Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of nicotine replacement therapy for smoking reduction and during enforced temporary abstinence: a national survey of English smokers.

AIMS To assess the prevalence of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) use for smoking reduction (SR) and temporary abstinence (TA), the association between the two and the strength of the association between NRT use for SR or TA and socio-demographic characteristics, cigarette consumption and past quit attempts. DESIGN Cross-sectional monthly surveys. SETTING England. PARTICIPANTS A total of 11, 414 smokers. MEASUREMENTS Participants were asked (i) whether they were reducing the amount they smoked: if so, whether they used NRT; and (ii) whether they used NRT for TA. Demographic characteristics, daily cigarette consumption and whether a quit attempt had been made in the past 12 months were also assessed. FINDINGS Of the participants, 56% were attempting SR, 14% were using NRT for SR and 14% were using NRT for TA. Use of NRT for SR and TA were highly correlated. The nicotine patch was the most commonly used form of NRT. The use of NRT for SR, compared with unassisted SR, was more common among older smokers, while the use of NRT for TA was more common among women. Cigarette consumption was higher in those using NRT for SR than those attempting SR without NRT. The use of NRT for SR and TA was associated positively with past quit attempts. CONCLUSIONS Nicotine replacement therapy use for smoking reduction and temporary abstinence is common in England. The use of NRT for SR and TA does not appear to be associated with lower cigarette consumption relative to SR or TA without NRT, but is associated with a higher rate of past quit attempts.
Unfit for the Future: The Need for Moral Enhancement

1. Introduction 2. Human Nature and Common Sense Morality 3. Liberal Democracy 4. Catastrophic Misuses of Science 5. Responsibility for Omissions to Aid 6. The Tragedy of the Commons 7. The Tragedy of the Environment and Liberal Democracy 8. Authoritarianism and Democracy 9. Liberal Democracy and the End of History 10. Moral Enhancement as a Possible Way-Out Index
Are Russians Undemocratic?

Two experts on Russian politics and government assess claims that undemocratic attitudes prevail among the Russian population. Original survey data about perceptions of democratic institutions and values as well as sociodemographic data are analyzed to gauge support for democratic ideas. Surveys comprise a three-stage panel survey in which interviews and reinterviews took place between November 1999 and May 2000, with an initial sample of 1,919 respondents. The tradeoff between order and democracy, prospects for a more autocratic future, and policy recommendations are discussed.
Antiprotons from Spallations of Cosmic Rays on Interstellar Matter

Cosmic-ray antiprotons provide an important probe for the study of Galactic dark matter, as they could be produced by neutralino annihilations, primordial black holes evaporations, or other exotic sources. On the other hand, antiprotons are anyway produced by standard nuclear reactions of cosmic-ray nuclei on interstellar matter (spallations), which are known to occur in the Galaxy. This process is responsible for a background flux that must be carefully determined to estimate the detectability of an hypothetical exotic signal. In this paper we provide a new evaluation of the interstellar cosmic antiproton flux that is fully consistent with cosmic-ray nuclei in the framework of a two-zone diffusion model. We also study and conservatively quantify all possible sources of uncertainty that may affect that antiproton flux. In particular, the primary cosmic rays are by now so well measured that the corresponding error is removed. Uncertainties related to propagation are shown to range between 10% and 25%, depending on which part of the spectrum is considered.
The role of the home literacy environment in the early literacy development of children at family-risk of dyslexia

This thesis examines the role of early home literacy environment (HLE) in the literacy development of a sample of children at family-risk of dyslexia via an affected first-degree relative (FR) and a typically developing control group (TD). The first study described the HLE of 4-year-old FR children. Two distinct factors were identified: storybook exposure and direct instruction of orthographic forms. The amount of interactional literacy-related input that FR and TD children received at home was broadly equivalent. Second, the relationship of the early HLE to language and emergent literacy skills both concurrently and longitudinally (at age 5) was investigated. Storybook exposure predicted a wider range of child outcomes than previous research has suggested. Notably, a relationship between storybook exposure and phoneme awareness emerged later for FR than TD children. Direct instruction predicted children’s decoding skills in the first year of school. A pair of path models predicting decoding and reading comprehension skills at age 6 revealed multiple indirect pathways from early HLE to reading outcomes two years later. The magnitude of several longitudinal relationships was larger for FR than TD children. A direct pathway from early storybook exposure to reading comprehension was identified in the FR group only. Effects of family SES on reading outcomes were fully mediated by the HLE variables and oral language. In an observation study, the linguistic and socio-emotional quality of shared storybook interactions was found to be equivalent between FR and TD mother-child dyads. Children’s orientation to print at age 4 predicted word reading ability a year later, and interactional affective quality predicted children’s oral language skills. These findings are discussed, with a focus on the potential for rich early literacy-related experiences in the home to act as a protective factor in the literacy development of children at elevated risk of reading difficulty.
Analysis of the specificity and mechanism of transcriptional activation of the human hsp70 gene during infection by DNA viruses

