Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High Incidence of Malaria Along the Sino–Burmese Border Is Associated With Polymorphisms of CR1, IL-1A, IL-4R, IL-4, NOS, and TNF, But Not With G6PD Deficiency

AbstractMalaria is highly endemic in Yunnan Province, China, with the incidence of malaria being highest along the Sino–Burmese border.The aim of our study was to determine whether genetic polymorphisms are associated with the prevalence of malaria among Chinese residents of the Sino–Burmese border region. Fourteen otherwise healthy people with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, 50 malaria patients, and 67 healthy control subjects were included in our cross-sectional study. We analyzed the frequency of the G3093T and T520C single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CR1. Logistic regression was used to calculate the prevalence odds ratio (POR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of malaria for the T520C SNP of CR1 and SNPs of G6PD, IL-4, IL-4R, IL-1A, NOS, CD40LG, TNF, and LUC7L.The frequency of the 3093T/3093T genotype of CR1 in the malaria group (0.16) was significantly higher than that in the control group (0.045, P < 0.05), and significantly lower than that in the G6PD deficiency group (0.43, P < 0.01). The frequency of the 520T/520T genotype of CR1 was significantly higher in the malaria patients (0.78) than that in the control group (0.67, P < 0.05) and G6PD-deficiency group (0.36, P < 0.05). The T allele of the T520C variant of CR1 was significantly associated with the prevalence of malaria (POR: 1.460; 95% CI: 0.703–3.034). Polymorphisms of G6PD did not significantly influence the prevalence malaria (P > 0.05). A GTGTGTC haplotype consisting of IL-1A (rs17561), IL-4 (rs2243250), TNF (rs1800750), IL-4R (rs1805015), NOS (rs8078340), CD40LG (rs1126535), and LUC7L (rs1211375) was significantly associated with the prevalence of malaria (POR: 1.822, 95% CI: 0.998–3.324). The 3093G/3093G and 520T/520T genotypes are the predominant genetic variants of CR1 among Chinese residents near the Sino–Burmese border, and the T allele of T520C is associated with the prevalence of malaria in this region. Although G6PD deficiency does not protect against malaria, it may diminish the association between malaria and the CR1 polymorphisms in this population. The GTGTGTC haplotype is also associated with the prevalence of malaria in this region.
A Jacobian Method for Online Modification of Precalculated Gait Trajectories

In this paper an online posture modification method termed Jacobi Compensation is proposed, which modifies precalculated step trajectories for a humanoid robot in certain task coordinate directions. This method can accomodate for modeling errors in trajectory precalculation in that for instance the center of mass (CoM) or certain parts of the humanoid mechanism can be shifted to increase walking stability and performance. The efficacy of the concept is shown in simulations with a simplified model and walking experiments with a humanoid robot.
An Architecture to Support Context-Aware Applications

Context is an important, yet poorly utilized source of information in interactive computing. It is difficult to use because, unlike other forms of user input, there is no common, reusable way to handle context. Most contextaware applications have been built in an ad hoc manner. We discuss the requirements for dealing with context and present an architectural solution we have designed and implemented to help application designers build contextaware applications more easily. We illustrate the use of the architecture through a context-aware application that assists conference attendees.
The Information in Option Volume for Stock Prices

We find strong evidence of information transmission from the options market to underlying stock prices. Taking advantage of a unique dataset from the Chicago Board Options Exchange, we construct put to call volume ratios for underlying stocks, using only volume initiated by buyers to open new positions. Performing daily cross-sectional analyses from 1990 to 2001, we find that buying stocks with low put/call ratios and selling stocks with high put/call ratios generates an expected return of 40 basis points per day and 1 percent per week. This result is present during each year of our sample period, and is not affected by the exclusion of earnings announcement windows. Moreover, the result is stronger for smaller stocks, indicating that the options market may be a more important avenue for information transmission for stocks with less efficient information flow. Our analysis also sheds light on the type of investor behind the informed option trading. Specifically, we find that option trading from customers of full service brokers provides the strongest predictability, while that from firm proprietary traders is not informative. Furthermore, our analysis shows that while public customers on average trade in the options market as contrarians -- buying fresh new puts on stocks that have done well and calls on stocks that have done poorly, firm proprietary traders exhibit the opposite behavior. Finally, in contrast to the equity options market, we do not find any evidence of informed trading in the index options market.
Identification and evaluation of ω-3 fatty acid desaturase genes for hyperfortifying α-linolenic acid in transgenic rice seed

