Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association Study of the β2-Adrenergic Receptor Gene Polymorphisms and Hypertension in the Northern Han Chinese

Background The β2-adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) gene has been widely researched as a candidate gene for essential hypertension (EH), but no consensus has been reached in different ethnicities. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible association between the ADRB2 gene polymorphisms and the EH risk in the Northern Han Chinese population. Methodology/Principal Findings This study included 747 hypertensive subjects and 390 healthy volunteers as control subjects in the Northern Han Chinese. Genotyping was performed to identify the C-47T, A46G and C79G polymorphisms of the ADRB2 gene. G allelic frequency of A46G polymorphism was significantly higher in hypertensive subjects (P = 0.011, OR = 1.287, 95%CI [1.059–1.565]) than that in controls. Significant association could also be found in dominant genetic model (GG+AG vs. AA, P = 0.006, OR = 1.497, 95%CI [1.121–1.998]), in homozygote comparison (GG vs. AA, P = 0.025, OR = 1.568, 95%CI [1.059–2.322]), and in additive genetic model (GG vs. AG vs. AA, P = 0.012, OR = 1.282, 95%CI [1.056–1.555]). Subgroup analyses performed by gender suggested that this association could be found in male, but not in female. Stratification analyses by obesity showed that A46G polymorphism was related to the prevalence of hypertension in the obese population (GG vs. AG vs. AA, P<0.001, OR = 1.645, 95%CI [1.258–2.151]). Significant interaction was found between A46G genotypes and body mass index on EH risk. No significant association could be found between C-47T or C79G polymorphism and EH risk. Linkage disequilibrium was detected between the C-47T, A46G and C79G polymorphisms. Haplotype analyses observed that the T-47-A46-C79 haplotype was a protective haplotype for EH, while the T-47-G46-C79 haplotype increased the risk. Conclusions/Significances We revealed that the ADRB2 A46G polymorphism might increase the risk for EH in the Northern Han Chinese population.
Improving Maternal Survival in South Asia—What Can We Learn from Case Studies?

Technical interventions for maternal healthcare are implemented through a dynamic social process. Peoples' behaviours—whether they be planners, managers, providers, or potential users—influence the outcomes. Given the complexity and unpredictability inherent in such dynamic processes, the proposed cause-and-effect relationships in any one context cannot be directly transferred to another. While this is true of all health services, its importance is magnified in maternal healthcare because of the need to involve multiple levels of the health system, multiple types of care providers from the highly skilled specialist to community-level volunteers, and multiple technical interventions, without the ability to measure significant change in the outcome, the maternal mortality ratio. Patterns can be followed however, in terms of outcomes in response to interventions. From these case studies of implementation of maternal health programmes across five states of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, some patterns stand out and seem to apply virtually everywhere (e.g. failure of systems to post staff in difficult areas) while others require more data to understand the observed patterns (e.g. response to financial incentives for improving maternal health systems; instituting available accessible safe blood). The patterns formed can provide guidance to programme managers as to what aspects of the process to track and micro-manage, to policy-makers as to what features of a context may particularly influence impacts of alternative maternal health strategies, and to governments more broadly as to the factors shaping dynamic responses that might themselves warrant intervention.
Mothers’ and Fathers’ Internalizing Symptoms Influence Parental Ratings of Adolescent Anxiety Symptoms

