Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Needs of family caregivers of patients receiving home hospice care for cancer.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To identify needs of family caregivers of home hospice patients with cancer. DESIGN Exploratory, descriptive. SETTING Six nonprofit homecare hospices in Canada. SAMPLE Twenty Caucasian family caregivers of 20 patients with cancer enrolled in home hospice. METHODS Subjects were recruited on admission to hospice and completed the Home Caregiver Need Survey in the home. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Family caregivers' assessment of their poorly satisfied informational, household, patient care, personal, spiritual, and psychological needs. FINDINGS Family caregivers needed time for themselves away from the house and for their personal needs. They also lacked sufficient time to rest and did not experience adequate sleep. Caregivers needed to learn ways to help patients maintain some independence. A 24-hour hotline can be an important resource for caregivers. CONCLUSIONS Family caregivers need social, volunteer, and professional support while caring for a family member at home so that their own physical and emotional health does not suffer. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE To provide guidance and support to family caregivers, nurses should assess the needs of caregivers and tailor interventions to meet those needs. Nurses also should facilitate the development of a social, volunteer, and professional support network.
Endocytotic uptake and retrograde transport of a virally encoded killer toxin in yeast

We demonstrate that a virally encoded yeast ‘killer’ toxin is entering its eukaryotic target cell by endocytosis, subsequently travelling the yeast secretory pathway in reverse to exhibit its lethal effect. The K28 killer toxin is a secreted α/β heterodimer that kills sensitive yeasts in a receptor‐mediated fashion by blocking DNA synthesis in the nucleus. In vivo processing of the toxin precursor results in a protein whose β‐C‐terminus carries the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention signal HDEL, which, as we show here, is essential for retrograde toxin transport. Yeast end3/4 mutants as well as cells lacking the HDEL receptor (Δerd2) or mutants defective in Golgi‐to‐ER protein recycling (erd1) are toxin resistant because the toxin can no longer enter and/or retrograde pass the cell. Site‐directed mutagenesis further indicated that the toxin's β‐HDEL motif ensures retrograde transport, although in a toxin‐secreting yeast the β‐C‐terminus is initially masked by an R residue (β‐HDELR) until Kex1p cleavage uncovers the toxin's targeting signal in a late Golgi compartment. Prevention of Kex1p processing results in high‐level secretion of a biologically inactive protein incapable of re‐entering the secretory pathway. Finally, we present evidence that ER‐to‐cytosol toxin export is mediated by the Sec61p translocon and requires functional copies of the lumenal ER chaperones Kar2p and Cne1p.
Activation of src‐family tyrosine kinases by LPS regulates cytokine production in dendritic cells by controlling AP‐1 formation

The role of src‐family tyrosine kinases in LPS‐induced DC maturation has not been fully addressed. We show that LPS induces activation of c‐Src and Lyn in human DC. Inhibition of these kinasesby PP1 uncoupled LPS‐induced cytokine production from the up‐regulation of costimulatory molecules, resulting in DC still capable of stimulating T cell proliferation but much less efficient in inducing Th1 differentiation. This is the first example of a pharmacological inhibitor able to modulate the capacity of DC to induce a particular type of immune response. Inhibition of src‐family kinases impaired phosphorylation and accumulation of c‐Jun, leading to reduced formation of AP‐1 complexes upon LPS stimulation. Thus, src‐kinases control cytokine production in LPS‐induced DC maturation through a timely formation of AP‐1.
The Topological Asymptotic for PDE Systems: The Elasticity Case

The aim of the topological sensitivity analysis is to obtain an asymptotic expansion of a design functional with respect to the creation of a small hole. In this paper, such an expansion is obtained and analyzed in the context of linear elasticity for general functionals and arbitrary shaped holes by using an adaptation of the adjoint method and a domain truncation technique. The method is general and can be easily adapted to other linear PDEs and other types of boundary conditions.
Proinflammatory properties of the human S100 protein S100A12

