the maintenance of several initiatives in the region.
Functional MRI Studies on Human Declarative Memory

Declarative memory is defined as the conscious memory for facts and events. The medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures, i.e., the hippocampus with the adjacent parahippocampal region, are considered to be critical for encoding of new events into long-term memory. The extent to which the MTL structures also participate in episodic retrieval or semantic memory is not clear. Knowledge about human declarative memory is largely based on the evidence of the behavioral studies in animals and neuropsychological studies on patients with MTL lesions or diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Development of different functional imaging modalities, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has in recent years provided tools with which to examine human memory in vivo. The aim of this thesis was to establish fMRI methods suitable for investigating the functional differentiation of the MTL between and within the substructures. Three fMRI activation paradigms were created to cover various aspects of declarative memory. Verbal, visual, and visuospatial stimulus material was used to investigate memory encoding, retrieval, and recognition in a group of young control subjects. First, in the verbal fluency task, retrieval of semantically related words was challenged during listing of items belonging to a given category (Study I). Second, a visual paired-associates paradigm was used to study both episodic encoding and cued retrieval (Study II). Processing of object and spatial novelty were examined with the third activation paradigm (Studies III and IV). Functional imaging was performed using a Siemens Vision 1.5 T scanner and a T 2 *-weighted gradient echo echo-planar imaging sequence sensitive to blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast. The in-plane resolution of the functional images was 4 x 4 mm 2 and the thickness of the oblique axial slices 5 mm leading to a voxel-size of 0.08 cm 3. Based on the literature, the combined volume of the hippocampus and entorhinal, perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices of healthy control subjects is approximately 10 cm 3 indicating that the resolution of the raw images was adequate to investigate the MTL responses. The MTL data of the three paradigms were primarily analyzed at the level of individual study subjects using established anatomic criteria without spatial normalization or group-averaging, and the extent of spatial smoothing was minor. In addition, complementary data analysis was performed at the group-level. This study showed that the MTL structures have specific functional roles in contributing to different elements of declarative memory. The anterior part of the hippocampus was involved …
Probabilistic Programming with Stochastic Memoization

Probabilistic programming is a programming language paradigm receiving both government support [1] and the attention of the popular technology press [2]. Probabilistic programming concerns writing programs with segments that can be interpreted as parameter and conditional distributions, yielding statistical findings through nonstandard execution. Mathematica not only has great support for statistics, but has another language feature particular to probabilistic language elements, namely memoization, which is the ability for functions to retain their value for particular function calls across parameters, creating random trials that retain their value. Recent research has found that reasoning about processes instead of given parameters has allowed Bayesian inference to undertake more flexible models that require computational support. This article explains this nonparametric Bayesian inference, shows how Mathematicaʼs capacity for memoization supports probabilistic programming features, and demonstrates this capability through two examples, learning systems of relations and learning arithmetic functions based on output.
Realization and Optimization of Face Detection Algorithm Based on DSP

It introduced the principle and the process of human face detection algorithm, as well as its implementation and optimization using DSP. It applied AdaBoost algorithm to detect human face. Before the detection, some methods were used to optimize original image data, such as image scale, median filter, histogram equalization and edge detection. After the detection, it judged and modified the results to improve the detection accuracy further. Then it used many optimization methods to meet the real-time requirement. Experimental results show that, this DSP system can meet real-time requirement even if it detects faces in 720x576 high-resolution images, at the same time it has a high accuracy and low miss rate in a complex environment.
A Mechanism for the Synergistic Antimalarial Action of Atovaquone and Proguanil

ABSTRACT A combination of atovaquone and proguanil has been found to be quite effective in treating malaria, with little evidence of the emergence of resistance when atovaquone was used as a single agent. We have examined possible mechanisms for the synergy between these two drugs. While proguanil by itself had no effect on electron transport or mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), it significantly enhanced the ability of atovaquone to collapse ΔΨm when used in combination. This enhancement was observed at pharmacologically achievable doses. Proguanil acted as a biguanide rather than as its metabolite cycloguanil (a parasite dihydrofolate reductase [DHFR] inhibitor) to enhance the atovaquone effect; another DHFR inhibitor, pyrimethamine, also had no enhancing effect. Proguanil-mediated enhancement was specific for atovaquone, since the effects of other mitochondrial electron transport inhibitors, such as myxothiazole and antimycin, were not altered by inclusion of proguanil. Surprisingly, proguanil did not enhance the ability of atovaquone to inhibit mitochondrial electron transport in malaria parasites. These results suggest that proguanil in its prodrug form acts in synergy with atovaquone by lowering the effective concentration at which atovaquone collapses ΔΨm in malaria parasites. This could explain the paradoxical success of the atovaquone-proguanil combination even in regions where proguanil alone is ineffective due to resistance. The results also suggest that the atovaquone-proguanil combination may act as a site-specific uncoupler of parasite mitochondria in a selective manner.
GalNAc-T14 promotes metastasis through Wnt dependent HOXB9 expression in lung adenocarcinoma

