Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment and monitoring of glycemic control in children and adolescents with diabetes

Measurement of immediate glycemic control is best determined by self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) as this provides immediate documentation of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, allowing implementation of strategies to optimally treat, as well as to avoid, out of range glucose values. Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is the only measure of glycemic control for which robust outcome data are available. Elevated HbA1c predicts long-term microvascular and macrovascular outcomes (1, 2) (A). However, HbA1c has limitations as a measure of glycemic control, i.e., average blood glucose (BG). In the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), the same averageHbA1c conferred significantly higher risk of microvascular complications (4) and hypoglycemia (5) in the conventionally treated patients vs. intensively treated patients. HbA1c of 7.0% corresponded also to a higher average BG (measured seven times a day) of 192 mg/dL in the conventionally treated patients vs. 163 mg/dL in the intensively treated patients (6). HbA1c can only be one of the several measures of optimal glycemic control, along with documented hypoglycemia, type of treatment, patient’s age, and quality of life. The DCCT, and similar studies, provides clear evidence in adults and adolescents that better metabolic control, as measured by a lower HbA1c level, is associated with fewer and delayed microvascular complications (1, 2, 7–15). The DCCT also showed that patients in the intensive treatment group had less risk of retinopathy than the conventional group even when having the same HbA1c (4). Additional studies have shown that frequent and accurate BG monitoring and
How much can data on days with heavy drinking decrease the underestimation of true alcohol consumption?

An adjusted quantity-frequency method, with questions on occasions with heavy drinking, was used to estimate the consumption of alcohol during the last 30 days. The purpose was to analyze if it was possible to decrease the underestimation of true alcohol consumption. The questionnaire was mailed to a randomized sample of 1,500 individuals, 20-75 years of age, living in the city of Malmö, Sweden; 930 persons (64.3%) participated. Data on alcohol consumption were validated by comparison to sales of alcohol for the city of Malmö. The estimated per capita consumption of alcohol in the population was equivalent to 77.0% of the registered sale of alcohol in Malmö. By adding days with heavy drinking, the estimated weekly per capita consumption of alcohol among the alcohol consumers increased from 74.5 grams to 77.1 grams (+3.5%; p < .001). Of the alcohol consumers, 15.1% increased their reported consumption. In order to decrease even more the underestimation of the true alcohol consumption, we suggest the use of questions about any alcohol consumption that deviates from the typical consumption of each individual.
Using Conceptual Spaces to Model Actions and Events

Actions and events are central to a semantics of natural language. In this article, we present a cognitively based model of these notions. After giving a general presentation of the theory of conceptual spaces, we explain how the analysis of perceptual concepts can be extended to actions and events. First, we argue that action space can be analyzed in the same way as, for example, colour space or shape space. Our hypothesis is that the categorization of actions depends, to a large extent, on the perception of forces. In line with this, we describe an action as a pattern of forces. We identify an action category as a convex region of action space. We review some indirect evidence for this representation. Second, we represent an event as an interaction between a force vector and a result vector. Typically an agent performs an action-that is, exerts a force-that changes the properties of the patient. Such a model of events is suitable for an analysis of the semantics of verbs. We compare the model to other related attempts from cognitive semantics. (Less)
Efficient optimization of the ambiguity functions of multi-static radar waveforms

This paper deals with the local optimization of the periodic or aperiodic ambiguity functions of a set of complex sequences by using a gradient method. This optimization aims to locally minimize the cross-ambiguity and the auto-ambiguity functions of a family of sequences for Multi-Static Primary Surveillance Radar (MSPSR) systems. The optimization of the ambiguity functions is done by an optimized gradient. An extension is also presented for controlling both the spectrum and the ambiguity functions.
Harmonic signal detection based magnetic nanoparticle imaging system for breast cancer diagnosis

An imaging method based on the second harmonic (Bs2) signal detection from the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) has been developed to be applied for the Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) detection during the breast cancer diagnosis. SLN can be detected by measuring the magnetic field signal of the injected MNPs tracer inside the body, instead of the conventional methods such as radioisotopes and/or blue dye tracers. The position and amount of MNPs accumulated at the SLNs are determined based on the magnetic field map measurement. The developed system can detect until 100-μg MS1 type-MNP sample located at a depth of 30 mm from the detection coil. Future improvements on the system and MNPs selection could further increase the detection sensitivity. MNPs that are accumulated at the deeper position under the body’s surface can be detected and distinguished with higher spatial resolution.
Impaired NK Cell Activation and Chemotaxis toward Dendritic Cells Exposed to Complement-Opsonized HIV-1

