Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Granulocyte–Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor Autoantibodies: A Marker of Aggressive Crohn's Disease

Background: Neutralizing autoantibodies (Abs) against granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF Ab) have been associated with stricturing ileal Crohn's disease (CD) in a largely pediatric patient cohort (total 394, adult CD 57). The aim of this study was to examine this association in 2 independent predominantly adult inflammatory bowel disease patient cohorts. Methods: Serum samples from 742 subjects from the NIDDK IBD Genetics Consortium and 736 subjects from Australia were analyzed for GM-CSF Ab and genetic markers. We conducted multiple regression analysis with backward elimination to assess the contribution of GM-CSF Ab levels and established CD risk alleles and smoking on ileal disease location in the 477 combined CD subjects from both cohorts. We also determined associations of GM-CSF Ab levels with complications requiring surgical intervention in combined CD subjects in both cohorts. Results: Serum samples from patients with CD expressed significantly higher concentrations of GM-CSF Ab when compared with ulcerative colitis or controls in each cohort. Nonsmokers with ileal CD expressed significantly higher GM-CSF Ab concentrations in the Australian cohort (P = 0.002). Elevated GM-CSF Ab, ileal disease location, and disease duration more than 3 years were independently associated with stricturing/penetrating behavior and intestinal resection for CD. Conclusions: The expression of high GM-CSF Ab is a risk marker for aggressive CD behavior and complications including surgery. Modifying factors include environmental exposure to smoking and genetic risk markers.
Online consumer behavior

The prevalence and importance of e-commerce are drawing more and more attention on the research of online consumer behavior. Although there are significant progresses in a variety of business disciplines focus on that area, the studies appear relatively fragmented and there is not a well-developed model accepted by the researchers. In view of this, this article reviews the literature and past effort on building a framework in this area, tries to offer a more comprehensive and logical model with four key building blocks (information, intention, adoption and evaluation) that can better guide the researches on online consumer behavior.
Joint Factor Analysis for Text-Dependent Speaker Verification

We tackle the problem of text-dependent speaker veriﬁcation using a version of Joint Factor Analysis (JFA) in which speaker-phrase variability is modeled with a factorial prior and channel variability with a subspace prior. We implemented this using Zhao and Dong’s variational Bayes algorithm, an extension of Vogt’s Gauss-Seidel method that supports UBM adaptation to the speaker and channel effects in enrollment and test utterances. We report results on the RSR2015 dataset obtained with two types of likelihood ratio and several strategies for UBM adaptation. We found that using a large UBM and decomposing JFA into a feature extractor and a simple back end classiﬁer (in a way broadly analogous to the i-vector/PLDA cascade) gives better results than using likelihood ratios of either type to make veriﬁcation decisions. This method involves no UBM adaptation other than to the lexical content of utterances and it is based on Vogt’s algorithm rather than Zhao and Dong’s. It results in an equal error rate of 0.5% on the RSR2015 evaluation set.
Disparities in Health Status and Health Care Access and Use Among Older American Indians and Alaska Natives and Non-Hispanic Whites in California

Objectives: The present study compared the characteristics of health status and health care access and use among older American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) to those of non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs). Methods: Data were drawn from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey, with a total of 17,156 adults aged 60 and older (198 AIANs and 16,958 NHWs) analyzed. Results: Older AIANs reported poorer physical and mental health than did NHWs. AIANs were less likely than NHWs to see a medical doctor and have a usual source of medical care and were more likely than NHWs to delay getting needed medical care and report difficulty understanding the doctor at their last visit. Discussion: These findings highlight the vulnerability and unmet health care needs of older AIANs. More research on the older AIAN population is clearly needed to document their health care needs in order to better inform efforts to reduce health disparities.
New algebras of functions on topological groups arising from$G$-spaces