We have examined the transcriptional regulation of the 70-kDa (70K) heat shock gene family following infection of human and monkey cells with four different DNA viruses: adenovirus type 5 (Ad5), herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), simian virus 40, and vaccinia virus. Our results indicate that induction of these genes is not a general response to the stress of viral infection but is instead a highly specific response, both with regard to the inducing virus and with regard to the target gene. Of three 70K heat shock genes examined, only hsp70 was induced during viral infection, and induction occurred only after infection by Ad5 and HSV-1. As revealed by genomic footprinting analysis, the mechanism of transcriptional activation of hsp70 during Ad5 or HSV-1 infection does not involve changes in the avidity of binding of basal transcription factors to the hsp70 promoter. In HSV-1-infected HeLa cells, transcriptional activation of hsp70 was quite transient, following which transcription was rapidly repressed; this was accompanied by the release of bound factors from the hsp70 promoter. In addition to the selectivity which characterizes the viral activation of hsp70 transcription, our results indicate that the consequences of this activation, as measured by changes in hsp70 mRNA levels and protein synthesis, are also virus specific.
Dopamine Treatment of Postischemic Contractile Dysfunction Rapidly Induces Calcium-Dependent Pro-Apoptotic Signaling

BackgroundIschemia and adrenergic stimulation of cardiomyocyte cultures have been shown to induce apoptotic cell death. We hypothesized that in a model of contractile dysfunction following ischemia, a commonly used catecholamine such as dopamine augments cardiomyocyte apoptosis via activation of calcium-dependent signaling cascades. Methods and ResultsIsolated perfused rabbit hearts were subjected to 45 minutes of normothermic ischemia with cardioplegic arrest. Hearts were reperfused for 120 minutes with unmodified perfusate (control), perfusate containing 20 nM dopamine, dopamine+2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM), a MgATPase-inhibitor, or the calcium-sensitizing inotrope ORG 30029. Ischemia-reperfusion alone caused contractile dysfunction without significant myocardial necrosis (left ventricular pressure-volume curves; 1% triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining; creatine kinase release) or apoptosis (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling [TUNEL] analysis; immunoblotting for poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase [PARP] cleavage; activation of caspases-3, -8, and -9; expression of Bax/Bcl-2). Intracellular calcium [Ca2+]i measured by rhod-2 spectrofluorometry was increased in dopamine-reperfused hearts. Although postischemic dopamine treatment improved contractility, the number of apoptotic cardiomyocytes was significantly higher than in untreated postischemic hearts (32.5±9 versus 5.5±1.6/1000 nuclei, P <0.01). Further evidence of dopamine-stimulated apoptosis included PARP cleavage, activation of mitochondrial-derived caspase-9, and the terminal effector caspase-3. Dopamine also increased cellular content of pro-apoptotic Bax while decreasing anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Simultaneous treatment with BDM suppressed contractility without affecting [Ca2+]i and did not reduce dopamine-stimulated apoptotic markers. When contractility was increased without elevating [Ca2+]i using ORG 30029, no activation of pro-apoptotic signaling cascades was found. Dopamine infusion in nonischemic hearts did not result in cardiomyocyte apoptosis. ConclusionsPostischemic dopamine treatment of contractile dysfunction activates pro-apoptotic signal cascades, most likely via a calcium-dependent process and mitochondrial damage.
Harmonic Analysis and Qualitative Uncertainty Principle

This paper investigates the mathematical nature of qualitative uncertainty principle (QUP), which plays an important role in mathematics, physics and engineering fields. Consider a 3-tuple (K, H1, H2) that K: H1 -> H2 is an integral operator. Suppose a signal f in H1, {\Omega}1 and {\Omega}2 are domains on which f, Kf define respectively. Does this signal f vanish if |{\Sigma}(f)|<|{\Omega}1|and|{\Sigma}(Kf)|<|{\Omega}2|? The excesses and deficiencies of integral kernel K({\omega}, t) are found to be greatly related to this general formulation of QUP. The complete point theory of integral kernel is so established to deal with the QUP. This theory addresses the density and linear independence of integral kernels. Some algebraic and geometric properties of complete points are presented. It is shown that the satisfaction of QUP depends on the existence of some complete points. By recognizing complete points of their corresponding integral kernels, the QUP with Fourier transform, Wigner-Ville distribution, Gabor transform and wavelet are studied. It is shown the QUP only holds for good behaved integral operators. An investigation of full violation of QUP shows that L2 space is large for high resolution harmonic analysis. And the invertible linear integral transforms whose kernels are complete in L2 probably lead to the satisfaction of QUP. It indicates the performance limitation of linear integral transforms in harmonic analysis. Two possible ways bypassing uncertainty principle, nonlinear method and sparse representation, are thus suggested. The notion of operator family is developed and is applied to understand remarkable performances of recent sparse representation.
Analysis of the effects of recombinant Human erythropoietin (EPO) on murine bone marrow populations using Mixture Modeling Techniques

