Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Köbberling type of familial partial lipodystrophy: an underrecognized syndrome.

OBJECTIVE The phenotypic expression of partial lipodystrophy is present in two familial syndromes: familial partial lipodystrophy type 1 (FPLD1), with fat loss from the extremities, and central obesity and FPLD type 2, with fat loss from the extremities, abdomen, and thorax. The latter disorder is associated with mutations in the LMNA gene. FPLD1 is thought to be rare. Here, we report 13 subjects with FPLD1, suggesting that this syndrome is more common than previously thought. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Fasting glucose, plasma lipids, leptin, HbA(1c), and anthropomorphic measurements were evaluated in 13 subjects with clinical features of FPLD1 and are compared with two age-matched control groups, with and without diabetes. RESULTS Only women with clinical features of FPLD1 have been identified. Although they lack extremity and gluteal subcutaneous fat, they do have truncal obesity. Skinfold thickness on the arm and leg was significantly less than that in control subjects. The ratio of skinfold thickness from abdomen to thigh was significantly higher in subjects, suggesting an easy method for identifying affected patients. FPLD1 subjects also had components of the metabolic syndrome, including hypertension, insulin resistance, and severe hypertriglyceridemia resulting in pancreatitis. Premature coronary artery disease was present in 31% of subjects. None of the subjects had coding mutations in the LMNA gene or in the gene coding for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma. CONCLUSIONS FPLD1 is more common than previously described, but the diagnosis is often missed. Early recognition and intensive treatment of hyperlipidemia and diabetes in FPLD1 is important for prevention of pancreatitis and early cardiovascular disease.
"Translation can't change a name": Using Multilingual Data for Named Entity Recognition

Named Entities (NEs) are often written with no orthographic changes across different languages that share a common alphabet. We show that this can be leveraged so as to improve named entity recognition (NER) by using unsupervised word clusters from secondary languages as features in state-of-the-art discriminative NER systems. We observe significant increases in performance, finding that person and location identification is particularly improved, and that phylogenetically close languages provide more valuable features than more distant languages.
Extracting code from programming tutorial videos

The number of programming tutorial videos on the web increases daily. Video hosting sites such as YouTube host millions of video lectures, with many programming tutorials for various languages and platforms. These videos contain a wealth of valuable information, including code that may be of interest. However, two main challenges have so far prevented the effective indexing of programming tutorial videos: (i) code in tutorials is typically written on-the-fly, with only parts of the code visible in each frame, and (ii) optical character recognition (OCR) is not precise enough to produce quality results from videos. We present a novel approach for extracting code from videos that is based on: (i) consolidating code across frames, and (ii) statistical language models for applying corrections at different levels, allowing us to make corrections by choosing the most likely token, combination of tokens that form a likely line structure, and combination of lines that lead to a likely code fragment in a particular language. We implemented our approach in a tool called ACE, and used it to extract code from 40 Android video tutorials on YouTube. Our evaluation shows that ACE extracts code with high accuracy, enabling deep indexing of video tutorials.
Circadian type and mood seasonality in adolescents

The aim of the present study was to investigate, for the first time, the relationship between circadian preference and mood seasonality in adolescents. To this end, 1539 participants (881 female; 658 male) completed the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents and the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents to determine circadian preference and mood seasonality, respectively. Evening types achieved significantly higher mood seasonality scores than intermediate and morning types, as intermediates did than morning types. Agreeing with previous studies on young adults and adults, the present data indicate a significant relationship between eveningness and higher mood seasonality in adolescents.
Managing Consumer Uncertainty in the Adoption of New Products: Temporal Distance and Mental Simulation

Drawing on theories of new product adoption and intertemporal choice, the authors show in cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations (Study 1) that when adoption is in the distant future, people are more concerned about performance- and symbolic-benefit uncertainties. In contrast, in the near future, the concerns are more about switching- and affective-cost uncertainties. In Studies 2 and 2a, using theories of mental simulation, the authors show that in the distant-future adoption scenario, communication strategies that promote outcome simulations are more effective in reducing performance uncertainty, bolstering positive feelings, and enhancing behavioral intentions. In contrast, in the near-future adoption scenario, communication strategies that promote process simulations are better at reducing switching cost and affective uncertainties, assuaging anxiety, and increasing behavioral intentions. The authors also find positive effects of these communication strategies on actual adoption rates and postconsumption satisfaction (Study 2) and on delayed behavioral intentions (Study 2a). In addition, these communication strategies are more efficacious in increasing behavioral intentions when uncertainty levels are higher (Study 3). The key managerial implications are that communication strategies for new products need to reduce uncertainties about costs and benefits and account for temporal distance to adoption.
What is a good evaluation measure for semantic segmentation?