α-Linolenic acid (ALA) deficiency and a skewed of ω6:ω3 fatty acid ratio in the diet are a major explanation for the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and inflammatory/autoimmune diseases. There is a need to enhance the ALA content and to reduce the ratio of linoleic acid (LA) to ALA. Six ω-3 (Δ-15) fatty acid desaturase (FAD) genes were cloned from rice and soybean. The subcellular localizations of the proteins were identified. The FAD genes were introduced into rice under the control of an endosperm-specific promoter, GluC, or a Ubi-1 promoter to evaluate their potential in increasing the ALA content in seeds. The ALA contents in the seeds of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-localized GmFAD3-1 and OsFAD3 overexpression lines increased from 0.36 mg g−1 to 8.57 mg g−1and 10.06 mg g−1, respectively, which was 23.8- and 27.9-fold higher than that of non-transformants. The trait of high ALA content was stably inheritable over three generations. Homologous OsFAD3 is more active than GmFAD3-1 in catalysing LA conversion to ALA in rice seeds. Overexpression of ER-localized GmFAD3-2/3 and chloroplast-localized OsFAD7/8 had less effect on increasing the ALA content in rice seeds. The GluC promoter is advantageous compared with Ubi-1 in this experimental system. The enhanced ALA was preferentially located at the sn-2 position in triacylglycerols. A meal-size portion of high ALA rice would meet >80% of the daily adult ALA requirement. The ALA-rich rice could be expected to ameliorate much of the global dietary ALA deficiency.
A National Cancer Institute Workshop on Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer Syndrome: meeting highlights and Bethesda guidelines.

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is a distinct autosomal dominant syndrome accounting for approximately 5%–6% of the total colorectal cancer burden with clinical and pathologic features caused by defective mismatch repair genes(1). Germline mutations in hMSH2, hMLH1, hPMS1, hPMS2, and MSH6/GTBP have been identified in affected individuals(2,3). HNPCC is characterized by early-onset colorectal cancer (median age at diagnosis 45 years); right-sided predominance; excess synchronous and metachronous colorectal neoplasms; and an increased incidence of extracolonic neoplasms, including endometrial, small-bowel, gastric, renal pelvis and ureter, and ovarian tumors and skin lesions, such as sebaceous adenomas, carcinomas, and keratoacanthomas (4–10). In 1991, the International Collaborative Group on Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer (11) established minimal clinical criteria for recruiting HNPCC patients for collaborative studies. These criteria, also known as the Amsterdam Criteria, include the following: 1) at least three relatives with histologically verified colorectal cancer, one of them a first-degree relative of the other two (familial adenomatous polyposis excluded); 2) at least two successive generations affected; and 3) in one of the individuals, diagnosis of colorectal cancer before the age of 50. These criteria were pivotal in identifying kindreds that eventually led to the association of the HNPCC syndrome with germline mismatch repair gene mutations (MMR). However, the criteria do not account for extracolonic cancers or for small kindreds. On November 11 and 12, 1996, the Early Detection Branch of the National Cancer Institute convened an international workshop in Bethesda, MD, entitled ‘‘The Intersection of Pathology and Genetics in the Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) Syndrome. ’’ The purpose of the workshop was to clarify the role of genetics in the pathology of HNPCC. Discussions centered on genomic instability, multistep carcinogenesis and the role of mismatch repair genes in HNPCC, histopathology of HNPCCs and possible relationships to molecular genetic changes, markers of cell proliferation and their relationship to HNPCC as well as their potential use in early diagnosis and prognosis, and, lastly, clinicopathologic criteria that could lead to the identification of additional HNPCC patients. The keynote speaker was Dr. Alfred Knudson (Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia), who discussed the tumor spectrum of the HNPCC syndrome. Issues that arose during the workshop are discussed below.
Okapi at TREC-7: Automatic Ad Hoc, Filtering, VLC and Interactive

Three runs were submitted: medium (title and description), short (title only) and a run which was a combination of a long run (title, description and narrative) with the medium and short runs. The average precision of the last mentioned run was higher by several percent than any other submitted run, but another participant recently noticed an impossibly high score for one topic in the short run. This led to the discovery that due to a mistake in the indexing procedures part of the SUBJECT eld of the LA Times documents had been indexed. Use of this eld was explicitly forbidden in the guidelines [1] for the ad hoc track. The o cial runs were repeated against a corrected index, and the corrected results are reported below, average precisions being reduced by about 2{4%.
Increased Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Occupations Associated with Low-Dose Benzene Exposure

