Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Fibroblast-Derived SPARC on Invasiveness of Colorectal Cancer Cells

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is a matricellular protein modulating cell-matrix interactions and was found up-regulated in tumor stroma. To explore the effect of high stromal SPARC on colorectal cancer (CRC) cell behavior and clinical outcome, this study determined SPARC expression in patients suffering from stage II and III CRC using a publicly available mRNA data set and immunohistochemistry of tissue microarray sections. Moreover, in vitro co-culture models using CRC cell lines together with colon-associated fibroblasts were established to determine the effect of fibroblast-derived SPARC on cancer cells. In 466 patient samples, high SPARC mRNA was associated with a shorter disease-free survival. In 99 patients of the tissue microarray cohort, high stromal SPARC in the primary tumor was an independent predictor of shorter survival in patients with relapse (27 cases; HR = 4574, p = 0.004). In CRC cell lines, SPARC suppressed phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase and stimulated cell migration. Colon-associated fibroblasts increased migration velocity by 30% and doubled track-length in SPARC-dependent manner. In a 3D co-culture system, fibroblast-derived SPARC enhanced tumor cell invasion. Taken together, stromal SPARC had a pro-metastatic impact in vitro and was a characteristic of aggressive tumors with poor prognosis in CRC patients.
mSphere of Influence: the Wild Genetic Diversity of Our Closest Yeast Companions

Douda Bensasson uses the population genomics of model yeast species to understand how wild yeast colonize new environments, such as humans or their food. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the discovery of “Surprisingly diverged populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in natural environments remote from human activity” (Q.-M. Wang, W.-Q. Liu, G. Liti, S.-A. Wang, and F.-Y. ABSTRACT Douda Bensasson uses the population genomics of model yeast species to understand how wild yeast colonize new environments, such as humans or their food. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the discovery of “Surprisingly diverged populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in natural environments remote from human activity” (Q.-M. Wang, W.-Q. Liu, G. Liti, S.-A. Wang, and F.-Y. Bai, Mol Ecol 21:5404–5417, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05732.x) showed that a field survey and population genetic analysis of old growth forests could “unveil the hidden part of the iceberg” of natural variation in S. cerevisiae that went unnoticed for over a hundred years of yeast research.
Evaluation of lameness detection using radar sensing in ruminants

Background Lameness is a major health, welfare and production-limiting condition for the livestock industries. The current ‘gold-standard’ method of assessing lameness by visual locomotion scoring is subjective and time consuming, whereas recent technological advancements have enabled the development of alternative and more objective methods for its detection. Methods This study evaluated a novel lameness detection method using micro-Doppler radar signatures to categorise animals as lame or non-lame. Animals were visually scored by veterinarian and radar data were collected for the same animals. Results A machine learning algorithm was developed to interpret the radar signatures and provide automatic classification of the animals. Using veterinary scoring as a standard method, the classification by radar signature provided 85 per cent sensitivity and 81 per cent specificity for cattle and 96 per cent sensitivity and 94 per cent specificity for sheep. Conclusion This radar sensing method shows promise for the development of a highly functional, rapid and reliable recognition tool of lame animals, which could be integrated into automatic, on-farm systems for sheep and cattle.
Effects of Nutrition Education on General Health and Nutrition Status of Pregnant Women

Nutrition education improves maternal nutrition and reduces the risk of poor health outcomes in both mothers and their children. The relationship between maternal nutrition education and mother's nutritional knowledge score, dietary habits, food consumption and health status (hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood pressure and body weight gain) were the subject of investigation in this study. This study has been conducted by random sampling on 150 low income pregnant women between the ages of 18-35, in intervention and control groups. Data was collected at an initial interview and again at a final interview after two nutrition education programs.There were significant increases in the nutritional knowledge score and mean intake of calcium, iron, vitamin A and weight gain in the intervention group (p<0.05),also increases on mean intake of energy, protein and vitamin C. Hemoglobin and hematocrit levels in the intervention group did not appear to be influenced by the nutrition education. The results indicate that nutrition counseling during pregnancy can improve dietary intake and maternal weight gain.
MAPK Erk5 in leptin receptor-expressing neurons controls body weight and systemic energy homeostasis in female mice.