By applying mixture modeling techniques to flow cytometry data, we revealed that, as expected, treatment with EPO increased the fraction of erythroid precursors in murine bone marrow. However, we also found the fraction of apoptotic and dead late stage erythroid precursors increased. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that EPO increased the ratio of dead polyploid to dead diploid erythroid cells, providing evidence that EPO increased the probability that dividing erythroid precursors will enter apoptosis, a finding not evident by expert human analysis. These results indicate that mathematical analysis can be a powerful approach for analyzing flow cytometry data and understanding complex biological systems.
A Low Cost Surface Electromyogram (sEMG) Signal Guided Automated Wheel Chair for the Disabled

This paper discusses the exploratory research of a simple, effective and low cost design of a microcontroller based wheelchair using the sEMG signal collected from the neck muscles w hich w ill allow a disabled person to control the wheelchair only by using the movement of his neck. Among the different neck muscles, upper trapezius muscle has been chosen for collection of the sEMG signals which are used to move, control and navigate the wheel chair. The main purpose of the w ork is to design a cost-effective, easily affordable and accessible w heel chair for the disabled general masses where advanced attachments like on board computer, digital cameras , sophisticated sensors etc. are not being used, rather concentration has been paid on designing a more practical and simple but effective system using an electrically controlled differential drive with only two wheels.
Social Recommendation Algorithm Dynamically Adaptable to User Profiling for SNS

With the development of social network services, the user relation spectrum of the social network has exceeded our imagination. Hence, personalized recommendation algorithms are adopted in many social networking sites to help users find their potential friends and related information more quickly and conveniently. In this paper, we discuss the weaknesses of current algorithms, and propose a user profile integrated dynamic social recommendation algorithm in order to overcome those limitations. Finally, through the experiment on Weibo dataset, it can conclude that the proposed algorithm outperforms traditional approaches in terms of accuracy and stability.
Effects of smoking cessation on the outcomes of non-surgical periodontal therapy: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

AIM To conduct an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis to assess the effect of smoking cessation (SC) on clinical outcomes following the non-surgical periodontal treatment in patients with chronic periodontitis. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL were searched up to, and including, August 2012. Prospective cohort studies of at least 6 months' duration were included if the participants met the following criteria: (1) smokers who had expressed an interest in quitting the habit; and (2) a diagnosis of periodontitis. Search was conducted by two independent reviewers. IPD meta-analyses were undertaken using multiple linear or Poisson regression to evaluate the impact of SC on five different dependent variables. RESULTS Of 2455 potentially eligible articles, two studies were included. The two studies found that SC seems to promote additional beneficial effects in reducing probing depths (PD) and improving attachment level following non-surgical periodontal treatment. The IPD approach allowed data combination but it might not have usefully added strength to the data in this review. CONCLUSION SC seems to be an important component of periodontal therapy, and smokers should be encouraged to quit as part of their overall periodontal management; however, only a limited base of evidence was available for analysis.
A virtual point source pulse probing technique for suppressing grating lobes in large-pitch phased arrays

We have been investigating a recently developed technique called Phase Coherence Imaging (PCI) that suppresses grating lobes in large-pitch arrays by defining a weighting factor based on the instantaneous phase of received echoes. This could lessen many of the limitations associated with the fabricating of high-frequency micro-arrays. The technique is not very effective however, when used with conventional transmit beamforming because the received grating lobe echoes are narrowband. In previous work, we suggested and theoretically evaluated a new beamforming technique called "Pulse Probing" in order to generalize the application of PCI for suppressing grating lobes when using conventional transmit focusing. In this work, the experimental verification of the technique using a commercially available high-frequency linear array system (Vevo 2100, VisualSonics) is reported. We demonstrate that by pre-calculating PCI weighting factors using a defocused pulse from a virtual point source, and later applying them to conventional transmit beamforming, the grating lobes resulting from a 50 MHz, 64- element, 1.26 λ pitch phased array can be suppressed approximately 40 dB more than when using PCI alone. We have further experimentally shown that with this technique, grating lobes resulting from wire targets embedded in a tissue-mimicking phantom could be suppressed while the tissue speckle and the wire target were preserved.
Does Postmenopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy Affect Intraocular Pressure?

