Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tissue Factor and Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor in Hemodialysis Patients

Tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor are important in extrinsic coagulation. We investigated their clinical significance in hemodialysis patients. We took blood samples, prior to initiation of routine hemodialysis, from 73 patients on hemodialysis (35 men and 38 women aged 56.1 ± 11.7 years on dialysis for 82.1 ± 61.0 months), and determined tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor levels by ELISA. In the patients the tissue factor level was 704.5 ± 141.6 pg/ml and the tissue factor pathway inhibitor level was 44.5 ± 23.3 ng/ml; both values were significantly higher than in normal controls (192.7 ± 36.6 pg/ml and 18.6 ± 5.7 ng/ml, respectively). In patients with shunt obstruction, tissue factor pathway inhibitor levels were significantly higher than in those without it. Therefore, the tissue factor pathway inhibitor level may be a marker of shunt obstruction.
Resilience to Discrimination and Rejection Among Young Sexual Minority Males and Transgender Females: A Qualitative Study on Coping With Minority Stress

ABSTRACT Sexual minority and transgender status is associated with mental health disparities, which have been empirically and theoretically linked to stressors related to social stigma. Despite exposure to these unique stressors, many sexual minority and transgender individuals will not experience mental health disorders in their lifetime. Little is known about the specific processes that sexual minority and transgender youth use to maintain their wellbeing in the presence of discrimination and rejection. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 sexual minority males and transgender females aged 18–22 years, who currently met criteria for an operationalized definition of resilience to depression and anxiety. Data were analyzed qualitatively, yielding information related to a wide variety of problem-solving, support-seeking, and accommodative coping strategies employed by youth in the face of social stigma. Results are discussed in light of their clinical implications.
Psychiatric correlates of gambling in adolescents and young adults grouped by age at gambling onset.

BACKGROUND Gambling is a prevalent behavior, yet few studies have investigated its mental health correlates. Although early-onset engagement in behaviors with addictive potential has generally been associated with more severe problems, direct investigation of a nationally representative sample of gamblers grouped by age at onset of gambling has not been performed. OBJECTIVE To identify differences in psychiatric correlates of gambling and gambling-related attitudes and behaviors in adolescents (aged 16-17 years) and in young adults (aged 18-29 years) with early-onset (before age 18 years) and adult-onset gambling. DESIGN Logistic regression analysis. SETTING Public access data set derived from random-digit-dialing telephone surveys. PATIENTS The study analyzed data from adolescent (n = 235), early-onset adult (n = 151), and adult-onset (n = 204) past-year gamblers and adolescent (n = 299) and adult (n = 187) nongamblers in the Gambling Impact and Behavior Study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Gamblers and nongamblers were compared within each group on measures of sociodemographics and psychiatric health. Adolescent, early-onset adult, and adult-onset past-year gamblers were compared on measures of gambling attitudes and behaviors. RESULTS Adolescent gamblers were more likely than adolescent nongamblers to report alcohol and drug use and abuse/dependence and depression. Elevated rates of alcohol and drug use and abuse/dependence were observed in early-onset adult gamblers vs adult nongamblers, and only elevated rates of alcohol use were observed in adult-onset gamblers vs adult nongamblers. Substantial differences in reasons for and patterns of gambling were observed among the 3 groups of gamblers. CONCLUSIONS Adolescent-onset gambling is associated with more severe psychiatric problems, particularly substance use disorders, in adolescents and young adults. More research is needed to investigate the relationships and inform prevention and treatment strategies.
The surface electric field of bare strange stars

The surface electric characteristics of bare strange stars are investigated with the inclusion of boundary effects. The thickness of the electron layer where pairs can be spontaneously created is calculated as a function of the bag parameters. We find that previous estimates are representative for bag parameters within a rather wide range, and therefore our results favor the thermal radiation mechanism of bare strange stars advanced by V. V. Usov.
New Flexible Silicone-Based EEG Dry Sensor Material Compositions Exhibiting Improvements in Lifespan, Conductivity, and Reliability