Clinical assessment of anxiety in adolescents often involves multiple informants, and parental internalizing symptoms have been found to influence parent ratings of adolescents’ anxiety symptoms. We investigated how parental internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) were related to adolescent and parent reports of adolescents’ anxiety symptoms in a population-based cross-sectional survey. The sample comprised 337 adolescent–mother–father triads (N = 1,011) drawn from the Tracking Opportunities and Problems in Childhood and Adolescence (TOPP) study. Adolescents (43.9% boys) were 14- and 15-years old. Adolescent and parent ratings of adolescent anxiety symptoms (The Coolidge Personality and Neuropsychological Inventory for Children) were moderately and significantly correlated (mother–adolescent r = .30; father–adolescent r = .25). Parents also self-rated internalizing symptoms (Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25). Regression models showed higher maternal and paternal depression symptoms, but not anxiety symptoms, were associated with higher parent-rated adolescent anxiety symptoms. Higher maternal anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as paternal depression symptoms, but not paternal anxiety symptoms, were associated with lower parent-adolescent agreement on adolescent anxiety symptoms (i.e., parent-rating higher relative to adolescent-rating). When adolescents rate considerably lower anxiety compared with how their parents rate them, considering parental depression as a possible reason may be key to understanding adolescents’ treatment needs.
Field trial of space-time equalizer and delay diversity transmission in uplink for TDMA mobile communication

Space-time (ST) equalizer and delay diversity transmission (DDT) were field tested in uplink for a time-division multiple-access mobile communication system. The ST equalizer used a cascade connection of constrained array processors and branch-metric-combining (BMC) maximum-likelihood sequence estimation which was designed to provide both space- and path-diversity gains from first-arrival and one-symbol-delay paths while suppressing excessive intersymbol interference. DDT with two antennas was used for the mobile transmitter to ensure sufficient path diversity at the ST equalizer in a small-delay-spread environment. Test results showed that the ST equalizer bit error rate (BER) was significantly better than an ST equalizer without BMC and a single array processor for both micro- and macrocell environments. Furthermore, the ST equalizer BER with DDT was better than that without DDT for the microcell environment.
Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of lithium in youths with severe mood dysregulation.

OBJECTIVE The diagnosis and treatment of youth with severe nonepisodic irritability and hyperarousal, a syndrome defined as severe mood dysregulation (SMD) by Leibenluft, has been the focus of increasing concern. We conducted the first randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in SMD youth, choosing lithium on the basis of its potential in treating irritability and aggression and neuro-metabolic effects. METHODS SMD youths 7-17 years were tapered off their medications. Those who continued to meet SMD criteria after a 2-week, single-blind, placebo run-in were randomized to a 6-week double-blind trial of either lithium (n = 14) or placebo (n = 11). Clinical outcome measures were: (1) Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I) score less than 4 at trial's end and (2) the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) factor 4 score. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) outcome measures were myoinositol (mI), N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), and combined glutamate/glutamine (GLX), all referenced to creatine (Cr). RESULTS In all, 45% (n = 20/45) of SMD youths were not randomized due to significant clinical improvement during the placebo run-in. Among randomized patients, there were no significant between-group differences in either clinical or MRS outcome measures. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that although lithium may not result in significant clinical or neurometabolic alterations in SMD youths, further SMD treatment trials are warranted given its prevalence.
Optimization of multisource information fusion for resource management with remote sensing imagery: an aggregate regularization method with neural network implementation

We address a new approach to the problem of improvement of the quality of multi-grade spatial-spectral images provided by several remote sensing (RS) systems as required for environmental resource management with the use of multisource RS data. The problem of multi-spectral reconstructive imaging with multisource information fusion is stated and treated as an aggregated ill-conditioned inverse problem of reconstruction of a high-resolution image from the data provided by several sensor systems that employ the same or different image formation methods. The proposed fusionoptimization technique aggregates the experiment design regularization paradigm with neural-network-based implementation of the multisource information fusion method. The maximum entropy (ME) requirement and projection regularization constraints are posed as prior knowledge for fused reconstruction and the experiment-design regularization methodology is applied to perform the optimization of multisource information fusion. Computationally, the reconstruction and fusion are accomplished via minimization of the energy function of the proposed modified multistate Hopfield-type neural network (NN) that integrates the model parameters of all systems incorporating a priori information, aggregate multisource measurements and calibration data. The developed theory proves that the designed maximum entropy neural network (MENN) is able to solve the multisource fusion tasks without substantial complication of its computational structure independent on the number of systems to be fused. For each particular case, only the proper adjustment of the MENN's parameters (i.e. interconnection strengths and bias inputs) should be accomplished. Simulation examples are presented to illustrate the good overall performance of the fused reconstruction achieved with the developed MENN algorithm applied to the real-world multi-spectral environmental imagery.
Evidence of deceleration of atmospheric vertical overturning circulation over the tropical Pacific

