Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contributions Blood Pressure and White-Matter Disease Progression in a Biethnic Cohort Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities ( ARIC ) Study

Background and Purpose—Blood pressure (BP) is a predictor of concurrent and subsequently measured white-matter hyperintensity (WMH), but longitudinal studies of WMH changes and data in black participants are lacking. We hypothesized that WMH progression would be (1) strongly related to BP in blacks and whites and (2) predicted more strongly by earlier (midlife) or cumulative BP measurements than by measures at older ages. Methods—Participants were 983 individuals (49% black) from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study who underwent cerebral magnetic resonance imaging in 1993–1995 and 2004–2006. Associations between BP (measured at each of 5 visits, in addition to a time-averaged cumulative BP) and progression of WMHs were analyzed and compared. Results—Cumulative systolic BP (SBP) was the strongest BP predictor of WMH progression in adjusted models. Higher cumulative SBP (by 20 mm Hg) was associated with greater progression of WMHs and was similar in blacks (2.5 cm, P 0.0001) and whites (2.6 cm, P 0.0001). Higher cumulative SBP (per 20 mm Hg) was also associated with being in the top quintile of WMH progression (adjusted odds ratio 2.0; 95% CI, 1.6 to 2.6). Earlier SBP measurements were stronger predictors of WMH progression than were later SBP measurements, but in blacks only. Conclusions—In this population-based cohort, cumulative SBP was a stronger predictor of WMH progression than SBP from individual visits, in both blacks and whites. Earlier BPs were stronger predictors than BPs measured at later time points in blacks only. (Stroke. 2010;41:3-8.)
Lyα excess in high-redshift radio galaxies: a signature of star formation

About 54 per cent of radio galaxies at z≥ 3 and 8 per cent of radio galaxies at 2 ≲z < 3 show unusually strong Lyα emission, compared with the general population of high-redshift (z≳ 2) radio galaxies. These Lyα-excess objects (LAEs) show Lyα/He ii values consistent with or above standard photoionization model predictions. We reject with confidence several scenarios to explain the unusual strength of Lyα in these objects: shocks, low nebular metallicities, high gas densities and absorption/scattering effects. We show that the most successful explanation is the presence of a young stellar population which provides the extra supply of ionizing photons required to explain the Lyα excess in at least the most extreme LAEs (probably in all of them). This interpretation is strongly supported by the tentative trend found by other authors for z≥ 3 radio galaxies to show lower ultraviolet rest-frame polarization levels, or the dramatic increase in the detection rate at submm wavelengths of z > 2.5 radio galaxies. The enhanced star formation activity in LAEs could be a consequence of a recent merger which has triggered both the star formation and the active galactic nucleus/radio activities. The measurement of unusually high Lyα ratios in the extended gas of some high-redshift radio galaxies suggests that star formation activity occurs in spatial scales of tens of kpc. We argue that, although the fraction of LAEs may be incompletely determined, both at 2 ≲z 3 than at z < 3.
The Structure of Mindful Brain

Mindfulness is currently attracting a great deal of attention as a psychotherapy technique. It is defined as bringing one's complete attention to the experiences occurring in the present moment in a nonjudgmental or accepting way. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) was developed to assess individual differences in mindfulness states. The FFMQ is composed of five facets representing elements of mindfulness: non-reactivity to inner experience, non-judging, acting with awareness, describing, and observing. In the present study, we applied voxel-based morphometry to investigate the relationship between the brain structure and each facet as measured by the FFMQ. The results showed a positive association between the describing facet of mindfulness on the FFMQ and gray matter volume in the right anterior insula and the right amygdala. In conclusion, mindfulness was related with development in parts of the somatic marker circuit of the brain.
Magnetic and Structural Properties of Barium Hexaferrite BaFe12O19 from Various Growth Techniques

Barium hexaferrite powder samples with grains in the μm-range were obtained from solid-state sintering, and crystals with sizes up to 5 mm grown from PbO, Na2CO3, and BaB2O4 fluxes, respectively. Carbonate and borate fluxes provide the largest and structurally best crystals at significantly lower growth temperatures of 1533 K compared to flux-free synthesis (1623 K). The maximum synthesis temperature can be further reduced by the application of PbO-containing fluxes (down to 1223 K upon use of 80 at % PbO), however, Pb-substituted crystals Ba1–xPbxFe12O19 with Pb contents in the range of 0.23(2) ≤ x ≤ 0.80(2) form, depending on growth temperature and flux PbO content. The degree of Pb-substitution has only a minor influence on unit cell and magnetic parameters, although the values for Curie temperature, saturation magnetization, as well as the coercivity of these samples are significantly reduced in comparison with those from samples obtained from the other fluxes. Due to the lowest level of impurities, the samples from carbonate flux show superior quality compared to materials obtained using other methods.
Preferential Activation of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor in Human Colon Carcinoma Liver Metastases in Nude Mice