This study investigates alternative material compositions for flexible silicone-based dry electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes to improve the performance lifespan while maintaining high-fidelity transmission of EEG signals. Electrode materials were fabricated with varying concentrations of silver-coated silica and silver flakes to evaluate their electrical, mechanical, and EEG transmission performance. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis of the initial electrode development identified some weak points in the sensors’ construction, including particle pull-out and ablation of the silver coating on the silica filler. The newly-developed sensor materials achieved significant improvement in EEG measurements while maintaining the advantages of previous silicone-based electrodes, including flexibility and non-toxicity. The experimental results indicated that the proposed electrodes maintained suitable performance even after exposure to temperature fluctuations, 85% relative humidity, and enhanced corrosion conditions demonstrating improvements in the environmental stability. Fabricated flat (forehead) and acicular (hairy sites) electrodes composed of the optimum identified formulation exhibited low impedance and reliable EEG measurement; some initial human experiments demonstrate the feasibility of using these silicone-based electrodes for typical lab data collection applications.
Active browsing using similarity pyramids

In this paper, we describe a new approach to managing large image databases, which we call active browsing. Active browsing integrates relevance feedback into the browsing environment, so that users can modify the database's organization to suit the desired task. Our method is based on a similarity pyramid data structure, which hierarchically organizes the database, so that it can be efficiently browsed. At coarse levels, the similarity pyramid allows users to view the database as large clusters of similar images. Alternatively, users can 'zoom into' finer levels to view individual images. We discuss relevance feedback for the browsing process, and argue that it is fundamentally different from relevance feedback for more traditional search-by-query tasks. We propose two fundamental operations for active browsing: pruning and reorganization. Both of these operations depend on a user-defined relevance set, which represents the image or set of images desired by the user. We present statistical methods for accurately pruning the database, and we propose a new 'worm hole' distance metric for reorganizing the database, so that members of the relevance set are grouped together.
Effect of water vapour on growth and adherence of chromia scales formed on Cr in high and low pO2-environments at 1000 and 1050°C

Abstract The oxidation behaviour of pure Cr at 1000 and 1050°C was studied in Ar–O2 and Ar–H2–H2O mixtures. It was found that in the low-pO2 gases the oxide scales exhibited higher growth rates than in the high-pO2 gases. The scales formed in the low-pO2 gases showed substantially better adherence during cooling, than scales formed in the high-pO2 gases. These differences in growth rate and adherence can be correlated with differences in size and location of the in-scale voids formed during the isothermal exposure. Exposures in Ar-O2-H2O mixtures revealed that the differences in scale growth rates as well as in scale void formation and growth are not primarily related to differences in the oxygen partial pressure of the atmosphere but to the presence of water vapour in the test gas. At sufficiently high H2O/O2-ratios, water vapour promotes oxide formation at the scale/metal interface thereby suppressing excessive growth of existing voids, and also as a consequence improved scale adherence. Whether the enhancement of inward scale growth is related to transport of H2O- or H2-molecules or due to OH− ions, cannot be derived with certainty from the present results.
TightLip: Keeping Applications from Spilling the Beans

Access control misconfigurations are widespread and can result in damaging breaches of confidentiality. This paper presents TightLip, a privacy management system that helps users define what data is sensitive and who is trusted to see it rather than forcing them to understand or predict how the interactions of their software packages can leak data. The key mechanism used by TightLip to detect and prevent breaches is the doppelganger process. Doppelgangers are sandboxed copy processes that inherit most, but not all, of the state of an original process. The operating system runs a doppelganger and its original in parallel and uses divergent process outputs to detect potential privacy leaks. Support for doppelgangers is compatible with legacy-code, requires minor modifications to existing operating systems, and imposes negligible overhead for common workloads. SpecWeb99 results show that Apache running on a TightLip prototype exhibits a 5% slowdown in request rate and response time compared to an unmodified server environment.
Blockade of tumor necrosis factor in collagen-induced arthritis reveals a novel immunoregulatory pathway for Th1 and Th17 cells