Analyses of ship‐based measurements of sea level pressure reveal a systematic weakening of the horizontal pressure gradient across the Pacific in the last fifty years. This reduction is also present in the NCAR/NCEP and ECMWF reanalysis sea level pressure products. The magnitude is estimated to be between 2% to 13%. This weakening is consistent with simulations from general circulation models when sea‐surface temperatures are uniformly raised. It is also consistent with reductions of the large‐scale subsidence over the eastern Pacific in the models. Since the reduction of vertical overturning circulation in the models can be explained through fundamental thermodynamic constraints on the atmospheric circulation, we postulate that the weakening of the sea‐level pressure gradient is an intrinsic characteristic of the tropical atmosphere in a warmer climate, and the observed trend in the sea‐level pressure provides an indirect evidence of the reduction of atmospheric vertical overturning circulation in the tropical Pacific. It is also pointed out that the weakening of the vertical overturning circulation does not mean the weakening of the hydrological cycle.
Evolution of the nucleolar apparatus during oogenesis in Acipenseridae.

Evolution of the nucleoli has been followed during oogenesis in the Acipenserid fishes, Acipenser ruthenus (the sterlet) and A. guidenstadti (the sturgeon) using light and electron microscopes. In the ovaries of adults, the oogonial nuclei usually have a single nucleolus with an adjacent mass of paranucleolar fibrillar material. The cytoplasm of the oogonia contains two dense bodies peculiar only to gonocytes, one being electron dense and containing RNA and the otherbeing electron-lucent and lacking RNA.
MIMO Full-Duplex Relaying in the Presence of Co-Channel Interference

This paper studies the deployment of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) full-duplex (FD) relaying systems in a multicell environment, where the source and destination nodes are equipped with a single antenna and communicating via a dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) relay station with multiple receive and transmit antennas in the presence of co-channel interference (CCI). This paper addresses the fundamental challenges of loopback self-interference (LI) and CCI when incorporating FD relaying in cellular systems. Due to the higher frequency reuse in FD relaying compared to its half-duplex (HD) relaying counterpart, the CCI is expected to double as the FD relay station simultaneously schedule uplink and downlink transmission on the same channel. The optimal design of relay receive and transmit precoding weight vectors, which maximizes the overall signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) is formulated by a proper optimization problem, and then, a closed-form suboptimal solution based on null space projection is proposed. The proposed precoding vectors are based on the added receive and transmit zero-forcing (ZF) constraints used to suppress the CCI and LI, respectively. To this end, exact closed-form expressions for the outage probability and ergodic capacity are derived, where simpler lower bound expressions are also presented. In addition, the asymptotic high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) outage probability approximation is also considered, through which the diversity order of the null space projection (ZF/ZF) scheme is found to achieve <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $\mathrm{min}(N_{R}-M,\, N_{T}-1)$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $N_{R}$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N_{T}$</tex-math></inline-formula> are the number of relay receive and transmit antennas, respectively, and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $M$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the number of CCI interferers. Numerical results sustained by Monte Carlo simulations show the exactness of the proposed analytical expressions, as well as the tightness of the proposed lower bound expressions. In addition, simulation results for the minimum mean square error (MMSE)/ZF scheme is also considered for comparison purposes. Our results reveal that MIMO FD relaying could substantially boost the system performance, compared to its conventional MIMO HD relaying counterpart.
Transmit Optimization for MIMO-OFDM With Delay-Constrained and No-Delay-Constrained Traffic

