Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time-Dependent Changes in Atherosclerotic Plaque Composition in Patients Undergoing Carotid Surgery

Background— Time-dependent trends in the incidence of cardiovascular disease have been reported in high-income countries. Because atherosclerosis underlies the majority of cardiovascular diseases, we investigated temporal changes in the composition of atherosclerotic plaques removed from patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. Methods and Results— The Athero-Express study is an ongoing, longitudinal, vascular biobank study that includes the collection of atherosclerotic plaques of patients undergoing primary carotid endarterectomy in the province of Utrecht from 2002 to 2011. Histopathologic features of plaques of 1583 patients were analyzed in intervals of 2 years. The analysis included quantification of collagen, calcifications, lipid cores, plaque thrombosis, macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and microvessels. Large atheroma, plaque thrombosis, macrophages, and calcifications were less frequently observed over time, with adjusted odds ratios of 0.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.650-0.789), 0.62 (95% confidence interval, 0.569-0.679), 0.87 (95% confidence interval, 0.800-0.940), and 0.75 (95% confidence interval, 0.692-0.816) per 2-year increase in time, respectively. These changes in plaque characteristics were consistently observed in patient subgroups presenting with stroke, transient ischemic attack, ocular symptoms, and asymptomatic patients. Concomitantly, risk factor management and secondary prevention strategies among vascular patients scheduled for carotid endarterectomy significantly improved over the past decade. Conclusions— In conclusion, over the past decade, atherosclerotic plaques harvested during carotid endarterectomy show a time-dependent change in plaque composition characterized by a decrease in features currently believed to be causal for plaque instability. This appears to go hand in hand with improvements in risk factor management.
The reaction of sulfite radical anion with nucleic acid components.

The sulfite radical anion (SO3.-) is the first intermediate in the autoxidation of sulfite to sulfate. Using competition kinetics, its reactivities with the nucleic acid bases and the corresponding nucleosides were investigated. The second order rate constants were found to be rather low, k less than or equal to 1 x 10(6) dm3mol-1s-1 at pH 7. As a competitor, the carotenoid crocin was used, which was found to be bleached very efficiently by SO3. - (k = 1.0 x 10(9) dm3mol-1 s-1).
A new species of Cretalamna sensu stricto (Lamniformes, Otodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) of Alabama, USA

Decades of collecting from exposures of the Upper Cretaceous Tombigbee Sand Member of the Eutaw Formation and Mooreville Chalk in Alabama, USA has produced large numbers of isolated Cretalamna (sensu stricto) teeth. Many of these teeth had formerly been assigned to the extinct Late Cretaceous shark Cretalamna appendiculata (Agassiz, 1843), a taxon that is now considered largely restricted to the Turonian of Europe. Recent studies have shed light on the diversity of Late Cretaceous Cretalamna (s.s.) taxa, and here we recognize a new species from Alabama, Cretalamna bryanti. The teeth of C. bryanti sp. nov. appear aligned with the members of the Cretalamna borealis species group, but can be distinguished from these other species by a combination of the following: anterior teeth with a more pronounced and triangular lingual root protuberance, broader triangular cusp, and a taller root relative to the height of the crown; anteriorly situated lateroposterior teeth have a distally inclined or hooked main cusp and more than one pair of lateral cusplets; and lateroposterior teeth have a strong distally hooked main cusp and a root that is largely symmetrical in basal view. At present, C. bryanti sp. nov. is stratigraphically confined to the Santonian/Campanian Dicarinella asymetrica Sigal, 1952 and Globotruncanita elevata Brotzen, 1934 Planktonic Foraminiferal Zones within the Tombigbee Sand Member of the Eutaw Formation and Mooreville Chalk, and teeth have been collected from only four counties in central and western Alabama. The recognition of C. bryanti sp. nov. in Alabama adds to our knowledge on the diversity and distribution of Late Cretaceous otodontids in the region.
Story Generation from Sequence of Independent Short Descriptions