In this work, we consider the evaluation of the semantic segmentation task. We discuss the strengths and limitations of the few existing measures, and propose new ways to evaluate semantic segmentation. First, we argue that a per-image score instead of one computed over the entire dataset brings a lot more insight. Second, we propose to take contours more carefully into account. Based on the conducted experiments, we suggest best practices for the evaluation. Finally, we present a user study we conducted to better understand how the quality of image segmentations is perceived by humans.
Joint Association of Screen Time and Physical Activity with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in a National Sample of Iranian Adolescents: The CASPIANIII Study

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its contributing factors are considered important health problems in the pediatric age group. This study was designed to assess the joint association of ST and PA with cardiometabolic risk factors among Iranian adolescents. A representative sample of 5625 (50.2% boys) school students with a mean age of 14.73 (SD: 2.41) were selected through multistage random cluster sampling method from urban and rural areas of 27 provinces in Iran. ST and PA were assessed by self-administered validated questionnaires. Anthropometric measures (height, weight and waist circumference (WC)) and MetS components (abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure (BP), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), elevated triglycerides (TG) and high fasting blood sugar (FBG)) were measured according to standardized protocols. MetS was defined according to the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria modified for the pediatric age group. Moreover, elevated total cholesterol (TC), elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and generalized obesity were considered as other cardiometabolic risk factors. Students with high ST levels had significantly higher body mass index z-score (BMI z-score), WC, TG, LDL-C, and BP as well as lower HDL-C level; whereas those with high PA levels had significantly higher HDL-C levels as well as lower BMI z-score, TC, and BP. Adolescents with low PA/ high ST levels had significantly higher BMI, WC, LDL-C levels, as well as higher SBP and DBP compared to their other counterparts. In Multivariate model, joint effect of low PA/ high ST (compared to the high PA/low ST group) increased the odds of overweight, abdominal obesity and low HDL-C and decreased the odds of elevated TC. The findings of this study showed that joint association of high ST and low PA have direct association with abdominal obesity, overweight and low HDL-C and indirect association with elevated TC.
Quantum curves for simple Hurwitz numbers of
 an arbitrary base curve

Various generating functions of simple Hurwitz numbers of the projective line are known to satisfy many properties. They include a heat equation, the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion, an infinite-order differential equation called a quantum curve equation, and a Schroedinger like partial differential equation. In this paper we generalize these properties to simple Hurwitz numbers with an arbitrary base curve.
Disadvantage of Operation Cost in Laparoscopy-Assisted Distal Gastrectomy under the National Health Insurance System in Japan

Background: The utility and problems including the socioeconomic aspect of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer have not been fully evaluated. Subjects and Methods: We compared open distal gastrectomy and laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for the clinical benefit, quality of life, and problems of operation cost by the reference documents in which the difference between open distal gastrectomy and laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy was examined in detail. The reference documents retrieved by the key words ‘gastric, cancer, laparoscopic, surgery’ were 22 in PubMed with the following limits activated: Humans, Clinical Trial, Meta-Analysis, Randomized Controlled Trial, Review, English, Core clinical journals, published in the last 10 years. Results: The operation time of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy is longer than that of open distal gastrectomy. However, if skilled, the blood loss of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy is less, the hospitalization days and the duration of fasting after laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy are shorter than those after open distal gastrectomy. The number of excised lymph nodes and the incidence of postoperative complications were similar between laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy and open distal gastrectomy. On the other hand, in the national health insurance system, the operation fee of open distal gastrectomy was USD 6,637 as compared to USD 7,586 for laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy. In spite of the USD 949 difference in the operation fee, the use of disposable instruments for laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy results in a deficit of USD 1,500 over open distal gastrectomy. Conclusion: In spite of the medical superiority of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy over open distal gastrectomy (if a skilled surgeon operates) as less invasive surgery, laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy is associated with less financial benefit to the hospital as compared to open distal gastrectomy in the current Japanese health insurance system.
Modulation of Iron-Regulatory Genes in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Its Physiological Consequences