Background: Benzene is an established leukemogen at high exposure levels. Although low-level benzene exposure is widespread and may induce oxidative damage, no mechanistic biomarkers are available to detect biological dysfunction at low doses. Objectives: Our goals were to determine in a large multicenter cross-sectional study whether low-level benzene is associated with increased blood mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn, a biological oxidative response to mitochondrial DNA damage and dysfunction) and to explore potential links between mtDNAcn and leukemia-related epigenetic markers. Methods: We measured blood relative mtDNAcn by real-time polymerase chain reaction in 341 individuals selected from various occupational groups with low-level benzene exposures (> 100 times lower than the Occupational Safety and Health Administration/European Union standards) and 178 referents from three Italian cities (Genoa, Milan, Cagliari). Results: In each city, benzene-exposed participants showed higher mtDNAcn than referents: mtDNAcn was 0.90 relative units in Genoa bus drivers and 0.75 in referents (p = 0.019); 0.90 in Milan gas station attendants, 1.10 in police officers, and 0.75 in referents (p-trend = 0.008); 1.63 in Cagliari petrochemical plant workers, 1.25 in referents close to the plant, and 0.90 in referents farther from the plant (p-trend = 0.046). Using covariate-adjusted regression models, we estimated that an interquartile range increase in personal airborne benzene was associated with percent increases in mtDNAcn equal to 10.5% in Genoa (p = 0.014), 8.2% (p = 0.008) in Milan, 7.5% in Cagliari (p = 0.22), and 10.3% in all cities combined (p < 0.001). Using methylation data available for the Milan participants, we found that mtDNAcn was associated with LINE-1 hypomethylation (–2.41%; p = 0.007) and p15 hypermethylation (+15.95%, p = 0.008). Conclusions: Blood MtDNAcn was increased in persons exposed to low benzene levels, potentially reflecting mitochondrial DNA damage and dysfunction.
"More Than A March in a Circle": Transgressive Protests and the Limits of Negotiated Management

We examine how tactical innovations introduced by transgressive protesters during the Seattle cycle of protests contributed to the end of a long, relatively stable period of detente between police and protesters in the United States. Case studies of the demonstrations staged by the AFL-CIO and the Direct Action Network (DAN) during the 1999 WTO protests are used to reveal the divergent capacity of the negotiated management style of policing protest to control contained and transgressive protesters. We argue that the transgressive protesters' tactics, organizational structure, and decision-making processes all frustrated police attempts to control their demonstrations and contributed to DAN's ability to shut down the opening day of the WTO. We conclude by developing a framework for understanding how police responded in subsequent protests using what we describe as "strategic incapacitation" and by proposing research questions about the impact of this style of policing on subsequent protests in the U.S. and.
Progression of Voice and Speech Impairment in the Course of Parkinson's Disease: A Longitudinal Study

Impairment of voice and speech occurs in the majority of patients in the course of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of the current study was to survey the changes of voice and speech performance in the individual patients over time. 80 patients with PD and 60 healthy speakers were tested and retested after at least 12 months (average time interval: 32.5 months). Participants had to read a given text which was digitally recorded as a source for the perceptual and acoustic analysis. Stage of the disease and global motor impairment were rated according to the accepted scales. As a result, abnormalities of voice and speech were already present in mildly affected patients and there were significant deteriorations of quality of voice and articulatory velocity and precision between baseline and followup examination which showed no correlation with the time interval between the visits. Summarized, voice, and speech performance were found to further deteriorate in the individual patient in the course of time although global motor impairment was widely stable which might be a hint for nondopaminergic mechanisms of progression of dysarthrophonia. Further investigations are warranted to get a better insight into the dynamics of the progression of voice and speech impairment in PD as a precondition for the development of therapeutic approaches.
Living in Fear: Better outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism.

In the UK, almost all people with learning disabilities and autism live either in the family home or with support in their own home or a community based residential service. How much contact people have with their community and the support they have to access their community safely often depends on where they live and their level of ability (Emerson and Hatton, 20081). As people have become more visible and active in their local communities, the issue of personal safety has increased in relevance and importance. The media, official sources such as public enquiries and a small number of recent research studies have all highlighted disabled people’s experiences of victimisation in the community and in particular the problem of disability hate crime. The issue is one of human rights – under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability, article 19(2006) states that people with disabilities have a right to a life in the community – not just a house. The European Convention on Human Rights states that all people have a right to freedom from persecution and torture and a right to liberty and security. The UK Disability Discrimination Act (2005) clearly sets out the expectation that people with disabilities should be included and not discriminated against in terms of access to services and facilities, employment, education to name just a few. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) clearly sets out that people with intellectual disabilities should be assumed to have capacity for each individual decision they have to make unless strong evidence suggests otherwise.
PENGEMBANGAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN FISIKA BERBASIS PROBLEM SOLVING UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN METAKOGNISI DAN PEMAHAMAN KONSEP MAHASISWA