Purpose:To assess the effects of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on intraocular pressure (IOP). Patients and Methods:This was a cross-sectional controlled study, including 107 women aged 60 to 80 years receiving HRT and 107 controls who have never received HRT. All subjects underwent IOP assessment and funduscopic photography for cup-to-disc (C/D) ratios, and completed questionnaires regarding personal and family history of glaucoma, hormone replacement therapy, lifetime estrogen and progesterone exposure, and cardiovascular risk factors. Main Outcome Measures included IOP, prevalence of increased IOP, and C/D ratios. Results:The groups did not differ in mean IOP (15.3 versus 15.3 mm Hg), mean vertical (0.18 versus 0.21) and horizontal (0.17 versus 0.14) C/D ratios, and in prevalence of increased IOP (15% versus 14%), C/D ratio (7% versus 7%), or glaucoma (9% versus 11%). A personal history of ischemic heart disease was the only risk factor associated with increased IOP (O.R. = 4.63, P = 0.003). Lifetime estrogen and progesterone exposure, including pregnancies, deliveries, menstruation years, and the use of oral contraceptives did not significantly affect the risk for increased IOP. Conclusion:Hormone replacement therapy and lifetime estrogen and progesterone exposure do not seem to affect IOP or the risk for increased IOP. A personal history of ischemic heart disease may be associated with a higher risk for this disorder.
Consonant And Vowel Confusion Patterns By American English Listeners

This study investigated the perception of American English phonemes by native listeners. Listeners identified either the consonant or the vowel in all possible English CV and VC syllables. The syllables were embedded in multispeaker babble at three signalto-noise ratios (0 dB, 8 dB, and 16 dB). Effects of syllable position, signal-to-noise ratio, and articulatory features on vowel and consonant identification are discussed. The results constitute the largest source of data that is currently available on phoneme confusion patterns of American English phonemes by native listeners.
The Hippocampus as a Stable Memory Allocator for Cortex

It is suggested here that mammalian hippocampus serves as an allocator of neurons in cortex for memorizing new items. A construction of a shallow feedforward network with biologically plausible parameters is given that possesses the characteristics needed for such an allocator. In particular, the construction is stabilizing in that for inputs within a range of activity levels spanning more than an order of magnitude, the output will have activity levels differing as little as 1%. It is also noise tolerant in that pairs of input patterns that differ little will generate output patterns that differ little. Further, pairs of inputs that differ by much will be mapped to outputs that also differ sufficiently that they can be treated by cortex as distinct.
APPLICATIONS OF INTENTIONAL SUPPRESSION: THE EFFECT OF SUPPRESSION ON RECOGNITION MEMORY OF ECOLOGICALLY VALID STIMULI

There are many situations in life when people try to forget information they have previously learned. It is therefore important to understand how to avoid negative memories. One method of evaluating how we actively forget, or suppress, information is to take advantage of a procedure known as the think/no-think (TNT) paradigm (Anderson and Green, 2001). In the TNT paradigm, individuals learn to associate pairs of stimuli, and must either rehearse or suppress one of the stimuli when presented with the other. The TNT paradigm allows for direct comparisons of forgetting rates of rehearsed and suppressed information. The goal of the present research was to consider the generalizability of the TNT paradigm. The first experiment involved the TNT paradigm and paired neutral words and nonverbal shapes in order to made old/new judgments and demonstrated that individuals are indeed capable of forgetting information using suppression, even when presented with the original stimuli and asked whether they have previously seen it, and even with nonverbal shapes as the stimuli. The procedure in Experiment 2 was similar to that of Experiment 1, but used neutral faces and positive, neutral, or negative words, and results indicated that individuals can use suppression to forget powerful, ecologically valid stimuli - namely, faces. This effect was most driven by instances when the cue to think about the faces was negative. Finally, the procedure for Experiment 3 mirrored that of Experiment 2, except with all neutral words and faces that varied in valence. Results demonstrated that individuals are better able to forget negative than neutral or positive faces when suppressing a neutral cue. These findings constitute a first step in a fundamentally advancing our understanding of real life forgetting experiences. The ability to forget information in difficult situations generalizes previous findings to more everyday situations. The fact that we can suppress faces implies we might be able to use suppression in real situations involving people of negative personal significance. Contrary to previous valence research, negative information was easier to suppress than neutral or positive information.
Agentes inteligentes: Recuperación autónoma de información en la Web

The problem of information retrieval in the Web can be raised from different points of view, with mechanisms like the feedback by relevance, the use of thesauri, the study of the hyperconnections, or the application of neuronal networks, among others. All these mechanisms are applied on great data bases constructed from the previous exploration of more or less broad sectors of the Web.The experience has demonstrated that the precision of these systems is low, and the recall is relativized to the explored sector. Another approach to the problem tries to obtain much more precise results, although without persecuting discharges rates of recall, and is based on the use of intelligent agents who track the network according to the informative needs of the user. The characteristics of the agents are indicated and some of the properties and desirable abilities for those agents dedicated to the information retrieval in the Web are analyzed.