Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resonant micro-cantilever chemical sensor with one-step synthesis of -COOH functionalized mesoporous-silica nanoparticles for detection of trace-level organophosphorus pesticide

Carboxylic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (CF-MSNs) with ultra-high specific surface area are synthesized successfully as sensing material. With the CF-MSNs sensing material loaded onto our lab-made resonant micro-cantilever, which is with both resonance-exciting and self-sensing elements integrated, a new micro-gravimetric organophosphate (OP) sensor is developed. The sensor shows satisfactory detection limit of hundreds of ppb (parts-per-billion) to acephate vapor in air.
Caffeine Consumption Patterns and Beliefs of College Freshmen

Abstract Background: Caffeine consumption by young people has increased dramatically over the last decade through increased coffee consumption and “energy drinks. ” In higher amounts, caffeine causes many adverse effects that are cause for concern. Purpose: Purposes of this study were to determine: (1) the amount of caffeine consumed by a sample of college students, (2) beliefs regarding caffeine consumption, (3) reported perceived benefits and adverse effects of caffeine consumption, (4) reasons for consuming caffeine, and (5) predictors of caffeine consumption. Methods: An anonymous survey was administered 300 freshmen attending a southeastern university. Results: Eighty-three percent of the students reported having at least one sign/symptom of caffeine intoxication in the past; 51% reported having at least one sign/symptom of caffeine withdrawal. Students consumed three to five times the recommended amount of caffeine. Father's social index, participation in organized activity in college and three alertness items (concentration, keep awake, wake up) were significant predictors of caffeine consumption. Discussion: Students ingested caffeine at levels that could cause negative health effects and seemed unaware of the total amount of caffeine consumed. Translation to Health Education Practice: More information about caffeine should be incorporated into health education at all levels, so students can identify and avoid negative effects along with caffeine withdrawal and addiction.
HORMONAL TREATMENT OF UNDESCENDED TESTES AND IMMUNOGENIC PROPERTIES OF HCG

Although human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) has been widely employed in pediatrics for the treatment of undescended testes, its use is subject to criticism. One of the possible disadvantages may be the hazard of inducing antibodies, which could crossreact with endogenous pituitary gonadotrophins (8) and thus disturb the development of the testes. HCG is a potent antigen in rabbits or guinea pigs. From the timing of HCG injections for the treatment of undescended testes an immunisation could easily be expected. I t is surprising that investigations on anti-HCG antibodies in humans have not been reported; all the more so since antibodies against Insulin, HGH, TSH, Neurophysin, Glucagon, ACTH and even synthetic corticotrophin (4) have been demonstrated in patients. By the presence of such antibodies the biological actions of the respective hormones may be unaffected, blocked or prolonged. In animals, atrophy of the testes was observed after induction of anti-LH-antibodies (6).
Is Hering's law as important in congenital blepharoptosis as in acquired ptosis?

BACKGROUND Although Hering's law has significant importance in the planning and outcomes of eyelid surgery, it has not been applied in all cases of ptosis. OBJECTIVES The authors evaluate whether cases of unilateral congenital ptosis require surgery on the contralateral eyelid, in keeping with Hering's law. METHODS The records of 35 consecutive patients with unilateral congenital ptosis who had surgical repair between 2007 and 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent either levator resection or frontalis sling surgery. Preoperative and postoperative clinical documents and photographs were evaluated for each case, including preoperative Hering's dependence and postoperative measurements of the change in position of the nonoperated eyelid. RESULTS There were 19 women and 16 men, and the average patient age was 9.7 ± 10 years. The mean preoperative levator function and marginal reflex distance were 6.7 ± 4.7 mm and 0.3 ± 0.47 mm, respectively. There were significant differences in age, preoperative levator function, and marginal reflex distance between patients who underwent levator resection and those who had frontalis sling surgery. In all patients, the preoperative Hering's dependence of eyelid position did not show any decrease, and the position of the contralateral eyelid postoperatively did not differ from the baseline position. CONCLUSIONS This research shows that Hering's law does not apply to cases of congenital ptosis. This is likely due to the fibrotic levator palpebrae muscle and its special innervations. Thus, it is not necessary to perform levator resection or a frontalis sling operation on the unaffected eyelid.
Evolution of influenza A virus nucleoprotein genes: implications for the origins of H1N1 human and classical swine viruses