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) commonly develops in patients with underlying chronic liver disease. Additionally, the tumorous lesions of HCC patients are consistently characterized by the lack of iron accumulation even when arising in iron-loaded liver. However, the molecular mechanism leading to this observed phenomenon is currently poorly understood. In this study, all tumorous tissues from 24 HCC patients with chronic HBV infection were stained negative for iron when histologically assessed by Perls’ Prussian blue stain, whereas excess iron deposits were present in 17 of the 24 adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues. To elucidate the concerted regulation of iron homeostasis in these patients, we studied the gene expression profiling of 42 relevant iron-regulatory genes in the tumorous and adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues of these HCC patients along with 10 normal liver controls. Expression for most of the iron-regulatory genes, including hepcidin, transferrin receptor 2 (TfR2), transferrin (Tf), ceruloplasmin (Cp) and iron regulatory protein 1 (IRP1), were significantly down-regulated in the tumorous tissues of these patients compared to the adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues and normal liver controls. On the other hand, expression of hepcidin, TfR2, ferroportin 1 and DMT1 were significantly up-regulated in iron-loaded non-cirrhotic non-tumorous liver tissues as compared with normal liver controls. Hence, the reduction of hepcidin expression within the iron-depleted tumorous lesions likely reflects the physiological consequence of the obligate demand for iron in the rapidly growing neoplastic cells, whereas the up-regulation of hepcidin expression in the iron-loaded adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues is likely a physiological response.
Evaluation of biomarkers of exposure in adult cigarette smokers using Marlboro snus.

INTRODUCTION It has been reported that adult smokers (AS) may be considering smokeless tobacco products as an alternative to smoking. The objective of this study was to evaluate the change in exposure in AS using Marlboro snus (MSNUS) (a tobacco pouch product in test market in June 2007). METHODS AS were randomized into the following groups--CS: subjects (n = 30) continue smoking their own brand; DU: subjects (n = 60) reduced their daily cigarette consumption by >or=50% and were allowed to use MSNUS; SN: subjects (n = 15) stopped smoking their cigarettes but were allowed to use MSNUS; NT: subjects (n = 15) were not allowed to use any tobacco products for the entire duration of the 8-day study. Biomarkers of smoke exposure (BOE) measured at baseline and postbaseline were 24-hr urinary excretion of metabolites of N-nitrosamines, nicotine (urine and plasma), aromatic amines, benzene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon; urine mutagenicity; and carboxyhemoglobin at various timepoints. RESULTS Statistically significant (p < .05) reductions in all the urinary BOE were observed in the DU group compared with the CS group. After correcting for the residual effect, a proportionate reduction (approximately 50%) in most of the biomarkers was observed. Even larger reductions, similar to the NT group, were observed in the SN group. DISCUSSION The proportionate reduction in exposure when reducing the number of cigarettes by 50% and using MSNUS, under the consumption patterns observed, suggest that the AS did not appear to alter their smoking behavior. The added exposure from MSNUS usage in this group was minimal. The AS sustained substantial reductions in exposure when using MSNUS exclusively.
A fulfilling career? Factors which influence women's choice of profession

Summary First year university students enrolled on courses which have remained male dominated, including engineering, physics and computer science (n = 294) and two courses, law and medicine, on which females now outnumber males (n = 377), completed a questionnaire concerned with the reasons why they chose their particular course. Analyses were carried out using a stepwise discriminant function analysis. The results of this study indicate that the reasons women favour law and medicine, rather than more technological courses, is that the former courses are seen as leading to work that contributes to playing a useful social role and that allows a higher level of social contact. It is concluded that although women tend to avoid technological courses this is not a negative choice, rather they positively choose courses which lead to careers with higher levels of social involvement.
Essential Role of the EF-hand Domain in Targeting Sperm Phospholipase Cζ to Membrane Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Bisphosphate (PIP2)*

