Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
METABOLIC SYNDROME IN THE ELDERLY: AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE

Abstract We reviewed the literature concerning the prevalence and correlates of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in older adults and assessed the impact of MetS with regard to life expectancy and comorbidity in the elderly (aged 65 years and over). Using the PubMed database and the Cochrane Library, we found 16 eligible studies, of which 8 were prospective cohort studies, 7 cross-sectional studies, and 1 a case-control study. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) are the most popular definitions to describe MetS experienced by the elderly. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in an elderly population varied from 11% to 43% (median 21%) according to the WHO, and 23% to 55 % (median 31%) according to NCEP. Obesity and hypertension are the most prevalent individual components. MetS in an elderly population is a proven risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity, especially stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD), and mortality. Preventing and treating MetS would be useful in preventing disability and promoting normal aging. Results from the different studies of elderly populationbased cohorts provide support for earlier investigations in middle-aged populations to prevent MetS components. In conclusion, it is possible to say that the results from the different elderly study populations link the presence of the MetS with the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and functional disability, and further underscore the importance of recognising and treating its individual components, particularly high blood pressure.
Physical-Layer Security With Full-Duplex Transceivers and Multiuser Receiver at Eve

Full-duplex communication enables simultaneous transmission from both ends of a communication link, thereby promising significant performance gains. Generally, it has been shown that the throughput and delay gains of full-duplex communication are somewhat limited in realistic network settings, leading researchers to study other possible applications that can accord higher gains. The potential of full-duplex communication in improving the physical-layer security of a communication link is investigated in this contribution. We specifically present a thorough analysis of the achievable ergodic secrecy rate and the secrecy degrees of freedom with full-duplex communication in the presence of a half-duplex eavesdropper node, with both single-user decoding and multi-user decoding capabilities. For the latter case, an eavesdropper with successive interference cancellation and joint decoding capabilities is assumed. Irrespective of the eavesdropper capabilities and channel strengths, the ergodic secrecy rate with full-duplex communication is found to grow linearly with the log of the direct channel signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) as opposed to the flattened out secrecy rate with conventional half-duplex communication. Consequently, the secrecy degrees of freedom with full-duplex is shown to be two as opposed to that of zero in half-duplex mode.
Towards Social Robots: Automatic Evaluation of Human-robot Interaction by Face Detection and Expression Classification

Computer animated agents and robots bring a social dimension to human computer interaction and force us to think in new ways about how computers could be used in daily life. Face to face communication is a real-time process operating at a time scale of less than a second. In this paper we present progress on a perceptual primitive to automatically detect frontal faces in the video stream and code them with respect to 7 dimensions in real time: neutral, anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise. The face finder employs a cascade of feature detectors trained with boosting techniques [13, 2]. The expression recognizer employs a novel combination of Adaboost and SVM's. The generalization performance to new subjects for a 7-way forced choice was 93.3% and 97% correct on two publicly available datasets. The outputs of the classifier change smoothly as a function of time, providing a potentially valuable representation to code facial expression dynamics in a fully automatic and unobtrusive manner. The system was deployed and evaluated for measuring spontaneous facial expressions in the field in an application for automatic assessment of human-robot interaction.
Taming IP packet flooding attacks

One of the major problems faced by Internet hosts is denialof-service (DoS) caused by IP packet floods. Hosts in the Internet are unable to stop packets addressed to them. Once a host’s network link becomes congested, IP routers respond to the overload by dropping packets arbitrarily. This is contrary to the goals of the host, which could respond more effectively to overload if it had control over which packets were dropped. For example, a host may reject new connections rather than accept excess load. A host running multiple services may give higher priority to some services than others (service differentiation). Also, a host may provide lower quality service rather than reject requests (service degradation).
Punching Shear Behavior of Concrete Flat Slabs in Elevated Temperature and Fire