This paper studies low-complexity power control schemes to approach the capacity limits of multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) channels under the assumption that perfect channel state information (CSI) is available at both the transmitter and the receiver. Two notions of channel capacity limit are considered, namely, the ergodic capacity for variable-rate transmission of no-delay-constrained (NDC) traffic and the delay-limited capacity for constant-rate transmission of delay-constrained (DC) traffic. Let M be the minimum between the number of transmit and receive antennas and N the number of subcarriers, we propose a subchannel grouping (SCG) technique, which divides the total number of MN space-frequency MIMO-OFDM subchannels into M grouped channels, each exhibiting a different fading statistics. A class of multitarget power control schemes are then proposed to allocate transmit power and rate to each grouped channel via different statistical water-filling (SWF) solutions. More specifically, multitarget constant-power (MT-CP) is proposed for transmission of NDC traffic and multitarget overall channel inversion (MT-OCI) for transmission of DC traffic. Furthermore, we consider the problem of transmission with mixed DC and NDC traffic and present for this case a low-complexity power control scheme which is based on hybrid MT-CP and MT-OCI. Because of SCG and SWF, the proposed schemes reduce significantly the computational complexity required by optimal power and rate allocation in MIMO-OFDM channels. Numerical examples are provided to evaluate the achievable rates of the proposed power control schemes and compare them with the capacity limits of MIMO-OFDM channels
Paleozoic Carbonate Hydrocarbon Accumulation Zones in Tazhong Uplift, Tarim Basin, Western China

Diverse types of marine carbonate reservoirs have been discovered in the Tazhong Uplift, Tarim Basin, and late alteration of such reservoirs is obvious. The marine source rocks of the Cambrian-lower Ordovician and the middle-upper Ordovician provided abundant oil and gas for hydrocarbon accumulation. The hydrocarbons filled various reservoirs in multiple stages to form different types of reservoirs from late Caledonian to early Hercynian, from late Hercynian to early Indosininan and from late Yanshanian to Himalayan. All these events greatly complicated hydrocarbon accumulation. An analysis of the discovered carbonate reservoirs in the Tazhong Uplift indicated that the development of a reservoir was controlled by subaerial weathering and freshwater leaching, sedimentation, early diagenesis, and alteration by deep fluids. According to the origin and lateral distribution of reservoir beds, the hydrocarbon accumulation zones in the Tazhong area were identified as: karsted reservoirs, reef/bank reservoirs, dolomite interior reservoirs, and hydrothermal reservoirs. Such carbonate hydrocarbon accumulation zones are distributed mainly in specific areas of the Tazhong uplift, respectively. Because of differences in the mechanism of reservoir formation, the reservoir space, capability, type and distribution of reservoirs are often different in different carbonate hydrocarbon accumulation zones.
Extracting Large-Scale Knowledge Bases from the Web

The subject of this paper is the creation of knowledge bases by enumerating and organizing all web occurrences of certain subgraphs. We focus on subgraphs that are signatures of web phenomena such as tightly-focused topic communities, webrings, taxonomy trees, keiretsus, etc. For instance, the signature of a webring is a central page with bidirectional links to a number of other pages. We develop novel algorithms for such enumeration problems. A key technical contribution is the development of a model for the evolution of the web graph, based on experimental observations derived from a snapshot of the web. We argue that our algorithms run efficiently in this model, and use the model to explain some statistical phenomena on the web that emerged during our experiments. Finally, we describe the design and implementation of Campfire, a knowledge base of over one hundred thousand web communities.
Scalable tag recommendation for software information sites

Software developers can search, share and learn development experience, solutions, bug fixes and open source projects in software information sites such as StackOverflow and Freecode. Many software information sites rely on tags to classify their contents, i.e. software objects, in order to improve the performance and accuracy of various operations on the sites. The quality of tags thus has a significant impact on the usefulness of these sites. High quality tags are expected to be concise and can describe the most important features of the software objects.
Holography in three-dimensional Kerr–de Sitter space with a gravitational Chern–Simons term