S100 proteins represent a new class of chemoattractants. Here we extend earlier evidence for the proinflammatory properties of human S100A12. A12 induced migration of monocytoid cells, with optimal activity at 10−10 M and potency of >10−9 M C5a. Neutrophils were poorly responsive, and lymphocyte migration was not affected. Actin polymerization in monocytoid cells was accompanied by a sustained [Ca2+]i flux of a magnitude comparable with C5a. A12 elicited a transient infiltration of neutrophils (4–8 h) and more delayed recruitment of monocytes (8–24 h) in vivo. A12 (∼70 nM) was present in synovial fluid (SF) from rheumatoid arthritis patients, and synovium contained A12‐positive neutrophils in the sublining and interstitial region, often surrounding the perivasculature but rarely in the synovial lining layer, although some macrophages were positive. The A12 gene was transiently up‐regulated in monocytes by tumor necrosis factor α (6 h); induction by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was sustained (12–48 h). A12 may contribute to leukocyte migration in chronic inflammatory responses.
Rationality, Capacity and Inference

This paper is in broad agreement with Broome in that we ought to dispose of Humeanism about practical reason. Still, there remains some disagreement with Broome about the big picture. The aim of this short paper is to try and locate the most important sources of this disagreement, namely differences in how we conceive of the mind, reason and rationality and the relations between these. It also presents some the consequences of the big picture disagreement, in particular about how to conceive of the correctness of enkratic reasoning.
A probabilistic approach to object classification by neural trees

In this paper, a probabilistic approach is followed to improve the classification performances of neural trees. A neural tree whose nodes are generalized perceptrons without hidden layers and with activation function characterized by a sigmoidal behaviour is considered. The standard classification method may sometimes end up with wrong conclusions, e.g., the pattern is close to one of the decision hyperplanes. This situation occurs when the activation vector in one or more internal nodes (doubt nodes) of the NT is characterized by some values close to the highest value. To this end, multiple paths are followed by appropriately backtracking into the tree. A gain function is assigned to each node and a probabilistic technique to search for the path which maximizes this gain is proposed to improve the classification performances of the standard NT.
Applying Natural Language Processing to Speech Transcriptions for Automated Analysis of Educational Video Broadcasts

This paper describes the results of a work, carried out by RAI within the framework of the project “La Città Educante”, aiming at creating statistical models for automatic document categorization and named entity recognition, both acting in the educational field and in Italian language. The taxonomy used for the documents categorization is the Scientific Disciplinary Sector taxonomy (SSD) used in Italy to organize the disciplines and thematic areas of higher education. The actual statistical models were created with the Apache OpenNLP libraries. The obtained results showed fairly good accuracy with SSD document classification and some significant improvement of categorization precision for Named Entities compared to the state of the art.
BULANIK AHP İLE BELEDİYELERİN TOPLU TAŞIMA ARAÇ SEÇİMİ

Sosyal, cevresel, yapisal, politik v.b. soyut faktorlerin oldugu ve kisitli butcenin en iyi sekilde kullanilmasinin zorunlu oldugu kamu hizmet sektorunde ihtiyaca gore secim yapilmasi problemiyle sik sik karsilasilir. Cok kriterli karar verme tekniklerinden, Analitik Hiyerarsi Prosesi (AHP), birden cok kriter iceren bu tur problemlerin cozumunde kullanilan bir karar verme yontemidir. Bu calismada belediyelerin toplu tasima arac secim problemi ele alinarak ikili karsilastirma yargilarindaki sozel belirsizligi daha iyi ifade etmek amaciyla Bulanik Analitik Hiyerarsi Prosesi tekniklerinden biri olan Chang’in Mertebe Analiz Yontemi kullanilmistir. Bulanik sayilari siralamak icin ise Kareli Ortalama ve Kwong-Bai yontemi kullanilarak alternatifler arasinda siralama yapilmistir.
MEK1/2 is a critical regulator of microtubule assembly and spindle organization during rat oocyte meiotic maturation