Increased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) gene expression and functional protein levels correlate with the metastatic potential of human colon carcinoma (HCC) cells in nude mice. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the production of liver metastases by HCC cells depends on the EGF-R activation status and whether different organ microenvironments influence this activation. Using two independent monoclonal antibodies specific for the activated (i.e., tyrosine-phosphorylated) EGF-R, increased immunoreactivity was observed in HCC cells growing as metastatic lesions in the livers of athymic nude mice. Staining was observed throughout these lesions, both peripherally and centrally. In contrast, little or no immunoreactivity for activated EGF-R was observed in primary tumors growing orthotopically in the cecum or ectopically in the subcutis of nude mice. Immunohistochemistry for total EGF-R levels (irrelevant of activation status) demonstrated similar levels of immunoreactivity in HCC tumors growing in the cecum, subcutis, or liver of nude mice, indicating that total EGF-R levels are not altered after growth in these different microenvironments. Controls included immunohistochemistry for total and activated EGF-R levels in HCC cells growing in vitro under serum-free or EGF-stimulated conditions and A431-epidermoid carcinoma growing in nude mice. Western blot analyses confirmed the specificity of the antibodies for the activated EGF-R. These results suggest that the production of liver metastasis by HCC cells depends in part on the response of tumor cells to organ-derived growth factors and hence the activation of specific cell surface tyrosine kinase receptors.
A Characterization of the Brightness Oscillations during Thermonuclear Bursts from 4U 1636–536

The discovery of nearly coherent brightness oscillations during thermonuclear X-ray bursts from six neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries has opened up a new way to study the propagation of thermonuclear burning and may ultimately lead to greater understanding of thermonuclear propagation in other astrophysical contexts, such as in Type Ia supernovae. Here, we report detailed analyses of the ~580 Hz brightness oscillations during bursts from 4U 1636-536. We investigate the bursts as a whole and, in more detail, the initial portions of the bursts. We analyze the ~580 Hz oscillations in the initial 0.75 s of the five bursts that were used in a previous search for a brightness oscillation at the expected ~290 Hz spin frequency. We find that, although it is appropriate to use an arbitrarily complicated model of the ~580 Hz oscillations to generate a candidate waveform for the ~290 Hz oscillations, models with more than two parameters are not required by the data. For the bursts as a whole, we show that the characteristics of the brightness oscillations vary greatly from burst to burst. We find, however, that in at least one of the bursts, and possibly in three of the four that have strong brightness oscillations throughout the burst, the oscillation frequency decreases well after the peak of the burst. This behavior poses a challenge to the standard burning layer expansion explanation for the frequency changes.
Comparison of Student Outcomes for a Classroom-based vs . an Internet-based Construction Safety Course

Web-based courses and the use of on-line technology are expanding rapidly across a wide variety of academic disciplines and settings. Previous studies have compared student outcomes in classroom-based courses with their Internet-based counterparts. The individual studies have shown either significant or non-significant differences in student academic performance between the two delivery modes. The overall objective of the present study is to compare examination performance across examination items that represent the first three levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Specifically, the study was designed to determine if there are differences in performance with knowledge-based, comprehension-based, and application-based examination items in the traditional classroom version and the Internet version of a Construction Safety course. Student outcomes from the Internet version of the course are comparable to classroom version outcomes, except for the performance on application-based examination items. Students in the Internet version of the course scored statistically higher in the application scores (p = 0.036). Multiple regression analysis was used to eliminate possible confounders of the study results, including: student personality type (as revealed by the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator ®), prior academic background, including high school grade-point average, and standardized admissions test score.
MC^2: A Two-Phase Algorithm for Leveraged Matrix Completion

Leverage scores, loosely speaking, reflect the importance of the rows and columns of a matrix. Ideally, given the leverage scores of a rank-$r$ matrix $M\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times n}$, that matrix can be reliably completed from just $O(rn\log^{2}n)$ samples if the samples are chosen randomly from a nonuniform distribution induced by the leverage scores. In practice, however, the leverage scores are often unknown a priori. As such, the sample complexity in uniform matrix completion---using uniform random sampling---increases to $O(\eta(M)\cdot rn\log^{2}n)$, where $\eta(M)$ is the largest leverage score of $M$. In this paper, we propose a two-phase algorithm called MC$^2$ for matrix completion: in the first phase, the leverage scores are estimated based on uniform random samples, and then in the second phase the matrix is resampled nonuniformly based on the estimated leverage scores and then completed. For well-conditioned matrices, the total sample complexity of MC$^2$ is no worse than uniform matrix completion, and for certain classes of well-conditioned matrices---namely, reasonably coherent matrices whose leverage scores exhibit mild decay---MC$^2$ requires substantially fewer samples. Numerical simulations suggest that the algorithm outperforms uniform matrix completion in a broad class of matrices, and in particular, is much less sensitive to the condition number than our theory currently requires.
Benzene Degradation by Variovorax sp within a Coal-tar Contaminated Groundwater Microbial

