Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Loss of Hmga1 gene function affects embryonic stem cell lymphohematopoietic differentiation

By interacting with transcription machinery, high‐mobility group A 1 (HMGA1) proteins alter the chromatin structure and thereby regulate the transcriptional activity of several genes. To assess their role in development, we studied the in vitro differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells that bear one or both disrupted Hmga1 alleles. Here, we report that Hmga1 null ES cells generate fewer T‐cell precursors than do wild‐type ES cells. Indeed, they preferentially differentiate to B cells, probably consequent to decreased interleukin 2 expression and increased interleukin 6 expression. Moreover, a lack of HMGA1 expression induces changes in hemopoietic differentiation, i.e., a reduced monocyte/macrophage population and an increase in megakaryocyte precursor numbers, erythropoiesis, and globin gene expression. Re‐expression of the Hmga1 gene in Hmga1 null ES cells restores the wild‐type phenotype. The effect on megakaryocyte/erythrocyte lineages seems, at least in part, mediated by the GATA‐1 transcription factor, a key regulator of red blood cell differentiation. In fact, we found that Hmga1−/− ES cells overexpress GATA‐1αnd that HMGA1 proteins directly control GATA‐1 transcription. Taken together, these data indicate that HMGA1 proteins play a prime role in lymphohematopoietic differentiation.
Comparison of CSMA based MAC protocols of wireless sensor networks

Energy conservation has been an important area of interest in Wireless Sensor networks (WSNs). Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols play an important role in energy conservation. In this paper, we describe CSMA based MAC protocols for WSN and analyze the simulation results of these protocols. We implemented S-MAC, T-MAC, B-MAC, B-MAC+, X-MAC, DMAC and Wise-MAC in TOSSIM, a simulator which unlike other simulators simulates the same code running on real hardware. Previous surveys mainly focused on the classification of MAC protocols according to the techniques being used or problem dealt with and presented a theoretical evaluation of protocols. This paper presents the comparative study of CSMA based protocols for WSNs, showing which MAC protocol is suitable in a particular environment and supports the arguments with the simulation results. The comparative study can be used to find the best suited MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks in different environments.
Kynurenic acid, an aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand, is elevated in serum of Zucker fatty rats

Obesity is an increasingly urgent global problem and the molecular mechanisms of obesity are not fully understood. Dysregulation of the tryptophan (Trp) – kynurenine (Kyn) metabolic pathway (TKP) have been suggested as a mechanism of obesity and described in obese humans and in animal models of obesity. However, to the best of our knowledge, TKP metabolism has not been studied in leptin-receptor-deficient Zucker fatty rats (ZFR) (fa/fa), the best-known and most widely used rat model of obesity. We were interested to determine if there are any deviations of TKP in ZFR. Concentrations of major TKP metabolites were evaluated (HPLC- MS method) in serum of ZFR (fa/fa) and age-matched lean rats (FA/-). Concentrations of kynurenic acid (KYNA) were 50% higher in ZFR than in lean rats (p<0.004, Mann-Whitney two-tailed test). Anthranilic acid (AA) concentrations, while elevated by 33%, did not reach statistical significance (p<0.04, one-tailed test). Elevated KYNA serum concentrations might contribute to development of obesity via KYNA-induced activation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Present results warrant further studies of KYNA and AA in ZFR and other animal models of obesity.
Oligoclonal bands in Devic’s neuromyelitis optica and multiple sclerosis: differences in repeated cerebrospinal fluid examinations

We studied repeated cerebrospinal fluids of patients with Devic’s neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Variations of oligoclonal bands (OBs) had opposite trends in the two groups. In MS, O Bs were detected in 399 of 411 patients (97%) and never disappeared. In NMO, O Bs were detected in three of 11 patients (27%) and always disappeared. The hypothesis that NMO and MS follow distinct patho genetic pathways is supported by our findings, which can be useful for the differentiatio n of NMO from MS.
Treatment of Bacterial Vaginosis in Early Pregnancy and its Effect onSpontaneous Preterm Delivery and Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes

