Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Birth Ball Exercises during Pregnancy on Mode of Delivery in Primiparous Women

Background: Considering the fact that cesarean section (c-section) poses greater risks of maternal and neonatal complications, compared to vaginal delivery, scholars seek different strategies to decrease the prevalence of this surgical procedure. Birth ball exercises during pregnancy are among the proposed strategies. Thus, this study aimed to determine the effect of using birth ball during pregnancy on mode of delivery in primiparous women. Methods:This clinical trial was conducted on 54 women, referring to the maternity ward of Omolbanin Hospital. Subjects were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group performed birth ball exercises for 4-6 weeks; on the other hand, the control group only received routine care. Data were collected using questionnaires, forms of examination and observation, and checklists for recording exercise movements on a weekly basis. Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, and Mann-Whitney U test were performed, using SPSS version 16. Results: Rates of vaginal delivery and c-section in the intervention group were 92.6% and 7.4%, respectively, while the corresponding values in the control group were 66.7% and 33.3%, respectively. Chi-square showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of mode of delivery (P=0.018). Conclusion: Considering the significance of promoting vaginal delivery among women, performing birth ball exercises is recommended as a useful, non-pharmacological, and inexpensive strategy for reducing c-section rate.
Polyphosphate Stores Enhance the Ability of Vibrio cholerae To Overcome Environmental Stresses in a Low-Phosphate Environment

ABSTRACT Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of Asiatic cholera, has been reported to make large quantities of polyphosphate. Inorganic polyphosphate is a ubiquitous molecule with a variety of functions in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. We constructed a V. cholerae mutant with a deletion in the polyphosphate kinase (ppk) gene. The mutant was defective in polyphosphate biosynthesis. Deletion of ppk had no significant effect on production of cholera toxin, hemagglutinin/protease, motility, biofilm formation, and colonization of the suckling mouse intestine. The wild type and mutant had similar growth rates in rich and minimal medium and exhibited similar phosphate uptake and alkaline phosphatase induction. In contrast to ppk mutants from other gram-negative bacteria, the V. cholerae mutant survived prolonged starvation in LB medium and artificial seawater basal salts. The ppk mutant was significantly more sensitive to low pH, high salinity, and oxidative stress when it was cultured in low-phosphate minimal medium. The ppk mutant failed to induce catalase when it was downshifted to phosphorus-limiting conditions. Furthermore, the increased sensitivity of the ppk mutant to environmental stressors in phosphate-limited medium correlated with a diminished capacity to synthesize ATP from intracellular reservoirs. We concluded that polyphosphate protects V. cholerae from environmental stresses under phosphate limitation conditions. It has been proposed that toxigenic V. cholerae can survive in estuaries and brackish waters in which phosphorus and/or nitrogen can be a limiting nutrient. Thus, synthesis of large polyphosphate stores could enhance the ability of V. cholerae to survive in the aquatic environment.
Human Amygdala Responses to Fearful Eyes

Fearful facial expressions evoke increased neural responses in human amygdala. We used event-related fMRI to investigate whether eye or mouth components of a fearful face are critical in evoking this increased amygdala activity. In addition to prototypical fearful (FF) and neutral (NN) faces, subjects viewed two types of chimerical face: fearful eyes combined with a neutral mouth (FN), and neutral eyes combined with a fearful mouth (NF). FE faces evoked specific responses in left anterior amygdala. FN faces evoked responses in bilateral posterior amygdala and superior colliculus. Responses in right amygdala, superior colliculus, and pulvinar exhibited significant time x condition interactions with respect to faces with fearful eyes (FF, FN) vs neutral eyes (NF, NN). These data indicate that fearful eyes alone are sufficient to evoke increased amygdala activity. In addition, however, left amygdala displayed discriminatory responses to fearful eyes in different configural contexts (i.e., in FF and FN faces). These results suggest, therefore, that human amygdala responds to both feature-specific and configural aspects of fearful facial expressions.
Denial: Predictor of Outcome following Coronary Bypass Surgery