Two-way concrete flat slabs provide a number of benefits for office buildings, parking garages and apartments – for example, reduced formwork, prompt erection, minimal increase in story heights, and flexibility of partitions. Concrete flat slabs could be vulnerable to punching shear failure in the event of a fire. There are a limited number of studies available on concrete flat slabs for punching shear failure in fire. In the present study, a set of six reinforced concrete slabs are tested in ambient and elevated temperature to investigate their strength characteristics in punching shear failure. A model to estimate the punching shear capacity is developed and correlated with the available experimental data. Using the above model, a detailed parametric study is carried out to study the effects of various factors affecting the punching shear behavior. It is also shown that the existing code provisions for punching shear cannot predict slab behavior under fire exposure in some cases.
Intrarater Range of Motion Reliability in Cerebral Palsy: A Comparison of Assessment Methods

Purpose: To compare intrarater reliability of goniometry performed with and without an assistant and compare the reliability of the Staheli and Thomas tests of hip extension. Visual estimation was also evaluated as a method of range of motion assessment. Methods: Twenty-five children with cerebral palsy (50 legs) were evaluated in a blind fashion. Results: Interclass correlations (ICCs) ranged from 0.9701 to 0.9804 and from 0.9685 to 0.9822 for 1 and 2-person goniometry, respectively. Pearson product moment correlations of 0.8944 to 0.9553 for visual estimation were established. Staheli and Thomas test ICCs were 0.9793 and 0.9804, respectively. Conclusions: Goniometry with 1 and 2 assessors both produced ICCs in the excellent range as did the Staheli and Thomas test measurements of hip extension. The use of an assistant did not provide additional benefit. Visual estimation showed excellent correlation with goniometry.
Soft-Decision Majority Decoding of Reed – Muller Codes

We present a new soft-decision majority decoding algorithm for Reed–Muller codes RM( ). First, the reliabilities of 2 transmitted symbols are recalculated into the reliabilities of2 parity checks that represent each information bit. In turn, information bits are obtained by the weighted majoritythat gives more weight to more reliable parity checks. It is proven that for long low-rate codes RM( ), our soft-decision algorithm outperforms its conventional hard-decision counterpart by 10 log ( 2) 2 dB at any given output error probability. For fixed code rate and , our algorithm increases almost2 times the correcting capability of soft-decision bounded distance decoding.
Laboratory diagnosis and surveillance of human respiratory viruses by PCR in Victoria, Australia, 2002–2003

Respiratory viruses were identified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in more than 4,200 specimens collected during 2002 and 2003 in Victoria, Australia from patients admitted to hospitals or participating in an influenza surveillance program. Influenza viruses and picornaviruses were important causes of morbidity in both years. Additional testing of picornavirus‐positive samples suggested that rhinoviruses but not enteroviruses were more likely to be associated with respiratory symptoms, irrespective of the season in which they circulated. Detection of influenza viruses was strongly associated with the clinical symptoms of cough, fever, and fatigue; but each of the other respiratory viruses occasionally caused these symptoms or was responsible for symptoms severe enough to require hospitalization. Human coronaviruses HCoV‐OC43 and HCoV‐229E circulated at low levels throughout the study period with peak activity in winter, but overall did not circulate as widely as has often been reported for these agents. Evidence for the human metapneumovirus (hMPV) was only sought in the second year of the study and revealed low‐level circulation of this virus, mainly in the cooler months among the very young and adult populations. The detection rate of all viruses declined with increasing age of the patient, particularly in hospital patients. Infection with more than one respiratory virus occurred in a small number of patients; picornaviruses were most commonly implicated in these dual infections. J. Med. Virol. 75:122–129, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comics as a Medium for Providing Information on Adult Immunizations