Background: This study was conducted to investigate whether screening and treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in early pregnancy reduces the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery or preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROMs). Material and methods: Women were screened for BV during their first visit to the maternal health care unit. After the vaginal samples were air dried, they were sent to the gynecological department and were analyzed using Hay/ Ison modified classification. Eligible women were those who lived in Skaraborg County and delivered at Skaraborgs Hospital in Skovde, Sweden. The women were divided into two groups, namely, screened women (with BV or with lactobacilli flora) and unscreened women. Women with BV were offered treatment with vaginal clindamycin. Results: During 2007-2015, 22,084 deliveries occurred at Skaraborgs Hospital; a total of 6,899 women were screened for BV, out of which 746 (10.8%) had BV flora. Survival analysis showed that women with BV had spontaneous preterm delivery significantly earlier than those with normal lactobacilli flora, even after treatment with vaginal clindamycin (log rank p=0.01). During the same period, 15,189 deliveries occurred at Skaraborgs Hospital; they were not screened for BV. The survival analysis showed that the unscreened women delivered slightly earlier than the screened women (t-test p<0.05), with mean delivery days of 239.4-241.7. Conclusion: Even though patients with BV had been treated with clindamycin, they still suffered from an increased risk of spontaneous preterm delivery as compared to women with normal lactobacilli flora. The difference between the screened women and the unscreened women could be attributed to the positive effect of the treatment of BV with clindamycin if it can be assumed that there is the same amount of untreated BV in the unscreened group.
Relationship between serum urate concentration and clinically evident incident gout: an individual participant data analysis

Objectives To provide estimates of the cumulative incidence of gout according to baseline serum urate. Methods Using individual participant data from four publicly available cohorts (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, and both the Original and Offspring cohorts of the Framingham Heart Study), the cumulative incidence of clinically evident gout was calculated according to baseline serum urate category. Cox proportional hazards modelling was used to evaluate the relation of baseline urate categories to risk of incident gout. Results This analysis included 18 889 participants who were gout-free at baseline, with mean (SD) 11.2 (4.2) years and 212 363 total patient-years of follow-up. The cumulative incidence at each time point varied according to baseline serum urate concentrations, with 15-year cumulative incidence (95% CI) ranging from 1.1% (0.9 to 1.4) for <6 mg/dL to 49% (31 to 67) for ≥10 mg/dL. Compared with baseline serum urate <6 mg/dL, the adjusted HR for baseline serum urate 6.0–6.9 mg/dL was 2.7, for 7.0–7.9 mg/dL was 6.6, for 8.0–8.9 mg/dL was 15, for 9.0–9.9 mg/dL was 30, and for ≥10 mg/dL was 64. Conclusions Serum urate level is a strong non-linear concentration-dependent predictor of incident gout. Nonetheless, only about half of those with serum urate concentrations ≥10mg/dL develop clinically evident gout over 15 years, implying a role for prolonged hyperuricaemia and additional factors in the pathogenesis of gout.
Sleep quality among adult patients with chronic dermatoses

Chronic dermatoses, including atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, prurigo nodularis, chronic spontaneous urticaria and hidradenitis suppurativa, as well as accompanying subjective symptoms (itch and pain), have a great impact on patients’ well-being. Skin plays an important role in the physiological sleep process. This review attempts to analyze the association between chronic dermatoses in adults and sleep quality in recent studies. Polysomnography and actigraphy are performed for the objective assessment of sleep quality. Questionnaire-based subjective evaluations of sleep quality, including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale, are useful in clinical studies and clinical practice. Subjective symptoms such as itch and pain have an essential influence on sleep quality and general quality of life in patients with chronic skin diseases.
Variation in Utilization of Health Care Services for Rural VA Enrollees With Mental Health-Related Diagnoses.