Using a modified version of the Hackett-Cassem denial scale we measured preoperative denial in 121 patients scheduled for CABG surgery. A significant inverse relationship was found between the denial scale and Hamilton Anxiety measures four days postoperatively (p < .02). Longitudinal assessments were carried out using the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (SSAI), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung SDS) and the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS). Six months following the surgery, significant negative relationships between denial and these self-report outcome measures were observed as follows: denial and SSAI (p < .001), denial and Zung SDS (p < .01), and denial and PAIS (p < .01). However, the same analysis at twelve months showed no statistically significant correlations between denial and these psychologic outcome measures. Our findings suggest that denial serves as an adaptive mechanism, especially in the immediate postoperative period. Furthermore, higher levels of denial may be predictive of improved psychologic outcome for up to six months following surgery. Subsequently, however, other events, unrelated to the surgery, may be of greater importance than preoperative denial in determining psychological outcome from CABG surgery.
Efficient motion estimation using edge-based binary block-matching and refinement based on motion vector correlation

A fast block-matching motion estimation algorithm is proposed for efficient hardware implementation in video coding standards. The proposed algorithm consists of the binary block-matching (BBM) step based on edge information, the first refinement step around the motion vector (MV) obtained from BBM, and the second but conditional refinement step using spatial correlation of neighboring MVs. The proposed algorithm gives the PSNR performance similar to that of the full search. Moreover, due to BBM and the fact that the refinement steps and the half-pel search perform the same operation, its hardware implementation can be performed with several prospective features such as small number of gates, low power consumption, and short critical path delay, etc.
Defining the RNaseH2 enzyme-initiated ribonucleotide excision repair pathway in Archaea

Incorporation of ribonucleotides during DNA replication has severe consequences for genome stability. Although eukaryotes possess a number of redundancies for initiating and completing repair of misincorporated ribonucleotides, archaea such as Thermococcus rely only upon RNaseH2 to initiate the pathway. Because Thermococcus DNA polymerases incorporate as many as 1,000 ribonucleotides per genome, RNaseH2 must be efficient at recognizing and nicking at embedded ribonucleotides to ensure genome integrity. Here, we show that ribonucleotides are incorporated by the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis both in vitro and in vivo and a robust ribonucleotide excision repair pathway is critical to keeping incorporation levels low in wild-type cells. Using pre-steady-state and steady-state kinetics experiments, we also show that archaeal RNaseH2 rapidly cleaves at embedded ribonucleotides (200-450 s−1), but exhibits an ∼1,000-fold slower turnover rate (0.06–0.17 s−1), suggesting a potential role for RNaseH2 in protecting or marking nicked sites for further processing. We found that following RNaseH2 cleavage, the combined activities of polymerase B (PolB), flap endonuclease (Fen1), and DNA ligase are required to complete ribonucleotide processing. PolB formed a ribonucleotide-containing flap by strand displacement synthesis that was cleaved by Fen1, and DNA ligase sealed the nick for complete repair. Our study reveals conservation of the overall mechanism of ribonucleotide excision repair across domains of life. The lack of redundancies in ribonucleotide repair in archaea perhaps suggests a more ancestral form of ribonucleotide excision repair compared with the eukaryotic pathway.
A Global Convergence Theory for Dennis, El-Alem, and Maciel's Class of Trust-Region Algorithms for Constrained Optimization without Assuming Regularity