Mucosa resident dendritic cells (DCs) may represent one of the first immune cells that HIV-1 encounters during sexual transmission. The virions in body fluids can be opsonized with complement factors because of HIV-mediated triggering of the complement cascade, and this appears to influence numerous aspects of the immune defense targeting the virus. One key attribute of host defense is the ability to attract immune cells to the site of infection. In this study, we investigated whether the opsonization of HIV with complement (C-HIV) or a mixture of complement and Abs (CI-HIV) affected the cytokine and chemokine responses generated by DCs, as well as their ability to attract other immune cells. We found that the expression levels of CXCL8, CXCL10, CCL3, and CCL17 were lowered after exposure to either C-HIV or CI-HIV relative to free HIV (F-HIV). DCs exposed to F-HIV induced higher cell migration, consisting mainly of NK cells, compared with opsonized virus, and the chemotaxis of NK cells was dependent on CCL3 and CXCL10. NK cell exposure to supernatants derived from HIV-exposed DCs showed that F-HIV induced phenotypic activation (e.g., increased levels of TIM3, CD69, and CD25) and effector function (e.g., production of IFNγ and killing of target cells) in NK cells, whereas C-HIV and CI-HIV did not. The impairment of NK cell recruitment by DCs exposed to complement-opsonized HIV and the lack of NK activation may contribute to the failure of innate immune responses to control HIV at the site of initial mucosa infection.
Growth and carcass quality of prolific crossbred lambs fed silage with fish meal or different amounts of concentrate.

Sixty Romanov x Dorset (RVDP) and sixty Romanov x Suffolk (RVSU) male lambs were used in a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement of treatments including two breed crosses and five diets to determine the effect of breed crosses on performance and to compare growth and carcass characteristics of lambs. Diets consisted of an all-silage diet, silage supplemented with 100 g of fish meal.animal-1.d-1, or silage supplemented daily with concentrate at either 200 g or 400 g per animal, or ad libitum intake. Lambs were fed from an initial weight of 23 kg to a slaughter weight of 45 kg. There was no interaction (P > .10) between diet and breed for any parameter measured. Silage DMI was decreased (P < .05) by supplementation, but total DMI was similar among diets. The ADG was increased by fish meal and concentrate supplementation, with higher (P < .05) ADG observed with ad libitum access to concentrate. Lambs that had ad libitum access to concentrate had an improved gain:feed and required less time to reach market weight but had more carcass fat than lambs fed other diets. Lambs fed only silage had a higher percentage of carcass with poorer muscling than others. The highest percentage of carcasses with excellent to good muscling, normal fat covering, and grades A1 and A2 was obtained with fish meal supplementation. Lambs from the RVSU-crossbreed had better ADG than RVDP lambs but carcass quality of RVDP lambs was better than that of RVSU lambs. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Development of a periplasmic FRET screening method for protease inhibitory antibodies

Proteases play critical roles in numerous physiological processes and thus represent one of the largest families of potential pharmaceutical targets. Previous failure of broad‐spectrum small molecule inhibitors toward tumorigenic metalloproteinases in clinical trials emphasizes that selectivity is the key for a successful protease‐inhibition therapy. With exquisite specificity, antibody‐based inhibitors are emerging as promising therapeutics. However, the majority of current antibody selection technologies are based on binding and not on inhibition. Here, we report the development of a function‐based inhibitory antibody screening method, which combines a simple periplasmic preparation and an ultra sensitive FRET assay, both processes are amenable to high‐throughput applications. Using this method, inhibitory antibodies can be rapidly distinguished from non‐inhibitory clones with satisfactory Z‐factors. Coupled with ELISA, this method also provides a fast semi‐quantitative estimation of IC50 values without antibody purification. We expect this technology to greatly facilitate the generation of highly selective biologic inhibitors, targeting many proteases that are important to medical research and therapeutic development. Biotechnol. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013;110: 2856–2864. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Impact of deprenyl and tocopherol treatment on Parkinson's disease in DATATOP subjects not requiring levodopa

In the controlled trial Deprenyl and Tocopherol Antioxidative Therapy of Parkinsonism (DATATOP), 310 of the 800 enrolled subjects did not reach the primary end point of disability requiring levodopa therapy during 21 ± 4 (mean ± SD) months of observation or need early initiation of deprenyl (selegiline) during a 2‐month withdrawal of experimental treatments. While maintaining the blindness of their original deprenyl and tocopherol treatment assignments, these 310 subjects were administered deprenyl 10 mglday (open label) and were monitored systematically at 1‐ to 3‐month intervals for up to 18 months (12 ±5 mo). During this extended trial, the 189 subjects who had been assigned originally to active deprenyl tended to reach the end point of disability faster than the 121 subjects who had not been assigned originally to deprenyl (hazard ratio, 1.43; 95% CI, 0.98, 2.09; p = 0.065). However, the differential rates of reaching the end point may have been due in part to the more severe baseline impairment of deprenyl‐assigned subjects, who benefited originally from deprenyl but who were more likely to require levodopa during this extended period of observation. Prior treatment with deprenyl did not lead to superior survival with respect to the end point of disability requiring levodopa, suggesting that the initial advantages of deprenyl were not sustained.
Primary Marginal Zone Lymphoma of the Lung and Organizing Pneumonia: A Diagnostic Challenge.