Telah dikembangkan suatu model pembelajaran fisika berbasis problem solving yang dapat meningkatkan kemampuan metakognisi dan pemahaman konsep mahasiswa. Model ini dikembangkan dengan metode R and D melalui langkah-langkah 4-D, yaitu: define, design, develop, and disseminate. Subyek dalam implementasi model adalah mahasiswa pendidikan fisika pada salah satu perguruan tinggi di Medan tahun ajaran 2010/2011 yang terdiri dari 50 orang. Metode yang digunakan dalam implementasi model adalah kuasi eksperimental dengan desain randomized control group pretest-postest design. Data kemampuan metakognisi dikumpulkan dengan tes berbentuk uraian dan data pemahaman konsep dikumpulkan dengan tes berbentuk pilihan berganda. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan nilai gain yang dinormalisasi, N-gain. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran berbasis problem solving dapat meningkatkan kemampuan metakognisi dan pemahaman konsep mahasiswa pada topik Kinematika Partikel, termasuk dalam kategori sedang. A problem solving based physics learning model can enhance students’ metacognition ability and conceptual understanding has been developed. This model was developed by using R and D method consisting of 4-D steps: define, design, develop and disseminate. The research subjects were physics education students at one of the universities in Medan in academic year of 2010/2011 that consists of 50 students. Method used was quasi-experimental: randomized control group pretest-postest design. The metacognition ability data were collected by essay test and conceptual understanding ones were collected by multiple-choice test. Data were analyzed by using normalized gain score. Results of this research showed that problem solving based learning model can enhance students’ metacognition ability and conceptual understanding of particle kinematics topics in middle category.
Oral health in China – trends and challenges

For a long time, oral disease is one of the major problems of the public health for its high prevalence and incidence throughout the world, which is especially true for low‐income populations. Since China's economic reform in 1978, great changes have taken place in China. These changes have significant impact on and have been reflected in oral disease trends in China.This paper provides an overview and assessment of the oral health status in China. It focuses on changes in the nation's demographic profile, in the marketplace, the oral disease status and trends. The paper also suggests some possible measures and strategies for bettering oral health in future China.
Predicting defects using change genealogies

When analyzing version histories, researchers traditionally focused on single events: e.g. the change that causes a bug, the fix that resolves an issue. Sometimes however, there are indirect effects that count: Changing a module may lead to plenty of follow-up modifications in other places, making the initial change having an impact on those later changes. To this end, we group changes into change genealogies, graphs of changes reflecting their mutual dependencies and influences and develop new metrics to capture the spatial and temporal influence of changes. In this paper, we show that change genealogies offer good classification models when identifying defective source files: With a median precision of 73% and a median recall of 76%, change genealogy defect prediction models not only show better classification accuracies as models based on code complexity, but can also outperform classification models based on code dependency network metrics.
An initial study of transgender people's experiences of seeking and receiving counselling or psychotherapy in the UK

AbstractBackground: There are no published empirical research studies exploring transgender people's experiences of seeking and receiving counselling or psychotherapy outside of gender identity clinics within the UK. As a result, counsellors know little about why transgender people seek counselling, who they seek counselling from, and what their experiences are of receiving counselling. Aim: To address this gap in the literature, this study investigated transgender people's experiences of seeking and receiving counselling or psychotherapy outside of gender identity clinics within the UK. Funding for this study was provided by a BACP Seedcorn grant. Method: A mixed method small-scale qualitative research design was employed, comprising an online survey and five semi-structured interviews. Findings: Participants tended to seek counselling on two or more occasions and received between 2 and 12 sessions. Participants sought counselling for common psychological concerns as well as gender identity and coming ou.
Fusing Deep Learned and Hand-Crafted Features of Appearance, Shape, and Dynamics for Automatic Pain Estimation

Automatic continuous time, continuous value assessment of a patient’s pain from face video is highly sought after by the medical profession. Despite the recent advances in deep learning that attain impressive results in many domains, pain estimation risks not being able to benefit from this due to the difficulty in obtaining data sets of considerable size. In this work we propose a combination of hand-crafted and deep-learned features that makes the most of deep learning techniques in small sample settings. Encoding shape, appearance, and dynamics, our method significantly outperforms the current state of the art, attaining a RMSE error of less than 1 point on a 16-level pain scale, whilst simultaneously scoring a 67.3% Pearson correlation coefficient between our predicted pain level time series and the ground truth.
Partial breaking of global D = 4 supersymmetry, constrained superfields, and three-brane actions

We show that the connection between partial breaking of supersymmetry and nonlinear actions is not accidental and has to do with constraints that lead directly to nonlinear actions of the Born-Infeld type. We develop a constrained superfield approach that gives a universal way of deriving and using these actions. In particular, we find the manifestly supersymmetric form of the action of the 3-brane in 6-dimensional space in terms of N=1 superfields by using the tensor multiplet as a tool. We explain the relation between the Born-Infeld action and the model of partial N=2 supersymmetry breaking by a dual D-term. We represent the Born-Infeld action in a novel form quadratic in the gauge field strengths by introducing two auxiliary complex scalar fields; this makes duality covariance and the connection with the N=1 supersymmetric extension of the action very transparent. We also suggest a general procedure for deriving manifestly duality symmetric actions, explaining in a systematic way relations between previously discussed Lorentz covariant and noncovariant actions.