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (Erk5), a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, is specifically phosphorylated and activated by MAPK/Erk kinase-5 (Mek5). Although it has been implicated in odour discrimination and long-term memory via its expression in central nervous system, little is known regarding the physiological importance of neuronal Erk5 in body weight and energy homeostasis. In the present study, systemic insulin injection significantly induced phosphorylation of Erk5 in the hypothalamus. Moreover, Erk5 deficiency in leptin receptor (LepR)-expressing neurons led to an obesity phenotype, with an increased white adipose tissue mass due to increased adipocyte size only in female mice fed a normal chow diet. Furthermore, Erk5 deficiency in LepR-expressing neurons showed impaired glucose tolerance along with decreased physical activity, food intake and energy expenditure. These results suggest that Erk5 controls body weight and systemic energy homeostasis probably via its expression in hypothalamic neurons in female mice, thereby providing a novel target for metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Assessment and Intervention on Coping Strategies of School Dropouts: A Case Study of Distt. U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand India

Stress is an inevitable part of human life. Every individual encounters different level of stress and has a tendency to develop unique style to respond and cope with it. Dropping out of school is one such stressful event. Despite universalisation of elementary education in India, there are still a significant number of school dropouts in the country. Hence, the research team of Child Development Unit of All India Coordinated Research Project, Pantnagar conducted a study to study the coping strategies used by school dropouts. It also implemented group interventions for the promotion of effective coping strategies. The study included a sample of 52 school dropout adolescents from four purposively selected villages of Distt. Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. Standardized scales were used for identifying their coping strategies. School dropouts were seen to usually avoid the stressor to reduce its impact. Rarely did they go for understanding the problem and working for more converting it into a challenge to accept and win over. Post intervention there was significant shift in their coping strategies. It led to significant increase in practice of coping styles like logical analysis, positive appraisal, seek guidance & support, problem solving and significant decline in the use of coping strategies like cognitive avoidance, acceptance, seek alternative rewards, emotional discharge post intervention.
Gender-Specific Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Differences in Adolescents Smoking Cigarettes, Waterpipes or Both

Abstract Background: The effect of concurrent cigarette and waterpipe (i.e. both) smoking on cardiovascular function is still a scarce, especially among adolescents. Objective: Therefore, the study aimed at comparing cardiovascular measures among adolescents smoking cigarettes, waterpipe, or both, versus never smoking. Methods: Self-reported smoking status and cardiovascular measures were obtained from 771 boys (n = 475) and girls (n = 296) in the 7th–10th grade. Results: Stepwise regression showed that smoking explained (p < .05) 4.8% of heart rate, 6.1% of diastolic blood pressure, 3.9% of mean arterial pressure, 2.8% of pulse pressure, and 4.0% of rate pressure products. The gender-stratified one-way (4 smoking group) ANCOVA revealed greater (p < .05) heart rate and diminished (p < .05) diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and rate pressure product in the boys smoking cigarettes, waterpipe, or both versus the ones never smoked, but not in the girls. No differences (p > .05) were found between the smoking groups (cigarettes, waterpipe, versus both). Conclusions: The study indicates that cardiovascular measures are equally altered among the boys, but not the girls, smoking cigarettes, waterpipe, or both as compared to the ones never smoked.
A Brief Overview of lncRNAs in Endothelial Dysfunction-Associated Diseases: From Discovery to Characterization

