Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Misspecifying the Shape of a Random Effects Distribution: Why Getting It Wrong May Not Matter

Statistical models that include random effects are commonly used to analyze longitudinal and correlated data, often with strong and parametric assumptions about the random effects distribution. There is marked disagreement in the literature as to whether such parametric assumptions are important or innocuous. In the context of generalized linear mixed models used to analyze clustered or longitudinal data, we examine the impact of random effects distribution misspecification on a variety of inferences, including prediction, inference about covariate effects, prediction of random effects and estimation of random effects variances. We describe examples, theoretical calculations and simulations to elucidate situations in which the specification is and is not important. A key conclusion is the large degree of robustness of maximum likelihood for a wide variety of commonly encountered situations.
Micromachined thin film plate acoustic resonators utilizing the lowest order symmetric lamb wave mode

Thin film integrated circuits compatible resonant structures using the lowest order symmetric Lamb wave propagating in thin aluminum nitride (AlN) film membranes have been studied. The 2-mum thick, highly c-oriented AlN piezoelectric films have been grown on silicon by pulsed, direct-current magnetron reactive sputter deposition. The films were deposited at room temperature and had typical full-width, half-maximum value of the rocking curve of about 2 degrees. Thin film plate acoustic resonators were designed and micromachined using low resolution photolithography and deep silicon etching. Plate waves, having a 12-mum wavelength, were excited by means of both interdigital (IDT) and longitudinal wave transducers using lateral field excitation (LW-LFE), and reflected by periodical aluminum-strip gratings deposited on top of the membrane. The existence of a frequency stopband and strong grating reflectivity have been theoretically predicted and experimentally observed. One-port resonator designs having varying cavity lengths and transducer topology were fabricated and characterized. A quality factor exceeding 3000 has been demonstrated at frequencies of about 885 MHz. The IDT based film plate acoustic resonators (FPAR) technology proved to be preferable when lower costs and higher Qs are pursued. The LW-LFE-based FPAR technology offers higher excitation efficiency at costs comparable to that of the thin film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) technology
A simple circular-to-rectangular waveguide transition

We describe a novel one-step TE/sub 11/-mode circular waveguide to TE/sub 10/-mode rectangular waveguide transition. The primary advantage of this device over existing transitions is its ease of fabrication. We have incorporated our transition into a number of waveguide components operating at V-band. The transition's measured return loss exceeds 15 dB over a 12% bandwidth centered near 60 GHz.
Health-Related Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents: Subjective Well Being

The main objective of this study was to build a model, which includes personal and social factors, that helps to highlight factors that promote health-related quality of Life (HRQoL) in children and in adolescents. A sample of 3195 children and adolescents was acquired from 5th and 7th graders from all five Portuguese regions. In this study three independent latent variables were specified – Physical, Psychological and Social and two dependent latent variables were measured: Health behavior and Quality of Life. The integrative model was composed by different components: (1) health-related quality of life, integrated by 8 dimensions from KIDSCREEN-52; (2) health behavior, (3) variables related to physical health; (4) variables related to social health; (5) variables related to psychological health. As results were found strong correlation between psychological dimensions and self-esteem and other factors and a structural equation model was developed. The model presented a RMSEA index of . 08. Similarly, adjustment levels for the CFI, NFI and IFI vary above or around . 90, which suggests a good adjustment for the hypothesized model. The model presented significant qui-square.This study showed that in all the samples studied, the psychological variables were those that contributed at a superior level to HRQoL. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue construir un modelo, que incluya los factores personales y sociales, que ayude a resaltar los factores que promueven la salud relacionados con la calidad de vida (CVRS) en niños y adolescentes. Se tomó una muestra de 3.195 niños y adolescentes, alumnos de quinto y séptimo grado de todas las 5 regiones Portuguesas. En este estudio fueron especificadas tres variables latentes independientes: física, psicológica y social, y se midieron dos variables dependientes: el comportamiento de la salud y la calidad de vida. El modelo de integración estaba compuesto por diferentes componentes: (1) calidad de vida relacionada con la salud, integrado por ocho dimensiones del KIDSCREEN-52, (2) el comportamiento de la salud, (3) las variables relacionadas con la salud física, (4) las variables relacionadas con la salud social, (5) las variables relacionadas con la salud psicológica. Como resultado se encontró una fuerte correlación entre las dimensiones psicológicas y de autoestima y otros factores y se desarrolló un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. El modelo que se presenta un índice RMSEA de 0,08. De manera similar, los niveles de ajuste de la CFI, NFI y el Fondo varían por encima o alrededor de 0,90, lo que indica un buen ajuste para el modelo de la hipótesis. El modelo presentado tiene una valoración de chi-cuadrado significativo. Este estudio mostró que en todas las muestras estudiadas, las variables psicológicas fueron las que contribuyeron a un nivel superior a la CVRS.
Impact of Intensive Summer Reading Intervention for Children With Reading Disabilities and Difficulties in Early Elementary School