The holographic description of the three-dimensional Kerr–de Sitter space with a gravitational Chern–Simons term is studied, in the context of dS/CFT correspondence. The space has only one (cosmological) event horizon and its mass and angular momentum are identified from the holographic energy–momentum tensor at the asymptotic infinity. The thermodynamic entropy of the cosmological horizon is computed directly from the first law of thermodynamics, with the conventional Hawking temperature, and it is found that the usual Gibbons–Hawking entropy is modified. It is remarked that, due to the gravitational Chern–Simons term, (a) the results go beyond the analytic continuation from AdS, (b) the maximum-mass/N-bound conjecture may be violated and (c) the three-dimensional cosmology is chiral. A statistical mechanical computation of the entropy, from a Cardy-like formula for a dual CFT at the asymptotic boundary, is discussed. Some remarks on the technical differences in the Chern–Simons energy–momentum tensor, from the literature, are also made.
Simulation of biceps femoris musculotendon mechanics during the swing phase of sprinting.

INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE Characterization of hamstring mechanics during sprinting is fundamental to understanding musculotendon injury mechanisms. The objective of this study was to use muscle-actuated forward dynamic simulations to investigate musculotendon mechanics of the biceps femoris long head during the swing phase of sprinting. METHODS We used a three-dimensional linked segment model with 26 Hill-type musculotendon actuators to simulate swing phase dynamics. Muscle excitations were computed that drove the linked segment model to track measured hip and knee motion of an individual sprinting on a treadmill. The simulations were used to investigate the effect of tendon compliance on the excursions and power development of the muscle and tendinous components of the biceps femoris. RESULTS The biceps femoris musculotendon complex underwent a stretch-shortening cycle over the latter half of swing phase, with the shortening portion occurring in the final 10% of the gait cycle. Biceps femoris excitation increased markedly between 70 and 80% of the gait cycle and continued through the end of swing. Following the onset of excitation, stretch of the muscle component slowed considerably while the tendon lengthened and stored elastic energy. Simulating the sprinting movement with a more compliant tendon increased tendon elastic energy storage, thereby reducing peak muscle stretch and negative muscle work. CONCLUSIONS Muscle-actuated forward dynamic simulation provides a powerful approach for investigating biomechanical factors that may contribute to the occurrence of hamstring musculotendon injuries.
Population Level Analysis of Evolved Mutations Underlying Improvements in Plant Hemicellulose and Cellulose Fermentation by Clostridium phytofermentans

Background The complexity of plant cell walls creates many challenges for microbial decomposition. Clostridium phytofermentans, an anaerobic bacterium isolated from forest soil, directly breaks down and utilizes many plant cell wall carbohydrates. The objective of this research is to understand constraints on rates of plant decomposition by Clostridium phytofermentans and identify molecular mechanisms that may overcome these limitations. Results Experimental evolution via repeated serial transfers during exponential growth was used to select for C. phytofermentans genotypes that grow more rapidly on cellobiose, cellulose and xylan. To identify the underlying mutations an average of 13,600,000 paired-end reads were generated per population resulting in ∼300 fold coverage of each site in the genome. Mutations with allele frequencies of 5% or greater could be identified with statistical confidence. Many mutations are in carbohydrate-related genes including the promoter regions of glycoside hydrolases and amino acid substitutions in ABC transport proteins involved in carbohydrate uptake, signal transduction sensors that detect specific carbohydrates, proteins that affect the export of extracellular enzymes, and regulators of unknown specificity. Structural modeling of the ABC transporter complex proteins suggests that mutations in these genes may alter the recognition of carbohydrates by substrate-binding proteins and communication between the intercellular face of the transmembrane and the ATPase binding proteins. Conclusions Experimental evolution was effective in identifying molecular constraints on the rate of hemicellulose and cellulose fermentation and selected for putative gain of function mutations that do not typically appear in traditional molecular genetic screens. The results reveal new strategies for evolving and engineering microorganisms for faster growth on plant carbohydrates.