MEK (MAPK kinase) is an upstream protein kinase of MAPK in the MOS/MEK/MAPK/p90rsk signaling pathway. We previously reported the function and regulation of MAPK during rat oocyte maturation. In this study, we further investigated the localization and possible roles of MEK1/2. First, immunofluorescent staining revealed that p‐MEK1/2 was restricted to the germinal vesicle (GV). After germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), p‐MEK1/2 condensed in the vicinity of chromosomes and then translocated to the spindle poles at metaphase I, while spindle microtubules stained faintly. When the oocyte went through anaphase I and telophase I, p‐MEK1/2 disappeared from spindle poles and became associated with the midbody. By metaphase II, p‐MEK1/2 was again localized to the spindle poles. Second, p‐MEK1/2 was localized to the centers of cytoplasmic microtubule asters induced by taxol. Third, p‐MEK1/2 co‐localized with γ‐tubulin in microtubule‐organizing centers (MTOCs). Forth, treatment with U0126, a non‐competitive MEK1/2 inhibitor, did not affect germinal vesicle breakdown, but caused chromosome mis‐alignment in all MI oocytes examined and abnormal spindle organization as well as small cytoplasmic spindle‐like structure formation in MII oocytes. Finally, U0126 reduced the number of cytoplasmic asters induced by taxol. Our data suggest that MEK1/2 has regulatory functions in microtubule assembly and spindle organization during rat oocyte meiotic maturation. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 1542–1548 © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analyzing the availability of fast-flux based service network under countermeasures

Fast-flux based service network is first introduced as a technique used to improve the reliability and quality of a service system. But recently, this technique is also adopted by cyber-criminals and Internet miscreants to evade identification and to frustrate law enforcement and anticrime efforts aimed at locating and shutting down the illegal service. Previous work on this topic focuses mostly on detecting and measuring existing fast-flux based service networks ignoring the most import property provided by them—high availability under countermeasures. This paper attacks the availability problem of fast-flux based service network under countermeasures. In this paper, counter-system is taken into account and a model of these networks under countermeasures is presented. Based on this model, two evaluating factors of availability are proposed. By using reliability theory and queuing theory, this paper also performs a study of typical fast-flux based networks and their availability. Results show that both employed strategies and users' network environment have significant impacts on the availability of fast-flux based service network.
Real-time structure from motion for monocular and stereo cameras

This paper deals with the real-time estimations of the rigid motion and three-dimensional structure of a scene from one or stereo moving camera. The method is based on an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) that permits to obtain an executable real-time implementation. The extensions of an existent single camera solution and the new formulation of the stereo case is explained. Synthetic and real data experiments show that the estimations obtained by the binocular system are more accurate and the system is more robust as compared to the monocular case.
Chemotherapy is successful in sporadic late onset nemaline myopathy (SLONM) with monoclonal gammopathy

Sporadic late onset nemaline myopathy (SLONM), described in 1966, is a rare proximal myopathy that is thought to be ‘‘degenerative,’’ although it is sometimes associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or monoclonal gammopathy. Diagnosis is based on muscle biopsy. The reported prognosis for SLOMN in gammopathy-associated forms (SLONM-MG) was found to be unfavorable despite immunotherapy, with a mortality of 80%. We report here a new SLONM-MG patient who was treated successfully with chemotherapy. A previously healthy 54-year-old man presented with a 2-year history of fatigue and progressive painless difficulty in walking and climbing stairs. He displayed proximal atrophy and weakness in scapular and pelvic girdles and in truncal muscles. He could not raise his head nor sit and stand. Needle electromyography was compatible with a myopathy in proximal muscles with no spontaneous activity at rest. Deltoid muscle biopsy showed scattered atrophic fibers. Trichome stain showed small fuschinophilic corpuscles (Fig. 1a), which were found to be nemaline rods on electron microscopy (Fig. 1b). Western blot analysis for common muscular dystrophies was normal. Work-up revealed an IgG monoclonal gammopathy (11 g/L) without signs of multiple myeloma or HIV infection. SLONM-MG was diagnosed. In the following weeks, the patient became restricted to a wheelchair and developed dyspnea. We decided to pursue aggressive therapy, as described during a meeting at the Myology Institute of Paris (2007). The patient underwent a single course of high-dose chemotherapy (melphalan 200 mg/m) and subsequent autologous peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation (PBSCT). Improvement, as documented by clinical scores (Fig. 1c), began 1 month after the graft. One year later, he could walk and stand alone, and was able to raise his arms overhead, was autonomous in daily activities, and the monoclonal protein was undetectable (Fig. 1d). This is the third SLONM-MG patient who returned to almost normal muscle function after treatment with a regimen of high-dose chemotherapy and PBSCT. Until recently, immunotherapy seemed disappointing; plasma exchange, prednisone associated with cyclophosphamide, or azathioprine, and rituximab were ineffective. The cause of SLONM is unknown, but given its frequent association with HIV infection or gammopathy, immune dysregulation has been suspected. A direct relationship between gammopathy and rod formation could not be established experimentally. Nevertheless, the present case, together with the first 2 cases, demonstrates a clear temporal correlation between presence of gammopathy and muscle impairment, probably secondary to an abnormal interaction between the circulating immunoglobulins and the sarcomeric proteins of the muscle
Changes in the small intestine of Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice fed a high-fat diet