Investigations of environmental microbial communities are crucial for the discovery of 25 populations capable of degrading hazardous compounds and may lead to improved 26 bioremediation strategies. The goal of this study was to identify microorganisms responsible for 27 aerobic benzene degradation in coal-tar contaminated groundwater. Benzene degradation was 28 monitored in laboratory incubations of well waters using gas chromatography mass spectrometry 29 (GC/MS). Stable isotope probing (SIP) experiments using 13 C-benzene allowed us to obtain 13 C- 30 labled community DNA; from this, 16S rRNA clone libraries identified γ- and β- Proteobacteria 31 as the active benzene metabolizing microbial populations. Subsequent cultivation experiments 32 yielded nine bacterial isolates that were capable of growing in the presence of benzene; five were 33 confirmed in laboratory culture to grow on benzene. The isolated benzene-degrading organisms 34 were genotypically similar (>97% 16S rRNA gene nucleotide identity) to the organisms 35 identified in SIP experiments. One isolate, Variovorax MAK3, was further investigated for 36 expression of a putative aromatic ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase (RHD) hypothesized to be 37 involved in benzene degradation. Microcosm experiments using Variovorax MAK3 revealed a 38 10-fold increase in RHD (Vapar_5383) expression--establishing this gene’s link to benzene 39 degradation. Furthermore, addition of Variovorax MAK3 to microcosms prepared from site 40 waters accelerated community benzene degradation and showed a corresponding increase in 41 RHD gene expression. In microcosms using uninoculated groundwater, qPCR assays (16S rRNA 42 and RDH genes) showed Variovorax to be present and responsive to added benzene. These data 43 demonstrate how the convergence of cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent 44 techniques can boost understanding of active populations and functional genes in complex 45 benzene-degrading microbial communities. IMPORTANCE is a carcinogen whose presence in contaminated drives environmental cleanup efforts. Although aerobic biodegradation of benzene has long been established, knowing the identity of microorganisms in complex naturally-occurring microbial communities that are responsible for benzene biodegradation has evaded scientific inquiry for many decades. Here we apply a molecular biology technique known as stable isotopic probing 51 (SIP) to the microbial community residing in contaminated groundwater samples to discover the identity of community members active in benzene biodegradation. We complemented this 53 approach by isolating and growing in the laboratory a bacterium representative of the bacteria 54 found using SIP. Further characterization of the isolated bacterium allowed us to track 55 expression of a key gene that attacks benzene both in pure cultures of the bacterium and in the 56 naturally-occurring groundwater microbial community. This work advances information about 57 how to document microbial processes, especially populations and genes, that contribute to 58 bioremediation.
Cardiac Dysfunction in Association with Increased Inflammatory Markers in Primary Aldosteronism

Background Oxidative stress in primary aldosteronism (PA) is thought to worsen aldosterone-induced damage by activating proinflammatory processes. Therefore, we investigated whether inflammatory markers associated with oxidative stress is increased with negative impacts on heart function as evaluated by echocardiography in patients with PA. Methods Thirty-two subjects (mean age, 50.3±11.0 years; 14 males, 18 females) whose aldosterone-renin ratio was more than 30 among patients who visited Severance Hospital since 2010 were enrolled. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), and MMP-9 were measured. All patients underwent adrenal venous sampling with complete access to both adrenal veins. Results Only MMP-2 level was significantly higher in the aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) group than in the bilateral adrenal hyperplasia (BAH). Patients with APA had significantly higher left ventricular (LV) mass and A velocity, compared to those with BAH. IL-1β was positively correlated with left atrial volume index. Both TNF-α and MMP-2 also had positive linear correlation with A velocity. Furthermore, MMP-9 showed a positive correlation with LV mass, whereas it was negatively correlated with LV end-systolic diameter. Conclusion These results suggest the possibility that some of inflammatory markers related to oxidative stress may be involved in developing diastolic dysfunction accompanied by LV hypertrophy in PA. Further investigations are needed to clarify the role of oxidative stress in the course of cardiac remodeling.
Evaluation of sexual dysfunction in women with rheumatoid arthritis: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate sexual function in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and compare them with healthy controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ninety-five patients with RA and 108 healthy controls were included in the study. Depression levels and sexual functions of all participants were evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Index of Female Sexual Function (IFSF), respectively. Morning stiffness in women with RA, pain (Visual Analog Scale--VAS), disability rate (Health Assessment Questionnaire--HAQ), and disease activity score (DAS-28) were defined. RESULTS Total IFSF and mean of IFSF subgroup scores and significance of sexual life score were lower in patients with RA than controls, whereas mean BDI score was higher. The mean of the total IFSF scores was significantly lower in patients with RA with BDI≥17 than that of patients with BDI<17. The mean of the total IFSF score decreased as disease severity increased. There was a strong negative correlation between total IFSF and DAS-28 scores, a moderate negative correlation between total IFSF score and HAQ, BDI, VAS score, age, and morning stiffness, and weak negative correlation between total IFSF and body mass index. CONCLUSION RA is observed to have negative effects on sexual functions of women. Presence of depressive symptoms with RA and increased disease severity increase the degree of sexual dysfunction. Women patients with RA should also be asked about their sexual lives while being evaluated.
Semi‐supervised determination of pseudocryptic morphotypes using observer‐free characterizations of anatomical alignment and shape