Existing Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems are weak AI systems and exhibit limited capabilities when language generation tasks demand higher levels of creativity, originality and brevity. Effective solutions or, at least evaluations of modern NLG paradigms for such creative tasks have been elusive, unfortunately. This paper introduces and addresses the task of coherent story generation from independent descriptions, describing a scene or an event. Towards this, we explore along two popular text-generation paradigms -- (1) Statistical Machine Translation (SMT), posing story generation as a translation problem and (2) Deep Learning, posing story generation as a sequence to sequence learning problem. In SMT, we chose two popular methods such as phrase based SMT (PB-SMT) and syntax based SMT (SYNTAX-SMT) to `translate' the incoherent input text into stories. We then implement a deep recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture that encodes sequence of variable length input descriptions to corresponding latent representations and decodes them to produce well formed comprehensive story like summaries. The efficacy of the suggested approaches is demonstrated on a publicly available dataset with the help of popular machine translation and summarization evaluation metrics.
Chronic vs. Short-Term Acute O3 Exposure Effects on Nocturnal Transpiration in Two Californian Oaks

We tested the effect of daytime chronic moderate ozone (O3) exposure, short-term acute exposure, and both chronic and acute O3 exposure combined on nocturnal transpiration in California black oak and blue oak seedlings. Chronic O3 exposure (70 ppb for 8 h/day) was implemented in open-top chambers for either 1 month (California black oak) or 2 months (blue oak). Acute O3 exposure (~1 h in duration during the day, 120–220 ppb) was implemented in a novel gas exchange system that supplied and maintained known O3 concentrations to a leaf cuvette. When exposed to chronic daytime O3 exposure, both oaks exhibited increased nocturnal transpiration (without concurrent O3 exposure) relative to unexposed control leaves (1.8× and 1.6×, black and blue oak, respectively). Short-term acute and chronic O3 exposure did not further increase nocturnal transpiration in either species. In blue oak previously unexposed to O3, short-term acute O3 exposure significantly enhanced nocturnal transpiration (2.0×) relative to leaves unexposed to O3. California black oak was unresponsive to (only) short-term acute O3 exposure. Daytime chronic and/or acute O3 exposures can increase foliar water loss at night in deciduous oak seedlings.
Orientation to time as a guide to the presence and severity of cognitive impairment in older hospital patients

Background Testing of orientation to time is an important part of mental status examination. The validity of errors in different aspects of temporal orientation was examined in older hospital patients as a guide to the presence of dementia or delirium and as a measure of the severity of dementia, as defined by the Global Deterioration Scale. Methods Inpatients and outpatients attending an acute hospital underwent independent assessments by two doctors on the same day to determine orientation to time and cognitive status. Optimum cut-offs for error scores on the different aspects of temporal orientation were calculated to maximise the sum of sensitivity and specificity for detection of dementia or delirium. Results Of the 262 patients assessed, 62 (23.7%) had dementia or delirium. The best cut-offs for detection of these disorders were: any error in identifying the year, month, day of the month or day of the week; and an error of more than 1 h in identifying the time of day. Failure to identify the year correctly was the most valuable single sign of dementia or delirium (sensitivity 86% and specificity 94%); failure to identify either year or month correctly was 95% sensitive and 86.5% specific for the detection of cognitive impairment. Severity of temporal disorientation, measured using a number of approaches, was strongly associated with severity of dementia. Conclusion Disorientation to time is a useful guide to the presence and severity of dementia or delirium in older hospital patients. Failure to identify the year or month correctly is a sufficiently sensitive and specific indicator of dementia or delirium to warrant more detailed cognitive assessment in this population.
Attractor Horizon Geometries of Extremal Black Holes

We report on recent advances in the study of critical points of the “black hole effective potential” VBH (usually named attractors) of N = 2, d = 4 supergravity coupled to nV Abelian vector multiplets, in an asymptotically flat extremal black hole background described by 2nV + 2 dyonic charges and (complex) scalar fields
Understanding the unique characteristics of suicide in China: national psychological autopsy study.