While metastasis, the main cause of lung cancer-related death, has been extensively studied, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. A previous clinicogenomic study revealed that expression of N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (GalNAc-T14), is highly inversely correlated with recurrence-free survival in those with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the underlying molecular mechanism(s) has not been determined. Here, we showed that GalNAc-T14 expression was positively associated with the invasive phenotype. Microarray and biochemical analyses revealed that HOXB9, the expression of which was increased in a GalNAc-T14-dependent manner, played an important role in metastasis. GalNAc-T14 increased the sensitivity of the WNT response and increased the stability of the β-catenin protein, leading to induced expression of HOXB9 and acquisition of an invasive phenotype. Pharmacological inhibition of β-catenin in GalNAc-T14-expressing cancer cells suppressed HOXB9 expression and invasion. A meta-analysis of clinical genomics data revealed that expression of GalNAc-T14 or HOXB9 was strongly correlated with reduced recurrence-free survival and increased hazard risk, suggesting that targeting β-catenin within the GalNAc-T14/WNT/HOXB9 axis may be a novel therapeutic approach to inhibit metastasis in NSCLC.
THE PROFIT ORIENTATION OF UK MANUFACTURING INVESTMENT : Does Π beat Q ?

This paper derives a model of capital investment that ascribes a theoretical role to profitability and uncertainty in determining the capital-output ratio. Using quarterly data from UK manufacturing over a thirty-year period, unique cointegrating relationships are obtained for two asset classes: buildings and plant and machinery. The corresponding dynamic equations are also well specified. Non-nested testing shows that the performance of the estimated investment models ranks similarly to the performance of predictions from direct investment intentions.
Helicobacter pylori cagA+ strains and dissociation of gastric epithelial cell proliferation from apoptosis.

BACKGROUND Infection with Helicobacter pylori induces chronic gastritis in virtually all infected persons, and such gastritis has been associated with an increased risk of developing gastric cancer. This risk is further enhanced with cagA+ (positive for cytotoxin-associated gene A) H. pylori strains and may be a consequence of induced gastric cell proliferation and/or alteration in apoptosis (programmed cell death) in the gastric epithelium. PURPOSE To determine whether the H. pylori cagA genotype and another virulence-related characteristic, the vacA (vacuolating cytotoxin A) s1a genotype, differentially affect epithelial cell proliferation, apoptosis, and the histologic parameters of inflammation and injury, we quantitated these characteristics in infected and uninfected persons. METHODS Fifty patients underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and biopsy specimens were taken. Apoptotic cells in the specimens were quantitated after terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase labeling of DNA fragments with digoxigenin-deoxyuridine triphosphate; epithelial cell proliferation was scored by immunohistochemical analysis of the proliferation-associated antigen Ki-67. Antibodies directed against H. pylori and CagA protein were measured in the serum of patients by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Analysis of H. pylori genomic DNA, by use of the polymerase chain reaction, was performed to determine the cagA and vacA genotypes. Acute and chronic inflammation, epithelial cell degeneration, mucin depletion, intestinal metaplasia, glandular atrophy, and vacuolation were each scored in a blinded manner. Reported P values are two-sided. RESULTS Persons harboring cagA+ strains (n = 20) had significantly higher gastric epithelial proliferation scores than persons infected with cagA-strains (n = 9) or uninfected persons (n = 21) (P = .025 and P<.001, respectively), but the difference in cell proliferation between the latter two groups was not statistically significant. The number of apoptotic cells per 100 epithelial cells (apoptotic index) in persons infected with cagA+ strains was lower than in persons infected with cagA-strains (P = .05). Apoptotic indices in the cagA+ group were similar to those in the uninfected group (P = .2). Epithelial cell proliferation was significantly correlated with acute gastric inflammation, but only in the cagA+ group (r = .44; P = .006). The cagA+ and vacA s1a genotypes were found to be concordant, confirming the close relationship between these virulence-related genotypes. CONCLUSIONS Gastric mucosal proliferation was significantly correlated with the severity of acute gastritis in persons infected with cagA+ vacA s1a strains of H. pylori. This increased proliferation was not accompanied by a parallel increase in apoptosis. IMPLICATIONS Increased cell proliferation in the absence of a corresponding increase in apoptosis may explain the heightened risk for gastric carcinoma that is associated with infection by cagA+ vacA s1a strains of H. pylori.
Heavy Metal Stress and Some Mechanisms of Plant Defense Response