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a novel class of regulatory RNA molecules and they are involved in many biological processes and disease developments. Several unique features of lncRNAs have been identified, such as tissue-and/or cell-specific expression pattern, which suggest that they could be potential candidates for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. More recently, the scope of lncRNA studies has been extended to endothelial biology research. Many of lncRNAs were found to be critically involved in the regulation of endothelial function and its associated disease progression. An improved understanding of endothelial biology can thus facilitate the discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for endothelial dysfunction-associated diseases, such as abnormal angiogenesis, hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism of lncRNA remains undefined in previous published studies. Therefore, in this review, we aimed to discuss the current methodologies for discovering and investigating the functions of lncRNAs and, in particular, to address the functions of selected lncRNAs in endothelial dysfunction-associated diseases.
A Face Alignment Accelerator Based on Optimized Coarse-to-Fine Shape Searching

The coarse-to-fine shape searching (CFSS) framework is a recently developed algorithm that achieves relatively high accuracy in face alignment by alleviating the poor initialization problem facing traditional cascaded regression approaches. However, its high computational complexity and memory access demands make it difficult for CFSS to satisfy the requirements of real-time processing. To address this issue, a fast shape searching face alignment (F-SSFA) accelerator is presented based on the optimization of the CFSS algorithm and an efficient hardware implementation. First, the learning-based low-dimensional speeded-up robust features method, based on the correlations between the SURF features and the regression targets, is introduced to distill the feature set down to the only most distinct features to reduce the computing load. Second, the partial keypoints Euclidean distance and shape affine transformation are introduced to replace feature extraction and support vector machine classification, thereby accelerating the shape searching process. Compared with CFSS, F-SSFA achieves a $5.8\times $ speedup while achieving similar accuracy. Moreover, a VLSI architecture is proposed to realize the fixed-point F-SSFA algorithm. Multiple descriptors located in adjacent regions are simultaneously generated in a single access to the corresponding image data. Therefore, repeated memory access operations are avoided. The optimal parameter configuration for hardware implementation is also exploited based on a tradeoff between accuracy and hardware performance. Simulated with TSMC 65-nm 1P8M technology within a 3.6 mm2 area, a post-layout simulation shows that 700 fps can be achieved while consuming 300 mW at 200 MHz.
The Relationship Between Exogenous Exposure to “The Real Cost” Anti-Smoking Campaign and Campaign-Targeted Beliefs

Though previous evaluations of “The Real Cost” anti-smoking campaign demonstrate effects on anti-smoking beliefs and behaviors, results rely on self-reported recall as a measure of exposure and are thus open to reverse causation concerns. Exogenous measures of exposure, assessed independently of outcomes, support stronger causal inferences. In this study, we examined the relationship between Target Rating Points (TRPs) for specific ads available over four-week periods and anti-smoking beliefs in a national sample of adolescent nonsmokers and experimenters (n = 4,780). Results demonstrate positive relationships between TRPs for ads targeting two of four belief categories tested (Control and Chemical; p < .05) and targeted-belief endorsement. Furthermore, moderation models indicate that ad-specific TRPs affected targeted beliefs more than non-targeted beliefs for those Control- and Chemical-targeted ads (p < .01). Findings support a claim of campaign effects while reducing concerns about reverse causal direction and the influence of unmeasured confounders.
Comparing forecasts of ARMAs and ANNs on OMXS30. Examining from a economic and statistical point of view.

Forecasting is of great importance within economics and a vast number of papers have been published on financial forecasting. One of the most used forecasting models in economics is the autoregressive moving average (ARMA). This study compares the ARMA models to artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANNs have proven to be successful in other fields and have increased in popularity with the increase of computing power in recent times. The study includes six different versions of the ARMA model and three different ANNs. These models are examined using statistical and economical measures in order to determine their forecasting performance. The study shows a discrepancy between these two types of performance measures and also shows the difficulty of evaluating a forecast from a financial perspective. The results are inconclusive and dependent on the purpose of the evaluation.
PENGARUH QUALITY OF WORK LIFE DAN SELF DETERMINATION TERHADAP WORK ENGAGEMENT KARYAWAN (Studi pada PT. Pasific Eastern Coconut Utama Pangandaran)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh Quality of work life dan Self determinatn terhadap Work engagement karyawan pada PT. Pasific Eastern Coconut Utama Pangandaran . Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode penelitian deskriptif kuantitatif dengan sampel sebanyak 87 orang . Sedangkan alat analisis data yang digunakan adalah analisis statistik yang terdiri dari analisis regresi, koefisien korelasi, koefisien determinasi, uji statistik t, dan uji statistik f. Hasil dari penelitian dan pengolahan data menunjukkan bahwa: 1] Quality of work life berpengaruh terhadap work engagement ; 2] Se lf determination berpengaruh terhadap Work engagement ; 3] Quality of work life dan Se lf determination berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap Work engagement.
Advances in Preclinical Models of Small Cell Lung Cancer