This study compared the following effects of two vaccine information flyers—one developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) versus one adapted from this information to a comic medium (comic)—on adults: (a) attitude toward the flyer; (b) perceived informativeness of the flyer; (c) intention to seek more information about adult immunizations after viewing the flyer; and (d) intention to get immunized after viewing the flyer. A between-group, randomized trial was used to randomly assign adults (age 18 years or older) at an ambulatory care center to review the CDC or comic flyer. Participants were asked to complete a survey to measure several outcome variables. Items were measured using a 7-point semantic differential scale. Independent-samples t-test was used for comparisons. A total of 265 surveys (CDC n = 132 vs comic n = 133) were analyzed. The comic flyer had a statistically significant effect on participants’ attitudes and their perception of the flyer’s informativeness compared to the CDC flyer. Flyer type did not have a statistically significant effect on intention-related variables. The study findings showed that the comic flyer was positively evaluated compared to the CDC flyer. These findings could provide a new direction for developing adult educational materials.
Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer following the Diagnosis of Chronic Pancreatitis

Aim: To assess whether patients with misdiagnoses of chronic pancreatitis (CP), followed at an early stage by a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (PCr), present different epidemiological characteristics from patients suffering either from CP alone or from CP with late degeneration to PCr. Methods: We arbitrarily subdivided our patient series into three groups: (1) 12 CP who developed PCr within 4 years after onset of symptoms; (2) 12 CP developing PCr after the 4th year, and (3) 701 CP with no subsequent development of PCr. The variables studied were age, sex, drinking and smoking habits, tumor localization, and presence of intraductal calcifications and diabetes mellitus at the time of diagnosis of CP. Results: There were no significant differences between CP and ‘late’ PCr in any of the study variables considered. As compared with the CP group, the ‘early’ PCr cases were older (58.7 vs. 40.7 years; p < 0.0001), with a lower proportion of males (58 vs. 88%; p < 0.01), smaller proportions of both smokers (42 vs. 88%; p < 0.0001) and subjects drinking more than 40 g of alcohol/day (42 vs. 86%; p < 0.0001), and a greater incidence of non-insulin-dependent diabetics at the time of diagnosis of CP (25 vs. 3.7%; p < 0.012). As compared with the ‘late’ PCr group, the malignancies in the ‘early’ PCr cases were more often located in the head of the pancreas (100 vs. 50%; p < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis selected age over 50 (odds ratio OR 13.5, 95% confidence interval CI 2.79–65.5; p < 0.001), smoking habits (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.04–0.49; p < 0.002), and non-insulin-dependent diabetes (OR 5.91, 95% CI 1.20–29.1; p < 0.028) as variables identifying subjects with ‘early’ PCr. Conclusions: A high suspicion of a pancreatic tumor is necessary when CP is diagnosed in a patient with atypical epidemiological characteristics for this condition, possibly female, aged over 50, who is not a smoker or drinker, and suffers from non-insulin-dependent diabetes.
INTEGRAL insight into the inner parts of the Galaxy. High mass X-ray binaries

Since its launch INTEGRAL has devoted a significant fraction of its observing time to the Galactic plane region. We present the results of INTEGRAL observations of the inner spiral arms of the Galaxy (Norma, Scutum and Sagittarius) with attention to high mass X-ray binaries. The increased sensitivity of the survey and possibility to detect absorbed sources significantly enlarged our sample of HMXBs in comparison with previous studies. For some absorbed sources we present for the first time high quality broadband (1-100 keV) energy spectra. We confirm pulsations of the X-ray flux of IGR J16358-4726, discovered by CHANDRA, and report discovery of pulsations with a period of 228 ± 6 sec from IGR J16465-4507. We confirm that the Galactic high mass X-ray binary distribution is significantly different from the distribution of low mass X-ray binaries concentrated in the Galactic Center. A large fraction of detected high mass X-ray binaries are absorbed sources.
Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics Original paper Vol . 12 , No . 1 , 2010 Variability of gait characterized by normalized deviation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of sport, age and different orthopeadical diseases on the variability of gait. 45 healthy, young subjects, 11 professional hand ball players, 24 patients after medial meniscectomy, 20 elderly, healthy subjects, and 20 patients with hip osteoarthritis were examined. The average, the standard deviation and the normalized deviation of spatial and temporal parameters were calculated for each person examined and in each group. Our data suggested that the normalized deviation of parameters enables the modelling of dynamic perception, because it is independent of parameter values due to normalization. Our tests show that the size of the parameter is independent of lateral dominance in healthy subjects. The magnitude of the coefficient of the variation of parameters depends on age, on the intensity of sports activities, and on orthopaedical diseases.
Pregnancy Prevention and Condom Use Practices among HIV-Infected Women on Antiretroviral Therapy Seeking Family Planning in Lilongwe, Malawi