PURPOSE Rural-dwelling Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) enrollees are at high risk for a wide variety of mental health-related disorders. The objective of this study is to examine the variation in the types of mental and nonmental health services received by rural VA enrollees who have a mental health-related diagnosis. METHODS The Andersen and Aday behavioral model of health services use and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data were used to examine how VA enrollees with mental health-related diagnoses accessed places of care from 1999 to 2009. Population survey weights were applied to the MEPS data, and logit regression was conducted to model how predisposing, enabling, and need factors influence rural veteran health services use (measured by visits to different places of care). Analyses were performed on the subpopulations: rural VA, rural non-VA, urban VA, and urban non-VA enrollees. FINDINGS For all types of care, both rural and urban VA enrollees received care from inpatient, outpatient, office-based, and emergency room settings at higher odds than urban non-VA enrollees. Rural VA enrollees also received all types of care from inpatient, office-based, and emergency room settings at higher odds than urban VA enrollees. Rural VA enrollees had higher odds of a mental health visit of any kind compared to urban VA and non-VA enrollees. CONCLUSIONS Based on these variations, the VA may want to develop strategies to increase screening efforts in inpatient settings and emergency rooms to further capture rural VA enrollees who have undiagnosed mental health conditions.
Treatment of quinine resistant falciparum malaria in Thai children.

A study was carried out to assess the efficacy of a modified 7 day course of quinine in children with falciparum malaria, in comparison with those of a 7 day course of quinine at standard dosage and a combination of a 7 day course of quinine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, and in relation to the MIC, and to the serum levels of quinine during the course of treatment. Seventy seven children aged 2 years to 12 years with falciparum malaria were randomly treated with one of the 3 regimens. Group I, quinine 10 mg base per kg body wt. 8 hourly for 7 days, 21 of 28 cases (75%) were cured, while 6 cases (21%) showed RI and 1 case (4%) RII failure. Group II, quinine 10 mg base per kg body wt. 8 hourly for the first 4 days then 15 mg base per kg body wt. 8 hourly for the next 3 days, 20 of 23 cases (87%) were cured, while 3 cases (13%) showed RI failure. Group III, quinine 10 mg base per kg body wt. 8 hourly for 7 days and then sulfadoxine 30 mg per kg body wt. and pyrimethamine 1.5 mg per kg body wt. , 16 of 26 cases (62%) were cured and 10 cases (38%) showed RI failure. The cure rates in the 3 groups were not statistically different. The three groups had similar serum quinine concentration profiles. Treatment with quinine was successful in cases in which serum quinine levels could be maintained above MIC for 7 days. There was no additional effect of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine on quinine.
Morphology of the Cement Apparatus and the Cement of the Buoy Barnacle Dosima fascicularis (Crustacea, Cirripedia, Thoracica, Lepadidae)

Barnacles produce a proteinaceous adhesive called cement to attach permanently to rocks or to other hard substrata. The stalked barnacle Dosima fascicularis is of special interest as it produces a large amount of foam-like cement that can be used as a float. The morphology of the cement apparatus and of the polymerized cement of this species is almost unknown. The current study aims at filling these gaps in our knowledge using light and electron microscopy as well as x-ray microtomography. The shape of the cement gland cells changes from round to ovoid during barnacle development. The cytoplasm of the gland cells, unlike that of some other barnacles, does not have distinct secretory and storage regions. The cement canals, which transport the cement from the gland cells to the base of the stalk, end at different positions in juvenile and mature animals. With increasing size of the cement float, the exit of the cement canals shift from the centrally positioned attachment disk of the vestigial antennules to more lateral positions on the stalk. The bubbles enclosed in the foam-like float are most likely filled with CO2 that diffuses from the hemolymph into the cement canal system and from there into the cement.
Chinese-Based Spearcons: Improving Pedestrian Navigation Performance in Eyes-Free Environment