SUMMARY The consumption of a high-fat diet modifies both the morphology of the small intestine and experimentally tested effects of schistosomiasis mansoni. However, whether a schistosomiasis infection associated with a high-fat diet causes injury to the small intestine has never been investigated. Mice were fed either a high-fat or a standard-fat diet for 6 months and were then infected with Schistosoma mansoni cercariae. Physical characteristics of the intestinal tissue (mucosal thickness, small intestinal villi length and height, and abundance of goblet cells and enterocytes on the villous surface) and the distribution of granulomas along the intestinal segments and their developmental stage were measured at the time of sacrifice (9 or 17 weeks post-infection). The group fed a high-fat diet exhibited different granuloma stages, whereas the control group possessed only exudative granulomas. The chronically infected mice fed a high-fat diet exhibited higher granuloma and egg numbers than the acutely infected group. Exudative, exudative/exudative-productive and exudative-productive granulomas were present irrespective of diet. Computer-aided morphometric analysis confirmed that villus length, villus width, muscular height and submucosal height of the duodenal and jejunal segments were affected by diet and infection. In conclusion, a high-fat diet and infection had a significant impact on the small intestine morphology and morphometry among the animals tested.
HIV vaccine trial preparedness among Spanish-speaking Latinos in the US

Abstract Latinos are under-represented in HIV/AIDS medical research in the US. Although they are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS, Latinos may be reluctant to participate in HIV vaccine trials. Three focus groups were conducted with 32 Spanish-speaking Latinos recruited from two community-based healthcare organizations in Los Angeles, California. A qualitative focus group interview guide was developed to explore concerns, motivators and intentions in regard to participation in HIV vaccine trials. Mistrust and fear of government emerged as important themes related to reluctance to participate in an HIV vaccine trial. Specific concerns regarding trial participation included: (1) fear of vaccine-induced HIV infection, (2) physical side effects, (3) stigma and (4) false-induced HIV-positive test results and their social repercussions. Motivators for enrolling in an HIV vaccine trial included: (1) incentives, (2) convenience of participating in a study, (3) sufficient and appropriate study information, (4) personal benefits and (5) altruism. Interventions to facilitate participation by Latinos in HIV vaccine trials should address mistrust and fear of government-sponsored HIV/AIDS medical research, increase access to and convenience of clinical trials, address fear of vaccine-induced infection, combat HIV/AIDS stigma and raise awareness of the relevance of HIV/AIDS to Latino communities.
BlueState: un entorno para el aprendizaje de máquinas de estados de UML

El modelo de maquinas de estados es el mas complejo de los que integran el lenguaje UML, base actual de la docencia en la mayoria de las asignaturas de Ingenieria del Software. La complejidad (y la consiguiente dificultad de aprendizaje) del modelo viene dada tanto por el elevado numero de componentes que lo integran como por el nivel de abstraccion propio del modelo. Para solventar estas dificultades se ha desarrollado BlueState, una herramienta que permite al alumno ejecutar una simulacion de la ejecucion de cualquier maquina de estados, acompanada de un seguimiento grafico. BlueState tambien aporta un modulo de generacion de codigo, que permite al alumno aprender a implementar el comportamiento de un sistema empleando una metodologia dirigida por modelos.
In a Transgenic Model of Spontaneous Autoimmune Diabetes, Expression of a Protective Class II MHC Molecule Results in Thymic Deletion of Diabetogenic CD8+ T Cells1