A phylogenetic analysis of 52 published and 37 new nucleoprotein (NP) gene sequences addressed the evolution and origin of human and swine influenza A viruses. H1N1 human and classical swine viruses (i.e., those related to Swine/Iowa/15/30) share a single common ancestor, which was estimated to have occurred in 1912 to 1913. From this common ancestor, human and classical swine virus NP genes have evolved at similar rates that are higher than in avian virus NP genes (3.31 to 3.41 versus 1.90 nucleotide changes per year). At the protein level, human virus NPs have evolved twice as fast as classical swine virus NPs (0.66 versus 0.34 amino acid change per year). Despite evidence of frequent interspecies transmission of human and classical swine viruses, our analysis indicates that these viruses have evolved independently since well before the first isolates in the early 1930s. Although our analysis cannot reveal the original host, the ancestor virus was avianlike, showing only five amino acid differences from the root of the avian virus NP lineage. The common pattern of relationship and origin for the NP and other genes of H1N1 human and classical swine viruses suggests that the common ancestor was an avian virus and not a reassortant derived from previous human or swine influenza A viruses. The new avianlike H1N1 swine viruses in Europe may provide a model for the evolution of newly introduced avian viruses into the swine host reservoir. The NPs of these viruses are evolving more rapidly than those of human or classical swine viruses (4.50 nucleotide changes and 0.74 amino acid change per year), and when these rates are applied to pre-1930s human and classical swine virus NPs, the predicted date of a common ancestor is 1918 rather than 1912 to 1913. Thus, our NP phylogeny is consistent with historical records and the proposal that a short time before 1918, a new H1N1 avianlike virus entered human or swine hosts (O. T. Gorman, R. O. Donis, Y. Kawaoka, and R. G. Webster, J. Virol. 64:4893-4902, 1990). This virus provided the ancestors of all known human influenza A virus genes, except for HA, NA, and PB1, which have since been reassorted from avian viruses. We propose that during 1918 a virulent strain of this new avianlike virus caused a severe human influenza pandemic and that the pandemic virus was introduced into North American swine populations, constituting the origin of classical swine virus.
Shape-controlled metal nanoparticles for electrocatalytic applications

Abstract The application of shape-controlled metal nanoparticles is profoundly impacting the field of electrocatalysis. On the one hand, their use has remarkably enhanced the electrocatalytic activity of many different reactions of interest. On the other hand, their usage is deeply contributing to a correct understanding of the correlations between shape/surface structure and electrochemical reactivity at the nanoscale. However, from the point of view of an electrochemist, there are a number of questions that must be fully satisfied before the evaluation of the shaped metal nanoparticles as electrocatalysts including (i) surface cleaning, (ii) surface structure characterization, and (iii) correlations between particle shape and surface structure. In this chapter, we will cover all these aspects. Initially, we will collect and discuss about the different practical protocols and procedures for obtaining clean shaped metal nanoparticles. This is an indispensable requirement for the establishment of correct correlations between shape/surface structure and electrochemical reactivity. Next, we will also report how some easy-to-do electrochemical experiments including their subsequent analyses can enormously contribute to a detailed characterization of the surface structure of the shaped metal nanoparticles. At this point, we will remark that the key point determining the resulting electrocatalytic activity is the surface structure of the nanoparticles (obviously, the atomic composition is also extremely relevant) but not the particle shape. Finally, we will summarize some of the most significant advances/results on the use of these shaped metal nanoparticles in electrocatalysis covering a wide range of electrocatalytic reactions including fuel cell-related reactions (electrooxidation of formic acid, methanol and ethanol and oxygen reduction) and also CO2 electroreduction. Graphical Abstract:
Macromolecular composition of stress fiber-plasma membrane attachment sites in endothelial cells in situ.

Stress fibers (SFs) are present along the apical (apical SF) and the basal (basal SF) portions of cultured cells. We have recently shown that apical SFs are anchored to the apical plasma membrane (PM) in a manner similar to how basal SFs are attached to focal adhesion sites. We propose calling such apical SF-membrane attachment sites "apical plaques. " To study the macromolecular composition of the apical plaque and the focal adhesion in endothelial cells (ECs) in situ, we examined by confocal laser scanning and fluorescence microscopy guinea pig aortae stained with various antibodies against focal adhesion-associated proteins. Basal SFs oriented parallel to the blood flow direction were mainly located in the upstream half of the cell. Thin apical SFs were also observed. Spotty staining patterns were observed in the basal and the apical portions of cells stained with anti-vinculin, anti-talin, anti-paxillin, or anti-fibronectin receptor, indicating the presence of focal adhesions and apical plaques in ECs in situ. Although fibronectin receptors were present in the apical plaque, fibronectin was not detected on the apical cell surface. Our data suggest that the molecules responsible for the SF-PM association are the same between in vitro and in situ cells. Our results appear to support a hypothesis that the SF system is involved in sensing and/or signal transduction of fluid mechanical forces.
The Best and the Brightest