IL-17 is implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and has previously been shown to be induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in vitro. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of TNF inhibition on IL-17 production in collagen-induced arthritis, a model of RA. TNF blockade using TNFR-Fc fusion protein or anti-TNF monoclonal antibody reduced arthritis severity but, unexpectedly, expanded populations of Th1 and Th17 cells, which were shown by adoptive transfer to be pathogenic. Th1 and Th17 cell populations were also expanded in collagen-immunized TNFR p55−/− but not p75−/− mice. The expression of IL-12/IL-23 p40 was up-regulated in lymph nodes (LN) from p55−/− mice, and the expansion of Th1/Th17 cells was abrogated by blockade of p40. Treatment of macrophages with rTNF also inhibited p40 production in vitro. These findings indicate that at least one of the ways in which TNF regulates Th1/Th17 responses in arthritis is by down-regulating the expression of p40. Finally, although TNF blockade increased numbers of Th1 and Th17 cells in LN, it inhibited their accumulation in the joint, thereby providing an explanation for the paradox that anti-TNF therapy ameliorates arthritis despite increasing numbers of pathogenic T cells.
Evaluating E-Business Leadership and its Link to Firm Performance

Electronic business (e-business) has been popularly lauded as â€œnew economy. â€ As a result, firms are prompted to invest heavily in e-business related activities such as supplier/procurement and online exchanges. Whether the investments have actually paid off for the firms remain largely unknown. Using the data on the top 100 e-business leaders compiled by InternetWeek, the leaders are compared with their comparable counterparts in terms of profitability and cost in both the short-run and long-run. It is found that while the leaders have superior performance based on most of the profitability measurements, such superiority is not observed when cost measurements are used. Based on the findings, managerial implications are offered accordingly.
Slow Earthquakes Coincident with Episodic Tremors and Slow Slip Events

We report on the very-low-frequency earthquakes occurring in the transition zone of the subducting plate interface along the Nankai subduction zone in southwest Japan. Seismic waves generated by very-low-frequency earthquakes with seismic moment magnitudes of 3.1 to 3.5 predominantly show a long period of about 20 seconds. The seismicity of very-low-frequency earthquakes accompanies and migrates with the activity of deep low-frequency tremors and slow slip events. The coincidence of these three phenomena improves the detection and characterization of slow earthquakes, which are thought to increase the stress on updip megathrust earthquake rupture zones.
Braid groups are almost co-Hopfian

Let B_n be the braid group on n > 3 strands. We prove that B_n modulo its center is co-Hopfian. We then show that any injective endomorphism of B_n is geometric in the sense that it is induced by a homeomorphism of a punctured disk. We further prove that any injection from B_n to B_n+1 is geometric. Additionally, we obtain analogous results for mapping class groups of punctured spheres. The methods use Thurston's theory of surface homeomorphisms and build upon work of Ivanov and McCarthy.
Asthma and cigarette smoking

In most developed countries ∼25% of adults with asthma are current cigarette smokers. Asthma and active cigarette smoking interact to cause more severe symptoms, accelerated decline in lung function, and impaired short-term therapeutic response to corticosteroids. Cigarette smoking may modify inflammation that is associated with asthma, although there is limited published data on airway pathology in smokers with asthma. To date, the evidence points towards a combination of both heightened and suppressed inflammatory responses in smokers compared with nonsmokers with asthma. The mechanisms of corticosteroid resistance in asthmatic smokers are unexplained, but could be as a result of alterations in airway inflammatory cell phenotypes (e.g. increased neutrophils or reduced eosinophils), changes in the glucocorticoid receptor-α to -β ratio (e.g. overexpression of glucocorticoid receptor β), and increased activation of pro-inflammatory transcription factors (e.g. nuclear factor-κB) or reduced histone deacetylase activity. In conclusion, every effort should be made to encourage asthmatics who smoke to stop, although the effects of smoking cessation upon reversing the adverse effects of tobacco smoke on asthma control, therapeutic response to corticosteroids and airway pathology have yet to be fully elucidated. Alternative or additional therapies to inhaled corticosteroids are needed for asthmatic patients who are unable to quit smoking.
Diet-induced obesity links to ER positive breast cancer progression via LPA/PKD-1-CD36 signaling-mediated microvascular remodeling