H-2d mice expressing both the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) as a transgene-encoded protein on pancreatic islet β cells (InsHA), as well as the Clone 4 TCR specific for the dominant H-2Kd-restricted HA epitope, can be protected from the development of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes by expression of the H-2b haplotype. Protection occurs due to the deletion of KdHA-specific CD8+ T cells. This was unexpected as neither the presence of the InsHA transgene nor H-2b, individually, resulted in thymic deletion. Further analyses revealed that thymic deletion required both a hybrid MHC class II molecule, Eβb Eαd, and the Kd molecule presenting the HA epitope, which together synergize to effect deletion of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes. This surprising example of protection from autoimmunity that maps to a class II MHC molecule, yet effects an alteration in the CD8+ T cell repertoire, suggests that selective events in the thymus represent the integrated strength of signal delivered to each cell through recognition of a variety of different MHC-peptide ligands.
State-machine driven opportunistic sensing by mobile devices

As mobile devices increasingly incorporate a range of sensors, there is significant potential to apply opportunistic sensing techniques to allow collections of these devices to provide context information to applications. Focussing on a use case involving the use of mobile devices to sense and localize increasing levels of gases in a work environment, we show that the use of application-specific state machines that control the rate at which sensed data is reported, can lead to a significant reduction in battery consumption by the devices in comparison to continuous sensing approaches wherein the reporting rate remains constant.
Case studies of stator winding turn insulation failures in medium voltage motors

Breakdown of the stator winding turn insulation is a frequent cause of stator insulation failure leading to forced outage of medium voltage (MV) motors. Case studies of 15 turn insulation failures in mains-fed MV motors that occurred in Korea between 2011–2015 in the pulp and paper, power generation, and petrochemical industries are presented in this paper. The turn insulation failures are analyzed based on the insulation system design, motor operating conditions, fault location and pattern of the motor failures. Stator insulation inspection and test records including the insulation resistance (IR), polarization index (PI), leakage current, dissipation factor, and partial discharge (PD) tests for the failed motors are also shown. An insight into how stator winding turn insulation failures can be prevented is provided based on the investigation of the failures.
The Impact of Mandatory Policies on ETD Acquisition

This paper analyzes the data now available in Australia's coordinated Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) gateway to show the impact of high-level institutional policy decisions on population of the individual repositories. The paper shows that just like research article repositories, voluntary ETD deposition results in repositories collecting less than 12% of the available theses, whereas mandatory policies are well accepted and cause deposit rates to rise towards 100%. Modeling of the PhD and Master process in Australia is also carried out to indicate the delays and liabilities to be expected if mandatory policies are applied only to newly enrolled candidates.
Clinical effects of Bifidobacterium preparations on pediatric intractable diarrhea.

We investigated the effects of administration of Bifidobacterium preparations and commercially available Bifidus Yogurt on infantile intractable diarrhea. Fifteen patients with intractable diarrhea were treated from 1982 to 1985. These patients (11 boys and 4 girls) ranged in age from 1 month to 15 years (mean 2.5 years) and received antibiotic therapy for the treatment of such diseases as septicemia and respiratory tract infections. During treatment, waterly diarrhea appeared and lasted for 1 to 10 weeks (mean 25 days) with deterioration of the general condition. Conservative therapy such as diet control, infusion and drug therapy could not cure the diarrhea. The antibiotics used included cephems, penicillins and aminoglycocides. In most cases, abnormal microflora was observed: Candida or Enterococcus often predominated with a marked decrease of anaerobes and aerobes in the stool flora. During the disease, we could not detect any pathogens or toxins responsible for the diarrhea. In all patients, the stool frequency and appearance were dramatically improved within 3 to 7 days after oral administration of Bifidobacterium preparations of bifidus yogurt. The intestinal microflora of all subjects also became normal with predominance of resident Bifidobacterium or administered B. breve.