Efficacy of an intensive reading intervention implemented during the nonacademic summer was evaluated in children with reading disabilities or difficulties (RD). Students (ages 6–9) were randomly assigned to receive Lindamood-Bell’s Seeing Stars program (n = 23) as an intervention or to a waiting-list control group (n = 24). Analysis of pre- and posttesting revealed significant interactions in favor of the intervention group for untimed word and pseudoword reading, timed pseudoword reading, oral reading fluency, and symbol imagery. The interactions mostly reflected (a) significant declines in the nonintervention group from pre- to posttesting, and (2) no decline in the intervention group. The current study offers direct evidence for widening differences in reading abilities between students with RD who do and do not receive intensive summer reading instruction. Intervention implications for RD children are discussed, especially in relation to the relevance of summer intervention to prevent further decline in struggling early readers.
Inhibition of Return Exaggerates Change Blindness

Peripheral cues trigger attention shifts, which facilitate perceptual processing and enhance visual awareness. However, this facilitation is superseded by an inhibition of return (IOR) effect, which biases attention away from the cued location. While the link between facilitatory effects of visual attention and awareness is well established, no study has reported negative effects of spatial cueing on visual awareness. This failure is puzzling, given the claim that attention is a necessary precondition for awareness. If attention is necessary for awareness, inhibiting attention should also inhibit awareness. This leads to a slightly counterintuitive prediction: Spatial cueing will inhibit awareness at long cue–target latencies. This study shows that subliminal peripheral cues exaggerate change blindness at long cue–change latencies, demonstrating that IOR can suppress visual awareness of changes and suggesting that IOR can directly affect the contents of consciousness.
Reduction of physical activity in daily life and its determinants in smokers without airflow obstruction

In smokers without airflow obstruction, detailed, objective and controlled quantification of the level of physical inactivity in daily life has never been performed. This study aimed to objectively assess the level of physical activity in daily life in adult smokers without airflow obstruction in comparison with matched non‐smokers, and to investigate the determinants for daily physical activity in smokers.
The Expectations and Attitudes of Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease Toward Living Kidney Donor Transplantation: A Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Studies

Background Living kidney donation offers superior outcomes over deceased organ donation, but incurs psychosocial and ethical challenges for recipients because of the risks imposed on their donor. We aimed to describe the beliefs, attitudes, and expectations of patients with chronic kidney disease toward receiving a living kidney donor transplant. Methods We conducted a systematic review of qualitative studies of patients’ attitudes toward living kidney donation using a comprehensive literature search of electronic databases to February 2013. The findings were analyzed using thematic synthesis. Results Thirty-nine studies (n≥1791 participants) were included. We identified six themes: prioritizing own health (better graft survival, accepting risk, and desperate aversion to dialysis), guilt and responsibility (jeopardizing donor health, anticipating donor regret, and causing donor inconvenience), ambivalence and uncertainty (doubting transplant urgency, insufficient information, confronted by unfamiliarity, and prognostic uncertainty), seeking decisional validation (a familial obligation, alleviating family burden, reciprocal benefits for donors, respecting donor autonomy, external reassurance, and religious approval), needing social support (avoiding family conflict, unrelenting indebtedness, and emotional isolation), and cautious donor recruitment (self-advocacy, lacking self-confidence, avoiding donor coercion, emotional vulnerability, respecting cultural, and religious taboos). Conclusion Enhanced education and psychosocial support may help clarify, validate, and address patients’ concerns regarding donor outcomes, guilt, relationship tensions, and donor recruitment. This may encourage informed decision-making, increase access to living kidney donation, and improve psychosocial adjustment for transplant recipients.
Overcoming an optimization plateau in the directed evolution of highly efficient nerve agent bioscavengers