OBJECTIVE To compare the characteristics of suicides in the four main demographic groups: urban males, urban females, rural males and rural females in order to help clarify the demographic pattern of suicides in China. METHODS A detailed psychological autopsy survey instrument was independently administered to 895 suicide victims in family members and close associates from 23 geographically representative locations from around the country. RESULTS Pesticide ingestion accounted for 58% (519) of all suicides and 61% (318/519) of deaths were due to unsuccessful medical resuscitation. A substantial proportion (37%) of suicide victims did not have a mental illness. Among the 563 victims with mental illness, only 13% (76/563) received psychiatric treatment. Compared to other demographic groups, young rural females who died from suicide had the highest rate of pesticide ingestion (79%), the lowest prevalence of mental illness (39%), and the highest acute stress from precipitating life events just prior to the suicide. CONCLUSION Many suicides in China are impulsive acts of deliberate self-harm following acute interpersonal crises. Prevention of suicides in China must focus on improving awareness of psychological problems, improving mental health services, providing alternative social support networks for managing acute interpersonal conflicts, limiting access to pesticides, and improving the resuscitation skills of primary care providers.
Facilitating Innovation in Diverse Science Teams Through Integrative Capacity

Knowledge integration in diverse teams depends on their integrative capacity—the social and cognitive processes, along with emergent states, that shape a team’s ability to combine diverse knowledge. We argue that integrative capacity represents the potential that a team has to overcome various compositional, team, and contextual barriers to generating integrated and novel knowledge. This article focuses specifically on the unique challenges facing diverse science teams that have the goal of generating novel knowledge at the intersection of disciplinary, practice, and organizational boundaries. The integrative capacity of a science team is argued to help facilitate the social and cognitive integration processes necessary for effective team processes that enhance the likelihood of innovative team outcomes. Implications of our theoretical framework for practice and research on fostering innovation in diverse science teams are discussed.
The Discrepant and Similar Responses of Genome-Wide Transcriptional Profiles between Drought and Cold Stresses in Cassava

Background: Cassava, an important tropical crop, has remarkable drought tolerance, but is very sensitive to cold. The growth, development, and root productivity of cassava are all adversely affected under cold and drought. Methods: To profile the transcriptional response to cold and drought stresses, cassava seedlings were respectively subjected to 0, 6, 24, and 48 h of cold stress and 0, 4, 6, and 10 days of drought stress. Their folded leaves, fully extended leaves, and roots were respectively investigated using RNA-seq. Results: Many genes specifically and commonly responsive to cold and drought were revealed: genes related to basic cellular metabolism, tetrapyrrole synthesis, and brassinosteroid metabolism exclusively responded to cold; genes related to abiotic stress and ethylene metabolism exclusively responded to drought; and genes related to cell wall, photosynthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism, DNA synthesis/chromatic structure, abscisic acid and salicylic acid metabolism, and calcium signaling commonly responded to both cold and drought. Discussion: Combined with cold- and/or drought-responsive transcription factors, the regulatory networks responding to cold and drought in cassava were constructed. All these findings will improve our understanding of the specific and common responses to cold and drought in cassava, and shed light on genetic improvement of cold and drought tolerance in cassava.
Identification of Trichinella spiralis early antigens at the pre-adult and adult stages