: «the best and the brightest»? Economic incentives and recruitment to doctoral degrees in Norway. In recent deca-des, a strong increase in the number of peo-ple enrolled in higher education in Norway has taken place despite low economic returns to schooling in Norway. The increase in the number of doctoral degrees has been particularly strong. In this article we focus on two issues: ﬁrst, the economic returns to a doctoral degree, and, second, how these returns (low or even negative) have affected recruitment to doctoral stu-dies. A data set of nearly all graduates in ﬁve major educational ﬁelds from Norwegian universities from the early 1980s until 1996 was used, and the data analysed by means of median regression (wage and income data) and logistic regression for discrete time event history data (attainment of doctoral degrees). There are negative income effects of doctoral degrees in medicine, mathema-tics and natural sciences, and engineering, and positive but not particularly strong effects in the humanities and social sciences. There is no evidence that these different economic returns have had signiﬁcant effects on recruitment patterns. There is, for instance, a strong positive effect of university grades in all ﬁve educational ﬁelds. Thus, the negative economic returns in some ﬁelds do not seem to have had strong negative effects on the quality of recruits.
From IPOs to ICOs: The Impact of Blockchain Technology on Financial Regulation

In this paper, by comparing initial public offerings (IPOs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs), we study the impact of blockchain technology on financial regulation. After an initial study of the underlying principles driving both processes, we establish an extensive typology of ICOs and present some of their specific functions relative to IPOs. We then focus on the notion of functional equivalence as it applies to the technology to analyse whether the use of blockchain technology in the context of an ICO can provide the necessary technical guarantees to ensure that fundamental principles and functions of the IPO process are properly verified and performed. Lastly, by assessing current regulatory frameworks, with a focus on Europe and the U.S., we provide a set of guidelines for a possible regulatory framework for ICOs, using France as a case study.
A cautionary note on the impact of protocol changes for Genome-Wide 1 Association SNP x SNP Interaction studies : an example on ankylosing 2 spondylitis 3 4

Genome-wide association interaction (GWAI) studies have increased in popularity. Yet to date, no 13 standard protocol exists. In practice, any GWAI workflow involves making choices about quality control strategy, 14 SNP filtering, linkage disequilibrium (LD) pruning, analytic tool to model or to test for genetic interactions. Each of 15 these can have an impact on the final epistasis findings and may affect their reproducibility in follow-up analyses. 16 Choosing an analytic tool is not straightforward, as different such tools exist and current understanding about their 17 performance is based on often very particular simulation settings. In the present study, we wish to create awareness 18 for the impact of (minor) changes in a GWAI analysis protocol can have on final epistasis findings. In particular, we 19 investigate the influence of marker selection and marker prioritization strategies, LD pruning and the choice of 20 epistasis detection analytics on study results, giving rise to 8 GWAI protocols. Discussions are made in the context 21 of the ankylosing spondylitis (AS) data obtained via the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC2). As 22 expected, the largest impact on AS epistasis findings is caused by the choice of marker selection criterion, followed 23 by marker coding and LD pruning. In MB-MDR, co-dominant coding of main effects is more robust to the effects of 24 LD pruning than additive coding. We were able to reproduce previously reported epistasis involvement of HLA-B 25 and ERAP1 in AS pathology. In addition, our results suggest involvement of MAGI3 and PARK2, responsible for cell 26 adhesion and cellular trafficking. Gene Ontology (GO) biological function enrichment analysis across the 8 27 considered GWAI protocols also suggested that AS could be associated to the Central Nervous System (CNS) 28 malfunctions, specifically, in nerve impulse propagation and in neurotransmitters metabolic processes. 29 30 31
A subspace-based direction finding algorithm using fractional lower order statistics

We propose several classes of fractional lower order moment (FLOM)-based matrices that can be used with MUSIC to estimate the DOAs of independent circular signals embedded in additive S/spl alpha/S (symmetric /spl alpha/ stable) noise (e.g., sea clutter). We run simulations with different choices of the FLOM parameter p for our FLOM-based matrices and conclude that when the noise is S/spl alpha/S with unknown /spl alpha//spl ne/2, FLOM-multiple signal classification (MUSIC) with p close to unity yields good performance. The performance of FLOM-MUSIC and robust covariation-based (ROC)-MUSIC are similar. Three scenarios that contain circular signals (phase modulation (PM), circularly symmetrical Gaussian, and quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK)) and one scenario that contains noncircular signals (binary phase-shift keying (BPSK)), all embedded in the same S/spl alpha/S noise, are tested. These simulation results reveal that the scenario containing BPSK signals leads to poor performance, indicating that FLOM-MUSIC is presently limited to circular signals.
The impact of the codelivery of drug-siRNA by trimethyl chitosan nanoparticles on the efficacy of chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231)