For a topological group G we introduce the algebra SUC(G) of strongly uniformly continuous functions. We show that SUC(G) contains the algebra WAP(G) of weakly almost periodic functions as well as the algebras LE(G) and Asp(G) of locally equicontinuous and Asplund functions respectively. For the Polish groups of order preserv- ing homeomorphisms of the unit interval and of isometries of the Urysohn space of diame- ter 1, we show that SUC(G) is trivial. We introduce the notion of fixed point on a class P of flows (P-fpp) and study in particular groups with the SUC-fpp. We study the Roelcke algebra (= UC(G) = right and left uniformly continuous functions) and SUC compactifi- cations of the groups S(N), of permutations of a countable set, and H(C), of homeomor- phisms of the Cantor set. For the first group we show thatWAP(G) = SUC(G) = UC(G) and also provide a concrete description of the corresponding metrizable (in fact Cantor) semitopological semigroup compactification. For the second group, in contrast, we show that SUC(G) is properly contained in UC(G). We then deduce that for this group UC(G) does not yield a right topological semigroup compactification.
N-WASP and the Arp2/3 Complex Are Critical Regulators of Actin in the Development of Dendritic Spines and Synapses*

Changes in the number, size, and shape of dendritic spines are associated with synaptic plasticity, which underlies cognitive functions such as learning and memory. This plasticity is attributed to reorganization of actin, but the molecular signals that regulate this process are poorly understood. In this study, we show neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP) regulates the formation of dendritic spines and synapses in hippocampal neurons. N-WASP localized to spines and active, functional synapses as shown by loading with FM4–64 dye. Knock down of endogenous N-WASP expression by RNA interference or inhibition of its activity by treatment with a specific inhibitor, wiskostatin, caused a significant decrease in the number of spines and excitatory synapses. Deletion of the C-terminal VCA region of N-WASP, which binds and activates the actin-related protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) complex, dramatically decreased the number of spines and synapses, suggesting activation of the Arp2/3 complex is critical for spine and synapse formation. Consistent with this, Arp3, like N-WASP, was enriched in spines and excitatory synapses and knock down of Arp3 expression impaired spine and synapse formation. A similar defect in spine and synapse formation was observed when expression of an N-WASP activator, Cdc42, was knocked down. Thus, activation of N-WASP and, subsequently, the Arp2/3 complex appears to be an important molecular signal for regulating spines and synapses. Arp2/3-mediated branching of actin could be a mechanism by which dendritic spine heads enlarge and subsequently mature. Collectively, our results point to a critical role for N-WASP and the Arp2/3 complex in spine and synapse formation.
Finite-horizon online transmission scheduling on an energy harvesting communication link with a discrete set of rates

As energy harvesting communication systems emerge, there is a need for transmission schemes that dynamically adapt to the energy harvesting process. In this paper, after exhibiting a finite-horizon online throughput-maximizing scheduling problem formulation and the structure of its optimal solution within a dynamic programming formulation, a low complexity online scheduling policy is proposed. The policy exploits the existence of thresholds for choosing rate and power levels as a function of stored energy, harvest state and time until the end of the horizon. The policy, which is based on computing an expected threshold, performs close to optimal on a wide range of example energy harvest patterns. Moreover, it achieves higher throughput values for a given delay, than throughput-optimal online policies developed based on infinite-horizon formulations in recent literature. The solution is extended to include ergodic time-varying (fading) channels, and a corresponding low complexity policy is proposed and evaluated for this case as well.
Relationship Between Large-Scale Functional and Structural Covariance Networks in Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy

The human brain can be modeled as a network, whose structure can be revealed by either anatomical or functional connectivity analyses. Little is known, so far, about the topological features of the large-scale interregional functional covariance network (FCN) in the brain. Further, the relationship between the FCN and the structural covariance network (SCN) has not been characterized yet, in the intact as well as in the diseased brain. Here, we studied 59 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy characterized by tonic-clonic seizures and 59 healthy controls. We estimated the FCN and the SCN by measuring amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and gray matter volume (GMV), respectively, and then we conducted graph theoretical analyses. Our ALFF-based FCN and GMV-based results revealed that the normal human brain is characterized by specific topological properties such as small worldness and highly-connected hub regions. The patients had an altered overall topology compared to the controls, suggesting that epilepsy is primarily a disorder of the cerebral network organization. Further, the patients had altered nodal characteristics in the subcortical and medial temporal regions and default-mode regions, for both the FCN and SCN. Importantly, the correspondence between the FCN and SCN was significantly larger in patients than in the controls. These results support the hypothesis that the SCN reflects shared long-term trophic mechanisms within functionally synchronous systems. They can also provide crucial information for understanding the interactions between the whole-brain network organization and pathology in generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
In plants, decapping prevents RDR6-dependent production of small interfering RNAs from endogenous mRNAs