This article presents nonspeech audio (i.e., English-based spearcons and Chinese-based spearcons) to represent distance, and forward-direction for pedestrian navigation in an eyes-free environment. Experiment in the field is carried out with the involvement of 10 participants (i.e., native Chinese) using within-subject design to evaluate English-based spearcons, Chinese-based spearcons, and Chinese text-to-speech (TTS). Results from the experiment suggest that Chinese-based spearcons are efficient in task completion compared to Chinese TTS. Moreover, Chinese-based spearcons are more effective in conveying distance and forward-direction compared to English-based spearcons in pedestrian navigation. Overall, participants have shown their satisfaction with Chinese-based spearcons as an auditory feedback in pedestrian navigation.
Urine neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin as an early marker of acute kidney injury in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients

Abstract Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients with an incidence of 21–73%. Prevention and early diagnosis reduces the frequency and severity of this complication. Predictive biomarkers are of major importance to timely diagnosis. Neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a widely investigated novel biomarker for early diagnosis of AKI. However, no study assessed NGAL for AKI diagnosis in HSCT patients. We performed further analyses on gathered data from our recent trial to evaluate the performance of urine NGAL (uNGAL) as an indicator of AKI in 72 allogeneic HSCT patients. AKI diagnosis and severity were assessed using Risk–Injury–Failure–Loss–End-stage renal disease and AKI Network criteria. We assessed uNGAL on days −6, −3, +3, +9 and +15. Time-dependant Cox regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between uNGAL and AKI occurrence. (HR = 1.04 (1.008–1.07), p = 0.01). There was a relation between uNGAL day + 9 to baseline ratio and incidence of AKI (unadjusted HR = 1.047 (1.012–1.083), p < 0.01). The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for day + 9 to baseline ratio was 0.86 (0.74–0.99, p < 0.01) and a cut-off value of 2.62 was 85% sensitive and 83% specific in predicting AKI. Our results indicated that increase in uNGAL augmented the risk of AKI and the changes of day +9 uNGAL concentrations from baseline could be of value for predicting AKI in HSCT patients. Additionally uNGAL changes preceded serum Cr raises by nearly 2 days.
Prevalence of some Enteric Bacterial Infections Causing Rabbit Enteritis and Attempts to Control Rabbit Coli Enteritis with Phytobiotics

A field survey was conducted to monitor the prevalence of some enteric bacterial infections incriminated in rabbit enteritis outbreaks. Ninety bacterial isolates were recovered from diseased /or freshly dead rabbits with a history of severe diarrhea representing four farms in El-Sharkia Province. The predominant isolates were E. coli (24.29%), Klebsiella (14%), Proteus miriables (2.33%) and Proteus vulgaris (1.4%). All bacterial isolates were highly sensitive to levofloxacin. Isolated E. coli was later identified by using PCR. Fifty-three recently weaned White New Zealand rabbits were experimentally used to monitor the efficacy of two herbal extracts and probiotics (Healthy gut®; Immuplant plus®) supplementation with/or without enrofloxacin treatment in controlling artificial infection of the pathogenic streptomycin adapted E. coli isolate strain in a rate of (2.5 x 1010 CFU/0.1 mL/ rabbit orally) and improvement of growth parameters. Our results showed that; treatment with two (Healthy gut®; Immuplant plus®) induced an improvement in general health conditions and growth performance parameters with significant decrease in total labeled pathogenic E. coli shedding of infected supplemented group. In addition, this supplementation when followed by treatment with enrofloxacin after E. coli infection refluxed significant reduction of bacterial shedding with improvement of mean body weight and feed conversion ratio when compared with all other treated groups
Speaker Verification Under Degraded Conditions Using Vowel-Like and Nonvowel-Like Regions