Background Programs for integration of family planning into HIV care must recognize current practices and desires among clients to appropriately target and tailor interventions. We sought to evaluate fertility intentions, unintended pregnancy, contraceptive and condom use among a cohort of HIV-infected women seeking family planning services within an antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic. Methods 200 women completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire during enrollment into a prospective contraceptive study at the Lighthouse Clinic, an HIV/ART clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi, between August and December 2010. Results Most women (95%) did not desire future pregnancy. Prior reported unintended pregnancy rates were high (69% unplanned and 61% unhappy with timing of last pregnancy). Condom use was inconsistent, even among couples with discordant HIV status, with lack of use often attributed to partner’s refusal. Higher education, older age, lower parity and having an HIV negative partner were factors associated with consistent condom usage. Discussion High rates of unintended pregnancy among these women underscore the need for integ rating family planning, sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention, and HIV services. Contraceptive access and use, including condoms, must be improved with specific efforts to enlist partner support. Messages regarding the importance of condom usage in conjunction with more effective modern contraceptive methods for both infection and pregnancy prevention must continue to be reinforced over the course of ongoing ART treatment.
Testing the Vesicular Morphology to Destruction: Birth and Death of Diblock Copolymer Vesicles Prepared via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly

Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), electrospray ionization charge detection mass spectrometry (CD-MS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to characterize poly(glycerol monomethacrylate)55-poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate)x (G55-Hx) vesicles prepared by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) using a reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) aqueous dispersion polymerization formulation. A G55 chain transfer agent is utilized to prepare a series of G55-Hx diblock copolymers, where the mean degree of polymerization (DP) of the membrane-forming block (x) is varied from 200 to 2000. TEM confirms that vesicles with progressively thicker membranes are produced for x = 200–1000, while SAXS indicates a gradual reduction in mean aggregation number for higher x values, which is consistent with CD-MS studies. Both DLS and SAXS studies indicate minimal change in the overall vesicle diameter between x = 400 and 800. Fitting SAXS patterns to a vesicle model enables calculation of the membrane thickness, degree of hydration of the membrane, and the mean vesicle aggregation number. The membrane thickness increases at higher x values, hence the vesicle lumen must become smaller if the external vesicle dimensions remain constant. Geometric considerations indicate that this growth mechanism lowers the total vesicle interfacial area and hence reduces the free energy of the system. However, it also inevitably leads to gradual ingress of the encapsulated water molecules into the vesicle membrane, as confirmed by SAXS analysis. Ultimately, the highly plasticized membranes become insufficiently hydrophobic to stabilize the vesicle morphology when x exceeds 1000, thus this PISA growth mechanism ultimately leads to vesicle “death”.
Galectin-1-Binding Glycoforms of Haptoglobin with Altered Intracellular Trafficking, and Increase in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