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an invasive and high-grade neuroendocrine malignant tumor. It is characterized by short doubling time, high proliferation rate, and early extensive metastasis. SCLC is sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the initial stage; however, it can easily relapse and develop drug resistance. In the past five years, there has been a resurgence of research on SCLC worldwide, including the establishment of SCLC cells, the development of related genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) and the establishment of patient-derived xenograft models (PDXs). These studies have identified new potential therapeutic vulnerabilities for SCLC, leading to new clinical trials. In this perspective, the establishment, application, and advantages and disadvantages of three preclinical research models of SCLC are systematically summarized.
Effect of vegetable juice consumption prior to eating rice on postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels

Vegetable juice has been demonstrated to attenuate the elevation of postprandial blood glucose when consumed prior to meals. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of pre-meal consumption of vegetable juice on blood glucose and insulin levels. A total of 10 healthy volunteers aged 20–29 years ingested 200 ml of either water, a sugar solution with the same sugar composition as the vegetable juice or vegetable juice 30 min prior to consuming the cooked rice, and their blood glucose and insulin levels were measured. At the time of rice consumption and 15 min thereafter, blood glucose and plasma insulin levels tended to be lower in the vegetable juice intake group compared with those in the sugar solution intake group. However, there were no significant differences in the kinetic parameters (incremental area under the glucose curve and maximum change in glucose concentration) between these two groups. These results suggest that the sugars contained in vegetable juice account for the suppression of postprandial hyperglycemia.
Nonrational Belief Paradoxes as Byzantine Failures

David Christensen and others argue that Dutch Strategies are more like peer disagreements than Dutch Books, and should not count against agents‘ conformity to ideal rationality. I review these arguments, then show that Dutch Books, Dutch Strategies, and peer disagreements are only possible in the case of what computer scientists call Byzantine Failures—uncorrected Byzantine Faults which update arbitrary values. Yet such Byzantine Failures make agents equally vulnerable to all three kinds of epistemic inconsistencies, so there is no principled basis for claiming that only avoidance of true Dutch Books characterizes ideally rational agents. Agents without Byzantine Failures can be ideally rational in a very strong sense, but are not normative for humans.
Kepemimpinan Pesantren dan Perubahan Sosial

Tulisan ini akan melihat pesantren sebagai lembaga pendidikan indegenious dari sudut pandang kepemimpinan. Sejatinya, penelitian tentang hal tersebut sudah lazim dilakukan. Tetapi koneksi antara kepemimpinan dengan perubahan sosial di dalam pesantren tidak banyak dilakukan, karena sejak awal pesantren selalu melakukan perubahan dengan sangat selektif dan adaptif. Selain itu, acapkali perubahan kepemimpinan di pesantren menyebabkan disparitas baru antara pesantren dengan pemangku kepentingan yang lain. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini menyebutkan bahwa seorang pemimpin di pesantren harus menerapkan the spiritual leadership yang secara garis besar adalah berkenaan dengan upaya konsolidasi dengan niat yang suci yaitu dengan memulai dari niat diri sendiri, membangun niat secara bersama, mempertahankan niat, budaya organisasi, membangun persaudaraan dan kolaborasi serta membangun integritas yaitu dengan cara membangun integritas budaya organisasi yang sehat.
Nahrungsergänzungsmittel und „Lifestyle“