pulmonary marginal zone lymphoma, organizing pneumonia (OP), marginal zone lymphomas (MZL) IMAJ 2018; 20: 197–198 nality. Bronchoalveolar lavage was normal, including infection panels. Transbronchial biopsy results were compatible with OP. Due to systemic findings, a confident diagnosis of cryptogenic OP could not be established. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), including a biopsy, was performed, which revealed histological findings consistent with the diagnosis of pulmonary extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). Treatment with corticosteroids and rituximab was initiated with good response. At the time of this writing, the patient was in complete clinical and laboratorial remission and follow-up positron emission tomography (PET)-CT revealed resolution of lungs opacities.
Verb-Noun Collocation Instruction with the Support of a Bilingual Concordancer

Studies on language learning have revealed that collocation knowledge is an important indicator for advanced second language competence. Native speakers' production relies heavily on prefabricated or pre-made chunks such as collocations, which save processing load to achieve language fluency and accuracy. Previous investigation on ESL and EFL students indicated that nonnative learners' collocation competence lags behind the level expected; among various collocation types, verb-noun (V-N) collocation has been found to be more difficult for learners. Various collocation instruction programs have been conducted to improve EFL learners' collocation use and have gain positive effects. Recently, some collocation instructional programs were carried out by teachers' guidance through concordancing (automatic display of key words in context); such a method has been claimed to be beneficial for providing ample collocation use in concordances, which learners can read and induce patterns from by themselves. The current study examines the effects of web-based bilingual concordancers with six practice units (TOTALrecall and Tango, developed in CANDLE project). Two teaching approaches, inductive and deductive teaching methods, and different collocation types were taken into consideration. 74 senior high students participated in the study. The effects of online materials on learners’ performance at different vocabulary levels, their collocation performance, and their perception of computer-assisted collocation learning were explored by a vocabulary test, a posttest on collocation, and an evaluation questionnaire. It was found that learners of different vocabulary levels performed significantly differently both before and after the treatment period with mostly satisfaction about the online materials. Those who liked the concordancer seemed performed better. Implications are suggested.
Customer-driven Purchasing : Empirical applications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate application of a method for customerdriven purchasing. Design/methodology/approach A method for customer-driven purchasing was developed and applied within a research project using a combination of a multiple case study and focus groups. The research project involved six companies within different lines of trade and the method was applied to more than 20 products in the case companies. In this paper, the applications to four products at three companies are presented. Findings When applying the method, the case companies received several insights and direct results. All three companies found items that could be sourced either with focus on efficiency or responsiveness. Direct visible results were, for example, shortened supply lead time for customized items and reduced inventory levels for standard items. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) All the companies included in the study can be referred to as medium-sized or large companies where at least a fraction of the sales are customer-order driven and/or customized. Further research could therefore focus on applications at small manufacturers. Of further interest is also the method’s applicability during product development projects. Practical implications The importance of establishing supplier relationships based on the order winners for sourced items, as opposed to based on cost per item has been identified. Additionally, the negative effects of long supply lead time for customized items have become evident. Originality/value This research incorporates knowledge about CODP-differentiated competitive priorities in the purchasing process.
Features adding on multiresolution surface

This paper introduces features editing on wavelet multiresolution representation of tensor-product B-spline surface by adding features from library. Adding features of source surface to target surface is carried out by doing reconstruction process on the coarsest approximation of target surface using wavelet coefficients of both surfaces. Our work shows that features adding can be carried out easily on any patch of surface.
A Review of the Research on the Relationship Between Substance Abuse and a History of Exposure to Trauma

Sturm, Debbie C. , PhD, LPC, is an Assistant Professor of Graduate Psychology at James Madison University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in South Carolina. Her clinical experience has revolved primarily around working with individuals and families impacted by trauma and community violence. Her research interests include trauma response, mindfulness in counseling and supervision, social class and multicultural issues, and therapeutic experiences in nature.
Models of consciousness