SUMMARY Three expression cDNA libraries from Trichinella spiralis worms 14 h, 20 h and 48 h post-infection (p.i.) were screened with serum from pigs experimentally infected with 20 000 T. spiralis muscle larvae. Twenty-nine positive clones were isolated from the 14 h p.i. cDNA library, corresponding to 8 different genes. A putative excretory-secretory protein similar to that of T. pseudospiralis was identified. Three clones corresponded to a T. spiralis serine proteinase inhibitor known to be involved in diverse functions such as blood coagulation and modulation of inflammation. Screening of the 20 h p.i. cDNA library selected 167 positive clones representing 12 different sequences. The clone with the highest redundancy encoded a small polypeptide having no sequence identity with any known proteins from Trichinella or other organisms. Fourteen clones displayed sequence identity with the heat shock protein (HSP) 70. HSPs are produced as an adaptive response of the parasite to the hostile environment encountered in the host intestine but their mechanism of action is not yet well defined. From the 48 h p.i. T. spiralis cDNA library, 91 positive clones were identified representing 7 distinct sequences. Most of the positive clones showed high similarity with a member of a putative T. spiralis serine protease family. This result is consistent with a possible major role for serine proteases during invasive stages of Trichinella infection and host-parasite interactions.
A histogram-matching approach to the evolution of bin-packing strategies

We present a novel algorithm for the one- dimension offline bin packing problem with discrete item sizes based on the notion of matching the item-size histogram with the bin-gap histogram. The approach is controlled by a constructive heuristic function which decides how to prioritise items in order to minimise the difference between histograms. We evolve such a function using a form of linear register-based genetic programming system. We test our evolved heuristics and compare them with hand-designed ones, including the well- known best fit decreasing heuristic. The evolved heuristics are human-competitive, generally being able to outperform high- performance human-designed heuristics.
An approach to the determination of the phase center of Vivaldi-based UWB antenna

The phase center of ultra-wide band (UWB) antenna is an important factor that affects its performance in the time domain. For UWB antenna applications, the phase center is required to be stable as the beam width and frequency varies at the same time. Conventionally, the phase center can be deduced according to the directional diagram, but not all antennas can be implemented this way because of their complicated structure, therefore, numerical methods are effective methods. In this paper, the finite integration method (FDM) is used to calculate the phase center of a typical Vivaldi antenna which is used for the ultra-wide band communication system
Arch Bridges under flood conditions, a study of the velocity distributions, and the resulting bed scour

In recent years, the increased frequency of extreme rainfall events has led to many bridge failures throughout the UK and Ireland. Particularly vulnerable are short span bridges, which typically include arch structures, where abutments and piers are quickly scoured at their foundations. Several bridges have collapsed under flood conditions and, recently, such events have occurred in Northern England during the floods during the latter part of 2015. This paper is the result of an on-going experimental investigation, funded by The Royal Society, where arch bridge scale models are subjected to pressurised flow. Results demonstrate the nature of the upstream and downstream velocity distributions, and resulting scour profiles. The study provides an insight into the significance of pressurised flow on the depth and extent of scour when compared to normal open channel conditions. Measurements of velocities were taken using Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV), where significant increases in bed velocities are experienced as the flow passes under the arch. Scour depth was measured using a 3D laser scanner, which verified the shape of the resulting scour hole. The outcome of this paper is the demonstration of the severity of scour within the vicinity of an inundated arch bridge structure. It highlights the likely risks to long term stability, identifying depth locations to consider in relation to protection against local scour.
Bile Acids Repress Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 Signaling and Modulate the Airway Immune Response

ABSTRACT Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) frequently occurs in patients with respiratory disease and is particularly prevalent in patients with cystic fibrosis. GER is a condition in which the duodenogastric contents of the stomach leak into the esophagus, in many cases resulting in aspiration into the respiratory tract. As such, the presence of GER-derived bile acids (BAs) has been confirmed in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and sputum of affected patients. We have recently shown that bile causes cystic fibrosis-associated bacterial pathogens to adopt a chronic lifestyle and may constitute a major host trigger underlying respiratory infection. The current study shows that BAs elicit a specific response in humans in which they repress hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) protein, an emerging master regulator in response to infection and inflammation. HIF-1α repression was shown to occur through the 26S proteasome machinery via the prolyl hydroxylase domain (PHD) pathway. Further analysis of the downstream inflammatory response showed that HIF-1α repression by BAs can significantly modulate the immune response of airway epithelial cells, correlating with a decrease in interleukin-8 (IL-8) production, while IL-6 production was strongly increased. Importantly, the effects of BAs on cytokine production can also be more dominant than the bacterium-mediated effects. However, the effect of BAs on cytokine levels cannot be fully explained by their ability to repress HIF-1α, which is not surprising, given the complexity of the immune regulatory network. The suppression of HIF-1 signaling by bile acids may have a significant influence on the progression and outcome of respiratory disease, and the molecular mechanism underpinning this response warrants further investigation.
Inclusion of higher order terms for small-signal (modal) analysis: committee report-task force on assessing the need to include higher order terms for small-signal (modal) analysis