This work presents a convergence theory for Dennis, El-Alem, and Maciel's class of trust-region-based algorithms for solving the smooth nonlinear programming problem with equality constraints. The results are proved under very mild conditions on the quasi-normal and tangential components of the trial steps. The Lagrange multiplier estimates and the Hessian estimates are assumed to be bounded. No regularity assumption is made. In particular, linear independence of the gradients of the constraints is not assumed. The theory proves global convergence for the class. In particular, it shows that a subsequence of the iteration sequence satisfies one of four types of Mayer--Bliss stationary conditions in the limit.
A short-term dietary supplementation of high doses of vitamin E increases T helper 1 cytokine production in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE Patients with advanced cancer exhibit multifaceted defects in their immune capacity, which are likely to contribute to an increased susceptibility to infections and disease progression and to constitute a barrier to immunotherapeutic interventions. A chronic inflammatory condition associated with increased oxidative stress has been suggested as one of the responsible mechanisms behind the tumor-induced immune suppression. We, therefore, speculated that supplementation with the antioxidant vitamin E could enhance the immune functions in patients with advanced cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN This hypothesis was here tested in twelve patients with colorectal cancer (Dukes' C and D) who, prior to intervention with chemo- or radiotherapy, received a daily dose of 750 mg of vitamin E during a period of 2 weeks. RESULTS Short-term supplementation with high doses of dietary vitamin E leads to increased CD4:CD8 ratios and to enhanced capacity by their T cells to produce the T helper 1 cytokines interleukin 2 and IFN-gamma. In 10 of 12 patients, an increase of 10% or more (average, 22%) in the number of T cells producing interleukin 2 was seen after 2 weeks of vitamin E supplementation, as compared with peripheral blood monocyte samples taken before treatment (P = 0.02). Interestingly, there seemed to be a more pronounced stimulatory effect by vitamin E on naïve (CD45RA(+)) T helper cells as compared with T cells with a memory/activated phenotype. CONCLUSIONS Dietary vitamin E may be used to improve the immune functions in patients with advanced cancer, as a supplement to more specific immune interventions.
INSTABILITY OF PLANAR TRAVELING WAVES IN BISTABLE REACTION-DIFFUSION SYSTEMS

This paper is concerned with the stability of a planar traveling wave in a cylindrical domain. The equation describes activator-inhibitor systems in chemistry or biology. The wave has a thin transition layer and is constructed by singular perturbation methods. Let $\varepsilon$ be the width of the layer. We show that, if the cross section of the domain is narrow enough, the traveling wave is asymptotically stable, while it is unstable if the cross section is wide enough by studying the linearized eigenvalue problem. For the latter case, we study the wavelength associated with an eigenvalue with the largest real part, which is called the fastest growing wavelength. We prove that this wavelength is $O(\varepsilon^{1/3})$ as $\varepsilon$ goes to zero mathematically rigorously. This fact shows that, if unstable planar waves are perturbed randomly, this fastest growing wavelength is selectively amplified with as time goes on. For this analysis, we use a new uniform convergence theorem for some inverse operator and carry out the Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction.
Model predictive control of systems with communication constraints

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of the on-line scheduling of a limited communication resource in order to optimize the control performance. A multivariable linear system with communication constraints is modeled in the Mixed Logical Dynamical (MLD) framework. The system is controlled using a Model Predictive Controller (MPC), which computes, at each sampling period, the appropriate control values and network allocation. The performance of the controlled system is evaluated using a Linear-Quadratic cost function. At each step, the MPC needs to solve an optimization problem, including logic constraints. The translation of this problem into the Mixed Integer Quadratic Programming (MIQP) formulation is described. Finally, using a numerical example, the relationship between the state variables of the plant and the resultant allocation of the communication resource is investigated.
Phylogenomic Resolution of the Phylogeny of Laurasiatherian Mammals: Exploring Phylogenetic Signals within Coding and Noncoding Sequences