Improving an enzyme's initially low catalytic efficiency with a new target substrate by an order of magnitude or two may require only a few rounds of mutagenesis and screening or selection. However, subsequent rounds of optimization tend to yield decreasing degrees of improvement (diminishing returns) eventually leading to an optimization plateau. We aimed to optimize the catalytic efficiency of bacterial phosphotriesterase (PTE) toward V-type nerve agents. Previously, we improved the catalytic efficiency of wild-type PTE toward the nerve agent VX by 500-fold, to a catalytic efficiency (kcat/KM) of 5 × 106 M-1 min-1. However, effective in vivo detoxification demands an enzyme with a catalytic efficiency of >107 M-1 min-1. Here, following eight additional rounds of directed evolution and the computational design of a stabilized variant, we evolved PTE variants that detoxify VX with a kcat/KM ≥ 5 × 107 M-1 min-1 and Russian VX (RVX) with a kcat/KM ≥ 107 M-1 min-1. These final 10-fold improvements were the most time consuming and laborious, as most libraries yielded either minor or no improvements. Stabilizing the evolving enzyme, and avoiding tradeoffs in activity with different substrates, enabled us to obtain further improvements beyond the optimization plateau and evolve PTE variants that were overall improved by >5000-fold with VX and by >17 000-fold with RVX. The resulting variants also hydrolyze G-type nerve agents with high efficiency (GA, GB at kcat/KM > 5 × 107 M-1 min-1) and can thus serve as candidates for broad-spectrum nerve-agent prophylaxis and post-exposure therapy using low enzyme doses.
Effect of membrane fluidity change on long-range hydration dynamics observed by terahertz time domain spectroscopy P

Composition of lipid membrane affects its fluidity and biological function. Here, we investigate the hydration extent and relaxation time of water around individual phospholipid bilayers with different fatty acids chain length using terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). This measurement suggests that long-range hydration state of lipids is associated with membrane fluidity. The detailed results will be presented in the conference.
Psychologic Correlates of Serum Indicators of Stress in Man: A Longitudinal Study

&NA; Correlations between serum uric acid, cortisol, high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and psychometric indices of stress—namely, anxiety, hostility, and depression—were investigated in 20 students over a 2 1/2 month academic quarter. There were three peak periods of stress, with two occurring during midterm and final exams. The observed changes in serum cortisol were highly correlated with changes in anxiety and depression. Serum uric acid was significantly depressed during the first half of the quarter, but returned to control levels after midterm exams. Serum cholesterol and the LDL cholesterol subfraction were significantly elevated above control levels and remained elevated throughout the quarter after the first day of classes. Absolute levels of HDL cholesterol varied little throughout the quarter, however, the ratio of HDL cholesterol/total cholesterol was significantly depressed twice in the quarter, each time following approximately 10 days after the peak period of stress.
Consideraciones sobre el turismo rural en España y medidas de desarrollo

Los organismos competentes de nuestro país tratan hoy de apoyar y favorecer aquellas iniciativas comprometidas en que el mundo agrícola participe más activamente en la gestión de sus propios recursos, y de poner al alcance del público una nueva forma de vacaciones que lleva implícita un contacto más estrecho con la naturaleza y el campo. Se hace indispensable, de un lado, un plan de actuación unitario y coordinado en el que necesariamente habrán de tomar parte todos los organismos afectados y. de otro, la correspondiente ayuda económica que haga posible su puesta en marcha.
The Concentration, Gene Expression, and Spatial Distribution of Aggrecan in Canine Articular Cartilage, Meniscus, and Anterior and Posterior Cruciate Ligaments: A New Molecular Distinction Between Hyaline Cartilage and Fibrocartilage in the Knee Joint

The concentration, spatial distribution, and gene expression of aggrecan in meniscus, articular cartilage, and the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments (ACL and PCL) was determined in the knee joints of five mature dogs. An anti-serum against peptide sequences specific to the G1 domain of aggrecan was employed in competitive-inhibition ELISA of guanidine HCl extracts and immunofluorescence microscopy. Gene expression was determined by Taqman real-time PCR. The concentration of aggrecan in articular cartilage (240.1 ± 32 nMol/g dry weight) was higher than that in meniscus (medial meniscus: 33.4 ± 4.3 nMol/g) and ligaments (ACL: 6.8 ± 0.9 nMol/g). Aggrecan was more concentrated in the inner than the outer zone of the meniscus. Aggrecan in meniscus showed an organized, spatial network, in contrast to its diffuse distribution in articular cartilage. Thus, differences in the concentration, gene expression, and spatial distribution of aggrecan constitute another molecular distinction between hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage of the knee.
[Association between job stress and blood lipids among university staff in Yunnan province].

OBJECTIVE To observe the association between job stress (effort-reward imbalance model)and blood lipids among university staff in Yunnan province. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1244 university staff in Yunnan province. The job stress was measured by the validated Chinese self-reported Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI). Blood lipids were measured in all participated staff members. RESULTS After adjustment for relevant confounding factors, it was found that the risk of increased serum triglyceride was 3.5 folds higher in male staffs with high extrinsic effort compared those with low extrinsic effort (OR = 3.45, 95%CI: 1.32 - 9.04) while the risk of increased serum low density lipoprotein-cholesterol was 2.9 folds higher in male staffs with high overcommitment compared those with low overcommitment (OR = 2.86, 95%CI: 1.03 - 7.96). The risk of elevated serum triglyceride increased in proportion to increasing job stress: 3.5 folds increase in male staffs with moderate job stress (OR = 3.43, 95%CI: 1.24 - 9.53) and 4 folds increase in male staffs with high job stress (OR = 4.16, 95%CI: 1.42 - 12.17) compared those with low job stress. However, there was no significant association between job stress and lipid profile in female staffs. CONCLUSION Our results show that job stress (effort-reward imbalance) is positively associated with abnormal blood lipids in male university staffs.
Defective glucose and lipid metabolism in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with lipodystrophy involve liver, muscle tissue and pancreatic beta-cells.