Zusammenfassung Aktuell ist eine Therapie der nicht exsudativen altersabhängigen Makuladegeneration (AMD) – im Gegensatz zu der exsudativen Form – nicht möglich. Eine präventive Wirkung und ein verlangsamtes Fortschreiten der Erkrankung erhoffen sich viele Betroffene von den sich auf dem Markt befindenden Nahrungsergänzungsmitteln. Die darin enthaltenen Stoffe sollen das oxidative Milieu im Bereich der äußeren Netzhaut reduzieren und so den Zellschaden und damit die Progression der AMD verlangsamen. Die ARED-Studien (ARED: Age-Related Eye Disease) untersuchten bestimmte dieser Nahrungsergänzungsmittel auf ihre Wirksamkeit, das Risiko des Fortschreitens der AMD in die Spätformen zu vermindern. Sie sind die einzigen interventionellen groß angelegten, prospektiven, randomisierten und kontrollierten klinischen Studien und werden immer wieder als Basis für die Nahrungsergänzung bei der AMD herangezogen. In diesem Artikel soll die Rationale für die Verwendung bestimmter Inhaltsstoffe der AREDS-Nahrungsergänzungsmittel besprochen und die Ergebnisse der ARED-Studien kritisch beleuchtet werden. Weiterhin soll der moderne Begriff des „Lifestyle“ im Kontext der AMD als weitere Möglichkeit der Einflussnahme jedes Einzelnen auf die Progression der Erkrankung thematisiert und diskutiert werden.
The art of good neighboring in Kampoeng Cyber: Community economic development through ICTs

ABSTRACT In this exploratory paper, we examine how a community in Indonesia, Kampoeng Cyber, leverages Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) to support its social and community development. We describe the various technology-related activities and their impact on the transformation of the community that led to improvements in the quality of life of the community members. We interviewed thirteen of the community members and made direct observations of the community, its website, and social media accounts used by the community members. Textual analysis of the data revealed that the ICTs play a significant role in helping the community members to develop themselves in terms of both economic development and social tie maintenance. Our results suggest that government policies dealing with urban development may need to have a more explicit focus related to ICT use and community empowerment. We contribute to an enhanced understanding of ICT-based initiatives that strengthen the local community through participation.
A dependable and secure approach for secret key establishment and operation in automotive CPS

Modern automobiles incorporate a network of electronic control units (ECUs) that provides a range of features such as safety, driver assistance, infotainment. Such network of ECUs in a vehicle are connected to each other through buses, forming interconnections called intra-vehicle network. Bus technologies that are widely used in modern day automobiles are controller area network (CAN), local interconnect network (LIN), and media oriented systems transport (MOST). These bus technologies, however, do not possess any security or dependability features, and thus are susceptible to vulnerabilities. Such vulnerabilities allow attackers to mount passive attacks (e.g., snooping) and/or active attacks (e.g., fault injection). In this study, we propose a scheme for secure authentication of automotive ECUs. Our proposed scheme ensures that only authenticated ECUs can participate in communication over the intra-vehicle network/bus. ECU authentication is carried out using certificate-based authentication which is implemented using elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). The study also proposes a symmetric (session) key-establishment mechanism within intra-vehicular network to establish a common symmetric (session) key for all ECUs to communicate over the network. The key-establishment mechanism removes the need of storing symmetric keys in ECU memory permanently. The study incorporates key refreshment by assigning a certain lifetime/timeframe period to symmetric (session) key and then regularly updates session key after the expiration of each lifetime. Our proposed method provides confidentiality and integrity in intra-vehicle ECU communication without violating safety and real-time constraints of the vehicle. Our approach leverages multi-core ECUs to provide fault-tolerance by using redundant multi-threading (FT-RMT), performs quick error detection (FT-QED) and accelerate performance using lightweight checkpointing (CP).