Unprecedented bioaccumulation and biomagnification of heavy metals (HMs) in the environment have become a dilemma for all living organisms including plants. HMs at toxic levels have the capability to interact with several vital cellular biomolecules such as nuclear proteins and DNA, leading to excessive augmentation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This would inflict serious morphological, metabolic, and physiological anomalies in plants ranging from chlorosis of shoot to lipid peroxidation and protein degradation. In response, plants are equipped with a repertoire of mechanisms to counteract heavy metal (HM) toxicity. The key elements of these are chelating metals by forming phytochelatins (PCs) or metallothioneins (MTs) metal complex at the intra- and intercellular level, which is followed by the removal of HM ions from sensitive sites or vacuolar sequestration of ligand-metal complex. Nonenzymatically synthesized compounds such as proline (Pro) are able to strengthen metal-detoxification capacity of intracellular antioxidant enzymes. Another important additive component of plant defense system is symbiotic association with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. AM can effectively immobilize HMs and reduce their uptake by host plants via binding metal ions to hyphal cell wall and excreting several extracellular biomolecules. Additionally, AM fungi can enhance activities of antioxidant defense machinery of plants.
Fitness consequences of personality: a meta-analysis

The study of nonhuman personality capitalizes on the fact that individuals of many species behave in predictable, variable, and quantifiable ways. Although a few empirical studies have examined the ultimate consequences of personality differences, there has been no synthesis of results. We conducted a formal meta-analysis of published studies reporting fitness consequences of single personality dimensions to identify general trends across species. We found bolder individuals had increased reproductive success, particularly in males, but incurred a survival cost, thus, supporting the hypothesis that variation in boldness was maintained due to a "trade-off" in fitness consequences across contexts. Potential mechanisms maintaining variation in exploration and aggression are not as clear. Exploration had a positive effect only on survival, whereas aggression had a positive effect on both reproductive success and, not significantly, on survival. Such results would suggest that selection is driving populations to become more explorative and aggressive. However, limitations in meta-analytic techniques preclude us from testing for the effects of fluctuating environmental conditions or other forms of selection on these dimensions. Results do, however, provide evidence for general relationships between personality and fitness, and we provide a framework for future studies to follow in the hopes of spurring more in-depth, long-term research into the evolutionary mechanisms maintaining variation in personality dimensions and overall behavioral syndromes. We conclude with a discussion on how understanding and managing personality traits may play a key role in the captive breeding and recovery programs of endangered species. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
Exploiting response patterns for identifying topical experts in StackOverflow

The popularity of community question answer (CQA) forums like Stack Overflow, Yahoo Answers and Quora is increasing tremendously with thousands of questions being posted each day and about thrice the number of responses being provided. With such query explosion, users participating in these forums receive a huge number of postings that adversely affects their responsiveness and also the quality of the responses. Hence, identifying topical experts is necessary to improve the efficacy of these systems in terms of both response time and quality. Although expert detection in CQA forums has traditionally been a topic of wide interest, however, many of the proposed techniques use features set that reflect the popularity of the responses of the responder rather than the difficulty level of the questions being responded. In this paper we provide measures of labeling difficult questions and use the number of difficult questions responded by a user combined with other user interaction parameters in identifying potential topical experts. Using a random forest classifier with the proposed feature set on Stack Overflow data, we obtain an improvement in accuracy of 5–16% over existing techniques, in detecting topical experts.
Validation of Cefazolin as Initial Antibiotic for First Upper Urinary Tract Infection in Children

To validate the policy of administering cefazolin (CEZ) as a first-line antibiotic to children who are hospitalized with their first febrile urinary tract infection (UTI), we evaluated microbial susceptibility to CEZ and the efficacy of CEZ. The 75 enrolled children with febrile UTI were initially treated with CEZ. Switching CEZ was not required in 84% of the patients. The median fever duration, prevalence of bacteremia, prevalence of UTI caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli, and median duration of hospitalization were significantly higher in the CEZ-ineffective group. The risks of vesicoureteral reflux, indication of operation, and renal scarring are not increased, even when CEZ is ineffective as a first-line antibiotic. CEZ is effective in more than 80% of pediatric patients with their first febrile UTI, but it should be switched to appropriate antibiotics considering sepsis or the ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae pathogen, when fever does not improve within 72 hours.