Obesity increases cancer risk including breast cancer (BC). However, the direct regulatory mechanisms by which obesity promotes BC progression remain largely unknown. We show that lysophosphatidic acid/protein kinase D1 (LPA/PKD-1)-CD36 signaling is a bona fide breast cancer promoter via stimulating microvascular remodeling in chronic diet-induced obesity (DIO). We observed that the growth of an estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer was markedly increased when compared to the lean control, and specifically accompanied by increased microvascular remodeling in a syngeneic BC model in female DIO mice. The tumor neovessels in DIO mice demonstrated elevated levels of alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR 2) and endothelial differentiation gene 2/LPA receptor1 (Edg2/LPA1), enhanced PKD-1 phosphorylation, and reduced CD36 expression. Tumor associated endothelial cells (TAECs) exposed to LPA demonstrated sustained nuclear PKD-1 phosphorylation, and elevated mRNA levels of ephrin B2, and reduced mRNA expression of CD36. TAEC proliferation also increased in response to LPA/PKD-1 signaling. These studies suggest that the LPA/PKD-1-CD36 signaling axis links DIO to malignant progression of BC via stimulation of de novo tumor arteriogenesis through arteriolar remodeling of microvasculature in the tumor microenvironment. Targeting this signaling axis could provide an additional novel therapeutic strategy.
Learning the Structure of Deep Sparse Graphical Models

Deep belief networks are a powerful way to model complex probability distributions. However, it is difficult to learn the structure of a belief network, particularly one with hidden units. The Indian buffet process has been used as a nonparametric Bayesian prior on the structure of a directed belief network with a single infinitely wide hidden layer. Here, we introduce the cascading Indian buffet process (CIBP), which provides a prior on the structure of a layered, directed belief network that is unbounded in both depth and width, yet allows tractable inference. We use the CIBP prior with the nonlinear Gaussian belief network framework to allow each unit to vary its behavior between discrete and continuous representations. We use Markov chain Monte Carlo for inference in this model and explore the structures learned on image data.
Model-Based Dynamic Self-Righting Maneuvers for a Hexapedal Robot

We report on the design and analysis of a controller that can achieve dynamical self-righting of our hexapedal robot, RHex. Motivated by the initial success of an empirically tuned controller, we present a feedback controller based on a saggital plane model of the robot. We also extend this controller to develop a hybrid pumping strategy that overcomes actuator torque limitations, resulting in robust flipping behavior over a wide range of surfaces. We present simulations and experiments to validate the model and characterize the performance of the new controller.
Relationship of NKG2C Copy Number with the Distribution of Distinct Cytomegalovirus-Induced Adaptive NK Cell Subsets

CD94/NKG2C and lack of FcεRγ (FcRγ) expression are considered markers of the adaptive NK cell response to human CMV (HCMV) infection. Despite the fact that FcRγ− and NKG2Cbright NK cells share some phenotypic, epigenetic, and functional features, their relationship remains unclear. To address this issue, a systematic analysis of NKG2Cbright and FcRγ expression was carried out in NK cells from a cohort of healthy young adults (n = 81) considering NKG2C copy number, previously related to the magnitude of NKG2C+ NK cell expansion. NKG2Cbright and FcRγ− NK cells coincided in a subgroup of HCMV+ individuals, pointing to a common host–virus interaction pattern. Even though FcRγ loss was often confined to expanded NKG2Cbright NK cells, both markers appeared occasionally dissociated, consistent with the existence of distinct adaptive NK cell subsets. Remarkably, FcRγ loss was mostly accumulated within the NKG2Cbright subset in NKG2C+/+ subjects, whereas NKG2C−FcRγ− NK cell subpopulations were more frequently detected in NKG2C+/del donors and also in NKG2Cdel/del individuals, independently of activating killer Ig–like receptor expression. The distribution of other NK receptors (i.e., killer Ig–like receptor, LILRB1, or CD57) supported a sequential differentiation from NKG2CbrightFcRγ+ to NKG2CbrightFcRγ− NK cells. Noticeably, NKG2Cbright NK cells produced more TNF-α in response to Ab-dependent activation, regardless of their FcRγ levels. Moreover, the TNF-α response of NKG2C−FcRγ− subpopulations was lower than that of concurrent NKG2CbrightFcRγ− NK cells, further supporting that FcRγ levels and enhanced potential for cytokine production are uncoupled. Overall, our data extend the characterization of adaptive NK cell subsets that differentiate in response to HCMV, supporting a relationship between their distribution and NKG2C copy number.
Visualizing the Protein Sequence Universe