OBJECTIVES Lipodystrophy and insulin resistance are prevalent among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients on combined antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Aiming to provide a detailed description of the metabolic adverse effects of HIV-lipodystrophy, we investigated several aspects of glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism and beta-cell function in lipodystrophic HIV-infected patients. METHODS [3-3H]glucose was applied during euglycaemic hyperinsulinaemic clamps in association with indirect calorimetry in 43 normoglycaemic HIV-infected patients (18 lipodystrophic patients on HAART (LIPO), 18 patients without lipodystrophy on HAART (NONLIPO) and seven patients who were naive to antiretroviral therapy (NAIVE) respectively). beta-cell function was evaluated by an intravenous glucose tolerance test. RESULTS Compared with NONLIPO and NAIVE separately, LIPO displayed markedly reduced ratio of limb to trunk fat (RLF; > 34%, P < 0.001), hepatic insulin sensitivity (> 40%, P < 0.03), incremental glucose disposal (>50%, P < 0.001) and incremental exogenous glucose storage (>50%, P < 0.05). Furthermore, LIPO displayed reduced incremental glucose oxidation (P < 0.01), increased clamp free fatty acids (P < 0.05) and attenuated insulin-mediated suppression of lipid oxidation (P < 0.05) compared with NONLIPO. In combined study groups, RLF correlated with hepatic insulin sensitivity (r = 0.69), incremental glucose disposal (r = 0.71) and incremental exogenous glucose storage (r = 0.40), all P < 0.01. Disposition index (i.e. first-phase insulin response to intravenous glucose multiplied by incremental glucose disposal) was reduced by 46% (P = 0.05) in LIPO compared with the combined groups of NONLIPO and NAIVE, indicating an impaired adaptation of beta-cell function to insulin resistance in LIPO. CONCLUSION Our data suggest that normoglycaemic lipodystrophic HIV-infected patients display impaired glucose and lipid metabolism in multiple pathways involving liver, muscle tissue and beta-cell function.
Bone density testing.

Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) – x-ray beams of differing energy are used to detect bone and soft tissue density separately. This technique can be used to measure bone density in the spine, hip, forearm and the total body. It is one of the most common methods to determine bone density as it is fast and highly accurate. Single energy x-ray absorptiometry – a single x-ray beam is used to measure bone density at peripheral sites like the forearm and heel. In this technique, the area to be tested is wrapped in a tissue-like substance or immersed in water to improve the quality of the results. Ultrasound – measurements taken during an ultrasound may provide data on the structural integrity of bone. New ultrasound devices such as quantitative ultrasound (QUS) can estimate bone density of the heel within Bone density testing is a medical procedure used to determine bone density or strength. It can identify osteoporosis or osteopaenia and the risk of future bone fractures. There are different procedures that can measure bone density and the majority are quick and pain-free.
Eplerenone treatment alleviates the development of joint lesions in a new rat model of spontaneous metabolic-associated osteoarthritis

Increasing epidemiological and clinical studies suggest that metabolic syndrome (MetS) plays a role in the incidence and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). 1 2 However, in absence of an appropriate MetS-associated OA experimental model,3 the MetS contribution to the joint phenotype in OA remains difficult to investigate and the evaluation of potential disease-modifying OA drugs (DMOADs) is complicated. Noteworthy, in contrast to their lean SHHF+/+(spontaneously hypertensive heart failure) controls, obese SHHFcp/cp rats, a well-characterised model of MetS,4 develop drastic metabolic, cardiovascular and renal alterations that are substantially improved through an early chronic mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism (MRA) treatment.5 Thus, by comparing young (1.5 months) and aged (12.5 months) lean SHHF+/+ and obese SHHFcp/cp rats, we sought to evaluate for the first time the potential (1) contribution of MetS to joint alterations and (2) therapeutic benefits derived from chronic MRA treatment by eplerenone (figure 1A). Figure 1 Preventive 11-month treatment with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist eplerenone alleviated the metabolic syndrome (MetS)-associated joint lesions in SHHF model. (A) Experimental design of the study. Lean spontaneously hypertensive heart failure (SHHF+/+) and obese SHHFcp/cp rats were divided randomly into treatment groups. Untreated groups (n=4 for SHHF+/+ and n=4 for SHHFcp/cp) were given …