Abstract Accurate, quantitative characterization of complex shapes is recognized as a key methodological challenge in biology. Recent development of automated three‐dimensional geometric morphometric protocols (auto3dgm) provides a promising set of tools to help address this challenge. While auto3dgm has been shown to be useful in characterizing variation across clades of morphologically very distinct mammals, it has not been adequately tested in more problematic cases where pseudolandmark placement error potentially confounds interpretation of true shape variation. Here, we tested the sensitivity of auto3dgm to the degree of variation and various parameterization settings using a simulation and three microCT datasets that characterize mammal tooth crown morphology as biological examples. The microCT datasets vary in degree of apparent morphological differentiation, with two that include grossly similar morphospecies and one that includes two laboratory strains of a single species. Resulting alignments are highly sensitive to the number of pseudolandmarks used to quantify shapes. The degree to which the surfaces were downsampled and the apparent degree of morphological differentiation across the dataset also influenced alignment repeatability. We show that previous critiques of auto3dgm were based on poorly parameterized alignments and suggest that sample‐specific sensitivity analyses should be added to any research protocol including auto3dgm. Auto3dgm is a useful tool for studying samples when pseudolandmark placement error is small relative to the true differences between specimens. This method therefore represents a promising avenue forward in morphometric studies at a wide range of scales, from samples that differ by a single genetic locus to samples that represent multiple phylogenetically diverse clades.
Transcranial sonography and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism: a head‐to‐head comparison

Brain imaging with positron emission tomography using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG‐PET) and transcranial B‐mode sonography (TCS) improves the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism. The diagnostic merits of these approaches in identifying and differentiating atypical parkinsonian syndromes (APS) are compared.
Computational bounds for fundamental problems on general-purpose parallel models

We present lower bounds for time needed to solve basic problems on three general-purpose models of parallel computation: the sharedmemory models QSM and s-QSM, and the distributed-memory model, the BSP. For each of these models, we also obtain lower bounds for the number of rounds needed to solve these problems using a randomized algorithm on a p-processor machine. Our results on ‘rounds’ is of special interest in the context of designing workefJicient algorithms on a machine where latency and synchronization costs are high. Many of our lower bound results are complemented by upper bounds that match the lower bound or are close to it.
Opportunities and Challenges for Use and Integration of Information Communication Technology in Management of Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma South District , Kenya

World over, most sectors have embraced information communication technology (ICT) as the preferred tool of choice for best management practices regarding service delivery in this 21 century. Despite the Kenya government and other stakeholders’ efforts to enhance use and integration of ICT in the education sector, public secondary schools management still lag behind in this area. Reviewed literature revealed that majority of the stakeholders focus on use and integration of ICT more on curriculum delivery as opposed to school management practices. To put ICT use and integration in management of public secondary schools to relevance in this information age, the study sought to establish opportunities available and challenges faced in use and integration of ICT in public secondary schools management in Bungoma South District, Kenya. Specific objectives of the study were to establish challenges faced in use and integration of ICT in management and find out available opportunities for use and integration of ICT in management. The study employed descriptive survey design. The study population comprised of 36 Principals, 36 Deputy Principals, 36 Directors of studies and 4 District Quality Assurance and Standards Officers. Saturated sampling technique was used to select 3 Quality Assurance and Standards Officers, 32 principals, 32 Deputy Principals and 32 Directors of Studies. Data collection instruments were self administered questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of frequencies counts and percentages while qualitative data was analyzed on an ongoing process as themes and sub themes emerged. The study findings established that schools that used and integrated ICT in management were major beneficiaries of donors such as the Ministry of Education and the Constituency Development Fund computer project. There was however a wide digital divide in use and integration of ICT in management regarding ICT resources. For instance, an overwhelming 100% of principals and Quality Assurance and Standards Officers cited ICT infrastructure and financial resources as major challenges faced in use and integration of ICT among others. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education increases its budgetary allocation to cater for capacity building and infrastructure to fill the gap in digital divide. Keyword: ICT use, integration, management, public secondary, Bungoma, Kenya