This thesis proposes a speaker verification system by independent processing of vowel-like regions (VLRs) and non-vowel-like regions (non-VLRs) for achieving better SV performance under clean and degraded conditions. VLRs are defined as the speech regions belonging to vowels, diphthongs and semivowels, and rest of the consonants as non-VLRs. Methods are proposed for detecting VLRs and non-VLRs using excitation source information. The VLR onset point (VLROPs) and end points (VLREPs) are hypothesized and used in an iterative algorithm for detecting the VLRs. Next, for detection of non-VLRs, the linear prediction (LP) residual samples in the VLRs are attenuated significantly to indirectly emphasize the residual samples in the non-VLRs. The modified LP residual samples excite the time varying all pole filter to reconstruct non-VLRs enhanced speech and used for detecting non-VLRs. For any practical application of a text-independent speaker verification (SV) system, along with phonetic variability, the speech signal may be affected by background noise, sensor mismatch and channel mismatch. To reduce the effect of these variabilities, three different methods are proposed for processing the VLRs and non-VLRs during training and testing of a SV system. First, a SV system is developed by using only the VLRs to demonstrate the significance of the VLRs for SV under degraded conditions. Then, the VLRs and nonVLRs are used independently during training and testing of a SV system, and the scores are combined with higher weight on VLRs, for a better SV system under clean and degraded conditions. Finally, a SV system is developed by implicit modeling of VLRs and non-VLRs information to reduce the computational complexity involved in the explicit segmentation of these regions. The experimental results presented in this thesis work shows that the VLRs are more speaker specific and relatively less affected under degraded conditions. A better SV system can be developed under clean and degraded conditions by independent processing of VLRs and non-VLRs with emphasis on the VLRs. TH-1196_09610214 The major contributions of this thesis are as follows: • Method for the detection of VLROPs and end VLREPs using excitation source information. • An iterative algorithm for the detection of complete VLRs using VLROP and VLREP. • Method for the detection of non-VLRs by emphasizing excitation information of nonVLRs in the LP residual. • Demonstrating significance of VLRs for SV under degraded conditions. • SV system using VLRs and non-VLRs conditioning and emphasizing the scores from VLRs for better SV under clean and degraded conditions. • SV by implicit modeling of VLRs and non-VLRs information to avoid the computational complexity involved in explicit segmentation of training and testing speech data.
Optimal Operational Monetary Policy in the Christiano-Eichenbaum-Evans Model of the Us Business Cycle

This paper identifies optimal interest-rate rules within a rich, dynamic, general equilibrium model that has been shown to account well for observed aggregate dynamics in the postwar United States. We perform policy evaluations based on second-order accurate approximations to conditional and unconditional expected welfare. We require that interest-rate rules be operational, in the sense that they include as arguments only a few readily observable macroeconomic indicators and respect the zero bound on nominal interest rates. We find that the optimal operational monetary policy is a real-interest-rate targeting rule. That is, an interest-rate feedback rule featuring a unit inflation coefficient, a mute response to output, and no interest-rate smoothing. Contrary to existing studies, we find a significant degree of optimal inflation volatility. A key factor driving this result is the assumption of indexation to past inflation. Under indexation to long-run inflation the optimal inflation volatility is close to zero. Finally, we show that initial conditions matter for welfare rankings of policies.
Parasites Lost? An Overlooked Hypothesis for the Evolution of Alternative Reproductive Strategies in Amphibians

Amphibians exhibit the greatest diversity of reproductive strategies of all tetrapod vertebrates. While authors have traditionally attributed the evolution of these strategies to factors such as complex topography, unpredictable larval environments, and predation on larvae and eggs, support for any of these hypotheses has been limited. Importantly, most authors have ignored parasites, including unicellular pathogens and multicellular parasites, as selective agents capable of influencing amphibian evolution. Insights in disease transmission, amphibian immunity, and their interaction with various life histories require that we consider parasites to be selective pressures in our exploration of the evolution of amphibian reproductive strategies. I review recent findings and describe how these principles converge to form a novel conceptual hypothesis for the evolution of alternative reproductive strategies in amphibians. I offer some specific predictions and recommend that parasites be considered with other selective pressures when constructing formal, falsifiable hypotheses during evaluative studies of amphibian reproductive behavior.
Learning to Distinguish Hypernyms and Co-Hyponyms

This work is concerned with distinguishing different semantic relations which exist between distributionally similar words. We compare a novel approach based on training a linear Support Vector Machine on pairs of feature vectors with state-of-the-art methods based on distributional similarity. We show that the new supervised approach does better even when there is minimal information about the target words in the training data, giving a 15% reduction in error rate over unsupervised approaches.