Sera from 25 metastatic breast cancer patients and 25 healthy controls were subjected to affinity chromatography using immobilized galectin-1. Serum from the healthy subjects contained on average 1.2 mg per ml (range 0.7–2.2) galectin-1 binding glycoproteins, whereas serum from the breast cancer patients contained on average 2.2 mg/ml (range 0.8–3.9), with a higher average for large primary tumours. The major bound glycoproteins were α-2-macroglobulin, IgM and haptoglobin. Both the IgM and haptoglobin concentrations were similar in cancer compared to control sera, but the percentage bound to galectin-1 was lower for IgM and higher for haptoglobin: about 50% (range 20–80) in cancer sera and about 30% (range 25–50) in healthy sera. Galectin-1 binding and non-binding fractions were separated by affinity chromatography from pooled haptoglobin from healthy sera. The N-glycans of each fraction were analyzed by mass spectrometry, and the structural differences and galectin-1 mutants were used to identify possible galectin-1 binding sites. Galectin-1 binding and non-binding fractions were also analyzed regarding their haptoglobin function. Both were similar in forming complex with haemoglobin and mediate its uptake into alternatively activated macrophages. However, after uptake there was a dramatic difference in intracellular targeting, with the galectin-1 non-binding fraction going to a LAMP-2 positive compartment (lysosomes), while the galectin-1 binding fraction went to larger galectin-1 positive granules. In conclusion, galectin-1 detects a new type of functional biomarker for cancer: a specific type of glycoform of haptoglobin, and possibly other serum glycoproteins, with a different function after uptake into tissue cells.
Muscular Strength Adaptations and Hormonal Responses After Two Different Multiple-Set Protocols of Resistance Training in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract Nunes, PRP, Barcelos, LC, Oliveira, AA, Furlanetto, R, Martins, FM, Resende, EAMR, and Orsatti, FL. Muscular strength adaptations and hormonal responses after two different multiple-set protocols of resistance training in postmenopausal women. J Strength Cond Res 33(5): 1276–1285, 2019—We studied the effects of 2 different resistance training (RT) multiple-set protocols (3 and 6 sets) on muscle strength and basal hormones concentrations in postmenopausal women (PW). Postmenopausal women were randomly allocated into 3 groups: control (CT, n = 12), low RT volume (LV = 3 sets for each exercise, n = 10), and high RT volume (HV = 6 sets for each exercise, n = 12). The LV and HV groups performed 8 exercises of a total body RT protocol 3 times a week, at 70% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM) for 16 weeks. Muscle strength and basal hormone concentrations were measured before and after RT. Our findings show that 3 sets or 6 sets at 70% of 1RM protocol increased muscular strength similarly after 16 weeks (sum of all exercises, LV: 37.7% and HV: 34.1% vs. CT: 2.1%, p < 0.001). Moreover, the RT volume does not affect basal levels of testosterone (TT) (LV: 0.02%, HV: −0.12%, and CT: 0.006%, p = 0.233), cortisol (C) (LV: 72.4%, HV: 36.8%, and CT: 16.8%, p = 0.892), insulin-like growth factor-1 (LV: 6.7%, HV: 7.3%, and CT: 4.1%, p = 0.802), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (LV: 0.1%, HV: −4.5%, and CT: −6.7%, p = 0.885), and TT:C ratio (LV: −0.9%, HV: −1.6%, and CT: −0.4%, p = 0.429). Our results suggest that 3 sets and 6 sets at 70% of 1RM seem to promote similar muscle strength gain. Thus, 3-set RT is a time efficient protocol for strength gain after 16 weeks in PW.
revised surface resistance parameterisation for estimating latent heat flux from emotely sensed data

Estimating evapotranspiration (ET) is required for many environmental studies. Remote sensing provides the ability to spatially map latent heat flux. Many studies have developed approaches to derive spatially distributed surface energy fluxes from various satellite sensors with the help of field observations. In this study, remote-sensing-based E mapping was conducted using a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image and an Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image. The remotely sensed data and field observations employed in this study were obtained from Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER). A biophysics-based surface resistance model was revised to account for water stress and temperature constraints. The precision of the results was validated using ‘ground truth’ data obtained by eddy covariance (EC) system. Scale effects play an important role, especially for parameter optimisation and validation of the latent heat flux ( E). After considering the footprint of EC, the E derived from the remote sensing data was comparable to the EC measured value during the satellite’s passage. The results showed that the revised surface resistance parameterisation scheme was useful for estimating the latent heat flux over cropland in arid regions.