Abstract High-mobility group protein two (HMGA2), a nonhistone nuclear-binding protein and its downregulators; vimentin, matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9), and E-cadherin are shown to contribute to tumor progression and metastasis. Thus, in this study, we checked simultaneous delivery of HMGA-2 siRNA and the anticancer drug doxorubicin to enhance the anticancer treatment effects. For this purpose, we used MTT assay and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Our results showed that dual delivery of Dox and HMGA-2 siRNA by trimethyl chitosan (TMC) significantly inhibited breast cancer cells growth. Additionally, the delivery of siRNA significantly silenced HMGA-2, vimentin, and MMP9 mRNAs, but led to overexpression of E-cadherin mRNA.
Detecting and Classifying Android Malware Using Static Analysis along with Creator Information

Thousands of malicious applications targeting mobile devices, including the popular Android platform, are created every day. A large number of those applications are created by a small number of professional underground actors; however previous studies overlooked such information as a feature in detecting and classifying malware and in attributing malware to creators. Guided by this insight, we propose a method to improve the performance of Android malware detection by incorporating the creator's information as a feature and classify malicious applications into similar groups. We developed a system that implements this method in practice. Our system enables fast detection of malware by using creator information such as serial number of certificate. Additionally, it analyzes malicious behaviors and permissions to increase detection accuracy. The system also can classify malware based on similarity scoring. Finally, we showed detection and classification performance with 98% and 90% accuracy, respectively.
Identifying opportunities to address the congestive heart failure burden: the Improving Cardiovascular Outcomes in Nova Scotia (ICONS) study.

BACKGROUND Medical, social and economic costs of congestive heart failure (CHF) continue to rise. There exists a 'care gap' between what the optimal care populations with CHF should receive and actually do receive. Central to the goal to develop effective strategies against the 'care gap' is accurate measurement of the CHF burden. Administrative data are limited in detail and accuracy and clinical databases suffer from limited size. Improving Cardiovascular Outcomes in Nova Scotia (ICONS) is a province-wide population-based disease management study with access to all patient health data including outcomes. METHODS Medical records of all patients admitted to any Nova Scotia health care institution with a cardiovascular disorder were prospectively examined by trained abstractors. Patients were followed up and health outcomes measured through assignment of unique identifier numbers and linkage with Vital Statistics Nova Scotia. This report summarizes baseline data for the population admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of CHF between October 15, 1997 and October 14, 1998. RESULTS There were 2637 unique patients enrolled with 3547 hospitalizations. The median length of stay was eight days, with in-hospital mortality of 18.2%; 10.8% were discharged to long term care. The mortality rate was 38.7% at 12 months and the rehospitalization rate was 39.9%. Average age was 75 +/- 10 years (median 76) and 52% were female. There were 4.5 comorbidities per patient. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured in fewer than 40%; of these, fewer than 39% had a documented ejection fraction less than 40%. At discharge, 61.3% of survivors were prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, 6.0% angiotensin blockers, 42.1% beta-blockers, 75.6% diuretics, 26.1% calcium channel blockers and 19.3% warfarin. Females were older and had lower rate of LVEF testing and ACE and warfarin usage. CONCLUSION The burden of disease for CHF in Nova Scotia is large and affects an elderly population with multiple comorbidities. Adverse outcomes such as death, rehospitalization and admission to a chronic care facility are common. Measurement of the 'care gap' requires consideration of these factors and of elderly and female patients regardless of left ventricular function. Successful strategies will likely be multidisciplinary in scope with a focus toward improving access to care.
Locomotion and its Recovery after Spinal Injury in Animal Models

• A number of animal studies performed in recent years on the pathophysiology of spinal lesions have raised real hopes in spinal-cord-injured (SCI) patients and also in the health care community because animals can express residual sensory-motor capabilities such as locomotion and can even be trained to improve these functions after spinal lesions. • These hopes are based on new results obtained with physiological, pharmacological, neurobiological, engineering, as well as rehabilitation approaches. • The aim of this syllabus is only to guide those interested to consult the literature on the subject in more detail. For general reviews on locomotion, the reader is referred to (Grillner 1981; Rossignol 1996) or a book (Orlovsky and others 1999). • For reviews on spinal mechanisms after spinal injury, one can consult a book on the neurobiology of spinal cord injury (Kalb and Strittmatter 2000), or the special issue of J. Physiology (Vol. 533, 2001) based on a symposium organized by A. Prochazka and V. Mushahwar in honor of E. Jankowska. One should also expect the publications of the proceedings of 2 symposia: one in Progress in Brain Research, containing the proceedings of the 2001 Montreal Symposium (Spinal Cord Trauma: Neural Repair and Functional Recovery) organized by L. McKerracher, S. Rossignol, and G. Doucet; and the other in Brain Research Reviews, based on a symposium entitled Principles of Spinal Cord Function, Plasticity and Repair, which was organized in 2001 in Sweden (Ystad) by J. Shouenbourg, O. Kiehn, S. Grillner, H. Hultborn, and M. Garwicz. The Spinal Cat