Background: The mechanism underlying sperm PLCζ interaction with its target membrane is unresolved. Results: EF-hand mutations introduced into PLCζ reduce in vivo Ca2+ oscillation inducing activity and in vitro interaction with PIP2. Conclusion: EF-hand domain is essential for targeting PLCζ to PIP2-containing membranes. Significance: We propose a novel mechanism by which sperm PLCζ is anchored to its physiological membrane substrate. Sperm-specific phospholipase C-ζ (PLCζ) is widely considered to be the physiological stimulus that triggers intracellular Ca2+ oscillations and egg activation during mammalian fertilization. Although PLCζ is structurally similar to PLCδ1, it lacks a pleckstrin homology domain, and it remains unclear how PLCζ targets its phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) membrane substrate. Recently, the PLCδ1 EF-hand domain was shown to bind to anionic phospholipids through a number of cationic residues, suggesting a potential mechanism for how PLCs might interact with their target membranes. Those critical cationic EF-hand residues in PLCδ1 are notably conserved in PLCζ. We investigated the potential role of these conserved cationic residues in PLCζ by generating a series of mutants that sequentially neutralized three positively charged residues (Lys-49, Lys-53, and Arg-57) within the mouse PLCζ EF-hand domain. Microinjection of the PLCζ EF-hand mutants into mouse eggs enabled their Ca2+ oscillation inducing activities to be compared with wild-type PLCζ. Furthermore, the mutant proteins were purified, and the in vitro PIP2 hydrolysis and binding properties were monitored. Our analysis suggests that PLCζ binds significantly to PIP2, but not to phosphatidic acid or phosphatidylserine, and that sequential reduction of the net positive charge within the first EF-hand domain of PLCζ significantly alters in vivo Ca2+ oscillation inducing activity and in vitro interaction with PIP2 without affecting its Ca2+ sensitivity. Our findings are consistent with theoretical predictions provided by a mathematical model that links oocyte Ca2+ frequency and the binding ability of different PLCζ mutants to PIP2. Moreover, a PLCζ mutant with mutations in the cationic residues within the first EF-hand domain and the XY linker region dramatically reduces the binding of PLCζ to PIP2, leading to complete abolishment of its Ca2+ oscillation inducing activity.
A Single–subject Study to Examine the Effects of Constrained–induced Aphasia Therapy on Naming Deficit

Aphasia is prevalent in people following stroke, which can have a significant impact on the quality of life of the patients with stroke. One of the new methods for treatment of patients with aphasia is constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT). The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of CIAT on naming deficits in individuals with chronic aphasia. This study had a prospective, single-subject study with A-B-A design. The CIAT was administered to two patients with chronic aphasia. Participants were a 57-year-old male and a 45-year-old female and had a stroke 60 and 36 months ago, respectively. In this study, the naming test was used as the outcome measure. The naming test was administered in three baseline sessions with 1 week interval between tests (phase A). Patients received CIAT for four consecutive weeks (3 days/week). Four measurements were taken during the treatment phase (phase B). In follow-up phase (phase A) two other measurements were performed. Visual analysis consisting of level, regression line, and variability were used to determine the effects of CIAT on naming. Both participants increased scores on naming test after phase A and B. The mean of the naming score improved from the baseline to the intervention phase in both participants. There was a positive trend in naming scores during the treatment phase compared with the trend in the baseline demonstrated by both participants. The results of this study showed that the CIAT can be effective in improving the naming deficit in patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia.
Vaccine against MUC1 Antigen Expressed in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Cancer Lessens Colonic Inflammation and Prevents Progression to Colitis-Associated Colon Cancer

Association of chronic inflammation with an increased risk of cancer is well established, but the contributions of innate versus adaptive immunity are not fully delineated. There has furthermore been little consideration of the role played by chronic inflammation–associated antigens, including cancer antigens, and the possibility of using them as vaccines to lower the cancer risk. We studied the human tumor antigen MUC1 which is abnormally expressed in colon cancers and also in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that gives rise to colitis-associated colon cancer (CACC). Using our new mouse model of MUC1+ IBD that progresses to CACC, interleukin-10 knockout mice crossed with MUC1 transgenic mice, we show that vaccination against MUC1 delays IBD and prevents progression to CACC. One mechanism is the induction of MUC1-specific adaptive immunity (anti-MUC1 IgG and anti-MUC1 CTL), which seems to eliminate abnormal MUC1+ cells in IBD colons. The other mechanism is the change in the local and the systemic microenvironments. Compared with IBD in vaccinated mice, IBD in control mice is dominated by larger numbers of neutrophils in the colon and myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the spleen, which can compromise adaptive immunity and facilitate tumor growth. This suggests that the tumor-promoting microenvironment of chronic inflammation can be converted to a tumor-inhibiting environment by increasing adaptive immunity against a disease-associated antigen. Cancer Prev Res; 3(4); 438–46. ©2010 AACR.
Speech recognition of multiple accented English data using acoustic model interpolation

In a previous work [1], we have shown that model interpolation can be applied for acoustic model adaptation for a specific show. Compared to other approaches, this method has the advantage to be highly flexible, allowing rapid adaptation by simply reassigning the interpolation coefficients. In this work this approach is used for a multi-accented English broadcast news data recognition, which can be considered an arduous task due to the impact of accent variability on the recognition performance. The work described in [1] is extended in two ways. First, in order to reduce the parameters of the interpolated model, a theoretically motivated EM-like mixture reduction algorithm is proposed. Second, beyond supervised adaptation, model interpolation is used as an unsupervised adaptation framework, where the interpolation coefficients are estimated on-the-fly for each test segment.