Abstract The interordinal relationships of Laurasiatherian mammals are currently one of the most controversial questions in mammalian phylogenetics. Previous studies mainly relied on coding sequences (CDS) and seldom used noncoding sequences. Here, by data mining public genome data, we compiled an intron data set of 3,638 genes (all introns from a protein-coding gene are considered as a gene) (19,055,073 bp) and a CDS data set of 10,259 genes (20,994,285 bp), covering all major lineages of Laurasiatheria (except Pholidota). We found that the intron data contained stronger and more congruent phylogenetic signals than the CDS data. In agreement with this observation, concatenation and species-tree analyses of the intron data set yielded well-resolved and identical phylogenies, whereas the CDS data set produced weakly supported and incongruent results. Further analyses showed that the phylogeny inferred from the intron data is highly robust to data subsampling and change in outgroup, but the CDS data produced unstable results under the same conditions. Interestingly, gene tree statistical results showed that the most frequently observed gene tree topologies for the CDS and intron data are identical, suggesting that the major phylogenetic signal within the CDS data is actually congruent with that within the intron data. Our final result of Laurasiatheria phylogeny is (Eulipotyphla,((Chiroptera, Perissodactyla),(Carnivora, Cetartiodactyla))), favoring a close relationship between Chiroptera and Perissodactyla. Our study 1) provides a well-supported phylogenetic framework for Laurasiatheria, representing a step towards ending the long-standing “hard” polytomy and 2) argues that intron within genome data is a promising data resource for resolving rapid radiation events across the tree of life.
A Phylogenetic Foundation for Comparative Mammalian Genomics

On behalf of the Coalition for Health Funding, a nonprofit alliance of more than 50 national voluntary and professional associations representing approximately 50 million health care professionals, lay volunteers, patients and families, we urge you to vote against the Sessions-McCaskill amendment (SA 3453) to HR 1586 that would impose statutory discretionary spending caps through FY 2013. It would set separate caps for defense and domestic spending, with the limit on domestic discretionary spending essentially freezing such spending for four years (FY 2010-FY 2013).
Emergence and continued circulation of dengue‐2 (genotype IV) virus strains in northern India

Dengue (DEN) is an acute mosquito borne viral disease of mankind. Off late it has become an important public health concern in Southeast Asia. Although, all the four known dengue virus serotypes (DEN‐1 to 4) are reported from time to time, in the recent past, DEN‐2 has emerged as the predominant type, being the causative agent of several outbreaks of dengue fever (DF) and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) in India. To elucidate the true molecular epidemiology of these viruses, we have sequenced C‐prM gene junction (454 nucleotides) of 11 DEN‐2 viruses directly from patient serum. The C‐prM gene junction was amplified initially by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction followed by automated DNA sequencing. These sequences provide unique information with regard to molecular epidemiology when compared to other DEN‐2 sequences from diverse geographic origins. The sequence analysis revealed that most of the mutations in this region remained silent, except a few at the carboxy‐terminal of the capsid. Reported phylogenetic analysis classifies DEN‐2 viruses into five distinct genotypes. The Gwalior DEN‐2 viruses, included in the present study were classified into genotype‐IV, and were found to be most closely related to Delhi 1996 DEN‐2 viruses and FJ 10/11 strains prevalent in the Fujian state of China. However, two earlier Indian isolates of DEN‐2 were classified into genotype‐V. The present study indicates that genotype V of DEN‐2 has been replaced by genotype IV during the past decade, which continues to circulate silently in north India, and have the potential to reemerge and cause major epidemics of DF and DHF. J. Med. Virol. 74:314–322, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Heart Failure Functional Class Associated with Depression Severity But Not Anxiety Severity.

BACKGROUND Depression and anxiety are common in heart failure (HF) patients and associated with adverse clinical outcomes. However, there are little or no published data that focuses on the relationship between these commonly observed situations and HF classes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between these psychiatric co-morbidities and HF symptom classes. As a second objective of our study, the associations between patient characteristics and depression severity were also assessed. METHODS Our study enrolled a total of 420 HF study participants. The severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms was evaluated by Beck's depression and anxiety. The measured total scores were used to grade depression severity and anxiety as minimal/mild and moderate/severe. RESULTS According to NYHA Functional Classification, 228 patients (51%) had class I symptoms, 101 (23%) had class II symptoms, 31 (7%) had class III symptoms, and class IV symptoms were noted in the remaining 60 patients (19%). The mean Beck's depression and anxiety scores were 12.4 ± 11.1 and 13.4 ± 9.0, respectively. While no association between HF symptom classes and anxiety severity was observed, a significant positive relation between HF symptom class and depression score was found. CONCLUSIONS The results of our study suggested that HF symptom class was positively associated with severity of depression. On the other hand, there was no association between HF symptom class and anxiety score in a wide population of heart failure patients. KEY WORDS Anxiety; Depression; Heart failure.
Authentication schemes for multimedia streams: Quantitative analysis and comparison