A model of consciousness is a theoretical description that relates brain properties of consciousness (e.g., fast irregular electrical activity, widespread brain activation) to phenomenal properties of consciousness (e.g., qualia, a first-person-perspective, the unity of a conscious scene). Because of the diverse nature of these properties (Seth et al. 2005), useful models can be either mathematical/logical or verbal/conceptual.
Degradation of the Herbicide Glyphosate by Members of the Family Rhizobiaceae

Several strains of the family Rhizobiaceae were tested for their ability to degrade the phosphonate herbicide glyphosate (isopropylamine salt of N-phosphonomethylglycine). All organisms tested (seven Rhizobium meliloti strains, Rhizobium leguminosarum, Rhizobium galega, Rhizobium trifolii, Agrobacterium rhizogenes, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens) were able to grow on glyphosate as the sole source of phosphorus in the presence of the aromatic amino acids, although growth on glyphosate was not as fast as on Pi. These results suggest that glyphosate degradation ability is widespread in the family Rhizobiaceae. Uptake and metabolism of glyphosate were studied by using R. meliloti 1021. Sarcosine was found to be the immediate breakdown product, indicating that the initial cleavage of glyphosate was at the C—P bond. Therefore, glyphosate breakdown in R. meliloti 1021 is achieved by a C—P lyase activity.
Generating DNA Synbodies from Previously Discovered Peptides

Creating protein capture reagents on a proteome-wide scale is a grand challenge in molecular medicine. [1] High quality reagents are critical for elucidating protein function, and developing diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Although antibodies remain the gold standard, their cumbersome production in animals is expensive, time consuming, and can fail for many targets. [2] Alternative technologies like single-chain antibodies and aptamers overcome some of these limitations, but still require many iterative rounds of selection and amplification to produce high quality binders. [3] Problems such as these have created a pressing need for next generation technologies that lend themselves as tools to explore the human proteome, but are more efficient and cost-effective to produce than existing reagents. Ideal protein capture reagents would be constructed with minimal effort from easy-to-assemble building blocks that are readily available and inexpensive. [4] The most promising reagents would function in assays that already exist for antibodies.
Educational data mining - a case study

Educational data mining (EDM) is an emerging interdisciplinary research area that deals with the development of methods to explore data originating in an educational context. EDM uses computational approaches to analyse educational data. In this paper, an attempt has been made to propose a system that constitutes an integrated platform for thorough analysis of student's nine years data. The ETL process (extraction, cleaning, transforming and loading) have been performed with the help customised scripted tool. The tool also helps in finding new relations and generating reports for trend analysis. This analysis can help in planning strategies to improve student's performance of the new batches joining the institute. Further data mining technique J48 algorithm has been applied on nine years data to find patterns by using WEKA.
Influence of Substratum Wettability on Attachment of Freshwater Bacteria to Solid Surfaces

We studied the attachment of a number of freshwater bacteria from River Sowe, Coventry, England, to test substrata. The attachment of each organism to hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces was evaluated, and further studies evaluated the attachment of selected isolates to a number of substrata with a range of water wettabilities. The wettability of each substratum was determined by contact angle measurements and was expressed as the work of adhesion (WA). No generic pattern of attachment to the test surfaces was found, although the majority of the organisms isolated showed a preference for the hydrophobic surface. A more detailed study of selected isolates showed a relationship between WA and number of attached cells. Each bacterium attached in maximum numbers to a surface that was characteristic of that organism and that had a WA between 75 and 105 mJ m−2.
ORE, a Eukaryotic Minimal Essential Osmotic Response Element

Organisms, almost universally, adapt to hyperosmotic stress through increased accumulation of organic osmolytes but the molecular mechanisms have only begun to be addressed. Among mammalian tissues, renal medullary cells are uniquely exposed to extreme hyperosmotic stress. Sorbitol, synthesized through aldose reductase, is a predominant osmolyte induced under hyperosmotic conditions in renal cells. Using a rabbit renal cell line, we originally demonstrated that hyperosmotic stress induces transcription of the aldose reductase gene. Recently, we cloned the rabbit aldose reductase gene, characterized its structure, and found the first evidence of an osmotic response region in a eukaryotic gene. Now, we have progressively subdivided this 3221-base pair (bp) region into discrete fragments in reporter gene constructs. Thereby, we have functionally defined the smallest sequence able to confer hyperosmotic response on a downstream gene independent of other putative cis-elements, that is, a minimal essential osmotic response element (ORE). The sequence of the ORE is CGGAAAATCAC(C) (bp −1105/−1094). A 17-bp fragment (−1108/−1092) containing the ORE used as a probe in electrophoretic mobility shift assays suggests hyperosmotic induction of a slowly migrating band. Isolation of trans-acting factor(s) and characterization of their interaction with the ORE should elucidate the basic mechanisms for regulation of gene expression by hyperosmotic stress.