Modern biology is experiencing a rapid increase in data volumes that challenges our analytical skills and existing cyberinfrastructure. Exponential expansion of the protein sequence universe (PSU), the protein sequence space, together with the costs and complexities of manual curation creates a major bottleneck in life sciences research. Existing resources lack scalable visualization tools that are instrumental for functional annotation. Here, we describe a new visualization tool using multidimensional scaling to create a 3D embedding of the protein space. The advantages of the proposed PSU method include the ability to scale to large numbers of sequences, integrate different similarity measures with other functional and experimental data, and facilitate protein annotation. We applied the method to visualize the prokaryotic PSU using sequence alignment scores. As an annotation example, we used the interpolation approach to map the set of annotated archaeal proteins into the prokaryotic PSU. Transdisciplinary approaches akin to the one described in this paper are urgently needed to quickly and efficiently translate the influx of new data into tangible innovations and groundbreaking discoveries. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Subwavelength Si nanowire arrays for self-cleaning antireflection coatings

Galvanic wet etching was adopted to fabricate Si nanowire arrays (NWAs) as a near-perfect subwavelength structure (SWS), which is an optically effective gradient-index antireflection (AR) surface and also exhibits super-hydrophobicity with an extremely high water contact angle (159°). Fresnel reflection and diffuse reflection over the broad spectrum can be eliminated by a Si NWA AR coating. Moreover, Si NWA SWSs show polarization-independent and omnidirectional AR properties. The wavelength-averaged specular and diffuse reflectance of Si NWA SWSs are as low as 0.06% and 2.51%, respectively. The effects of the surface profile of this biomimetic SWS on the AR and super-hydrophobic properties were investigated systematically.
Genotypes and Related Factors Reflecting Macrolide Resistance in Pneumococcal Pneumonia Infections in Japan

ABSTRACT Although macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae strains possessing either the ermB or mefA gene are very common in Japan, clinical and microbial factors in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by different macrolide resistance genotypes have not been evaluated. A multicenter study of CAP caused by S. pneumoniae was performed in Japan from 2003 to 2005. A total of 156 isolates were tested for susceptibility to antibiotics correlated with ermB and mefA genotyping. Independent relationships between tested variables and possession of either the ermB or the mefA gene were identified. Of 156 isolates, 127 (81.4%) were resistant to erythromycin, with the following distribution of resistance genotypes: ermB alone (50.0%), mefA alone (23.7%), and both ermB and mefA (7.1%). All isolates were susceptible to telithromycin. By multivariate analysis, oxygen saturation of <90% on admission increased the risk for ermB-positive pneumococcal pneumonia (odds ratio [OR] = 11.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.30 to 95.0; P = 0.03), but there were no associations with mefA or with ermB mefA positivity. Penicillin nonsusceptibility was associated with mefA-positive and with ermB- and mefA-positive isolates (OR = 14.2; 95% CI = 4.27 to 46.9; P < 0.0001 and P < 0.0001, respectively) but not with ermB-positive isolates. The overall patient mortality was 5.1%. Mortality, the duration of hospitalization, and the resolution of several clinical markers were not associated with the different erythromycin resistance genotypes. In Japan, S. pneumoniae with erythromycin resistance or possession of ermB, mefA, or both genes was highly prevalent in patients with CAP. The risk factors for ermB-positive, mefA-positive, and double ermB-mefA-positive pneumococcal pneumonia were different, but the clinical outcomes did not differ.