With the rapid increase in the demand for multimedia services, securing the delivery of multimedia content has become an important issue. Accordingly, the problem of multimedia stream authentication has received considerable attention by previous research and various solutions have been proposed. However, these solutions have not been rigorously analyzed and contrasted to each other, and thus their relative suitability for different streaming environments is not clear. This article presents comprehensive analysis and comparison among different schemes proposed in the literature to authenticate multimedia streams. Authentication schemes for nonscalable and scalable multimedia streams are analyzed. To conduct this analysis, we define five important performance metrics, which are computation cost, communication overhead, receiver buffer size, delay, and tolerance to packet losses. We derive analytic formulas for these metrics for all considered authentication schemes to numerically analyze their performance. In addition, we implement all schemes in a simulator to study and compare their performance in different environments. The parameters for the simulator are carefully chosen to mimic realistic settings. We draw several conclusions on the advantages and disadvantages of each scheme. We extend our analysis to authentication techniques for scalable streams. We pay careful attention to the flexibility of scalable streams and analyze its impacts on the authentication schemes. Our analysis and comparison reveal the merits and shortcomings of each scheme, provide guidelines on choosing the most appropriate scheme for a given multimedia streaming application, and could stimulate designing new authentication schemes or improving existing ones. For example, our detailed analysis has led us to design a new authentication scheme that combines the best features of two previous schemes.
Observations on Myiasis by the Calliphorids, Bufolucilia silvarum and Bufolucilia elongata, in Wood Frogs, Rana sylvatica, From Southeastern Wisconsin

Larvae of certain species of blowflies (Calliphoridae) can cause myiasis in frogs and toads, but there are few reports from North American amphibians. Of these, most are from toads (bufonids). In this study, we observe primary myiasis in a population of juvenile wood frogs, Rana sylvatica, collected on 22–23 August 2003, from southeastern Wisconsin and compare our observations with previous studies on myiasis from toads. Two (5%) of 39 frogs were infected by the blow fly Bufolucilia silvarum, with an intensity of 28 and 31, whereas 1 (2.5%) of 39 frogs was infected by the blow fly Bufolucilia elongata with an intensity of 14. We found that (1) B. silvarum lay eggs on healthy wood frogs, (2) eggs hatch, with first-instar maggots penetrating under the skin, (3) maggots develop to mature third instars within 13– 16 hr of egg hatching, (4) maggots kill the host within 7–47 hr of egg hatching, and (5) maggots consume the entire frog carcass reducing it to bones within 42–59 hr of egg hatching. Our observations on the time of death and how quickly carcasses of wood frogs were consumed by these maggots compared with previous studies on toads suggest that finding infected juvenile wood frogs may be uncommon. Therefore, myiasis by these flies on wood frogs and other small terrestrial anurans may be a phenomenon that is much more common than is currently observed. This is the first report of B. silvarum and B. elongata causing myiasis in wood frogs.
Bounds on the second-order coding rate of the MIMO Rayleigh block-fading channel

We study the second-order coding rate of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Rayleigh block-fading channel via statistical bounds from information spectrum methods and random matrix theory. Based on an asymptotic analysis of the mutual information density which considers the simultaneous growth of the block length n and the number of transmit and receive antennas K and N, we derive closed-form upper and lower bounds on the optimal average error probability when the code rate is within O(1/√nK) of the asymptotic capacity. A Gaussian approximation is then used to establish an upper bound on the error probability for arbitrary code rates which is shown by simulations to be accurate for small N, K, and n.