This paper summarizes the work done by the Task Force on Assessing the Need to Include Higher Order Terms for Small-Signal (Modal) Analysis. This Task Force was created by the Power System Dynamic Performance Committee to investigate the need to include higher order terms for small signal (modal) analysis. The focus of the work reported here is on establishing and documenting the practical significance of these terms in stability analysis using the method of Normal Forms. Special emphasis was placed on determining and describing conditions when higher order terms need to be included to accurately describe modal interactions. Test cases were developed on a standard test system to demonstrate the application of appropriate indices to detect the occurrence of nonlinear interaction and hence the need for higher order terms in stability analyzes. The use of the higher order terms in the site selection for a damping controller is also documented.
Scientific Foundations Relation Between Anthropometric and Cephalometric Measurements and Proportions of the Face of Healthy Young White Adult Men and Women

The specific aim of this study was to determine the differences between 6 anthropometric (taken from the surface) and cephalometric (taken from x-rays) measurements and 12 proportion indices formed by the measurements obtained from the face of 51 healthy Caucasoid young adult males and females. The z-score analysis revealed negligible differences in frequency of normal values, in surface measurements 97.4% (298 of 306) versus 96.7% (296 of 306) in cephalometric ones. The optimal normal measurements dominated, in males in 76.8% and in females in 80.8%. The mean values of the 6 linear measurements, taken from the surface and the cephalogram of the face were in equal number similar and significantly dissimilar in both sexes (Table 1). Comparison of the mean anthropometric and cephalometric proportion indices did not show significant differences in the two sexes (Table 2). For males 50% of the 12 proportions the indices were similar and 50% were significantly different. For females the frequency of similar proportions was seen in 33.3% and in 66.7% moderatelyseverely differing, statistically not significant. The z-score analysis identified subnormal measurements on the facial surface in 2.6% (8 of 306) and in cephalometric ones in 3.3% (10 of 306). The subnormal measurements of mild and moderate degree disclosed on the skeleton were not detected on the surface and some of the severely subnormal ones became mild-moderate on the skin surface. The study showed that the vertical anthropometric and cephalometric measurements in the facial profile were in highly significant percentage normal when compared with their normative data established for healthy populations. Generally, the cephalometric normal measurements were smaller than those of the anthropometric ones, some of them significantly. The significant differences between the proportions on the surface and skeleton in healthy subjects advice to be cautious in clinical practice, to judge the morphological changes of the face separately on the surface and on the skeleton of the patient.
A Picture Is Worth . . . ? Photo Elicitation Interviewing With Formerly Homeless Adults

We report on the use of photo elicitation interviewing (PEI) with 13 participants in a qualitative study of formerly homeless men and women with serious mental illness. Following a respondent-controlled approach, participants were asked to take up to 18 photographs visually portraying positive and negative aspects of their lives and to subsequently narrate the meaning of the photos in a one-on-one interview. Thematic analysis of the photos (N = 205) revealed two approaches to PEI: (a) a “slice of life” and (b) “then vs. now. ” Examples show how PEIs yielded deeper, more elaborate accounts of participants’ lives compared to earlier verbal-only interviews. Participants spoke of the benefits of PEI and preferred taking positive as opposed to negative photographs depicting their lives. Implications of PEI as a means of complementing verbal-only data are discussed. By moving away from predetermined content and meaning, respondent-controlled PEIs enhance empowerment and enable creativity.