Cytoplasmic degradation of endogenous RNAs is an integral part of RNA quality control (RQC) and often relies on the removal of the 5′ cap structure and their subsequent 5’ to 3’ degradation in cytoplasmic processing (P-)bodies. In parallel, many eukaryotes degrade exogenous and selected endogenous RNAs through post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In plants, PTGS depends on small interfering (si)RNAs produced after the conversion of single-stranded RNAs to double-stranded RNAs by the cellular RNA DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) in cytoplasmic siRNA-bodies. PTGS and RQC compete for transgene-derived RNAs, but it is unknown whether this competition also occurs for endogenous transcripts. We show that the lethality of decapping mutants is suppressed by impairing RDR6 activity. We establish that upon decapping impairment hundreds of endogenous mRNAs give rise to a new class of rqc-siRNAs, that over-accumulate when RQC processes are impaired, a subset of which depending on RDR6 for their production. We observe that P- and siRNA-bodies often are dynamically juxtaposed, potentially allowing for crosstalk of the two machineries. Our results suggest that the decapping of endogenous RNA limits their entry into the PTGS pathway. We anticipate that the rqc-siRNAs identified in decapping mutants represent a subset of a larger ensemble of endogenous siRNAs.
AFM/FFM study of micro/nano-tribological properties of Diamond-Like Carbon film

Micro-tribological properties of different Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) thin films were studied with the AFM/FFM. The surface topographies of the prepared specimens were observed by AFM, and the adhesive forces were also measured. The results indicate that the friction coefficient of the tested DLC film depends on the combined effect of the adhesion and the sample roughness. The friction force increases over velocity when the scanning velocity is not high, due to the effect of stick-slip behaviour, but their relationship is reversed with the increase of the velocity which is caused by the phase transformation of the DLC films.
Optimizing the Measurement of Contact Heat Evoked Potentials

Our aim was to determine whether single trial averaging could improve quantification of contact heat evoked potentials measured from fixed position contact heat stimulation. Event-related brain potentials were measured in response to contact heat stimuli applied to the arm and the leg of 10 subjects via a circular thermode, using fixed and varied thermode positions at 41°C and 51°C. Contact heat evoked potentials were successfully recorded from varied position stimulation of the leg at 51°C in 80% of subjects, but from only 60% of subjects using a fixed position. Contact heat evoked potentials were only identified in a small number of subjects when stimulating at 41°C. The amplitude of the N2-P2 complex and pain intensity ratings were larger for the varied compared with the fixed thermode position and were also larger when stimulating the arm. Automated single trial analysis of the data resulted in larger amplitude of the N2-P2 complex than standard averaging. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that the reduced contact heat evoked potentials amplitude seen for fixed location stimulation can be improved with single-trial averaging.
Q(λ)‐learning adaptive fuzzy logic controllers for pursuit–evasion differential games

This paper addresses the problem of tuning the input and the output parameters of a fuzzy logic controller. A novel technique that combines Q(λ)‐learning with function approximation (fuzzy inference system) is proposed. The system learns autonomously without supervision or a priori training data. The proposed technique is applied to three different pursuit–evasion differential games. The proposed technique is compared with the classical control strategy, Q(λ)‐learning only, and the technique proposed by Dai et al. (2005) in which a neural network is used as a function approximation for Q‐learning. Computer simulations show the usefulness of the proposed technique. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Massive X-Ray Outflow from the Quasar PDS 456

We report on XMM-Newton spectroscopic observations of the luminous radio-quiet quasar PDS 456. The hard X-ray spectrum of PDS 456 shows a deep absorption trough (constituting 50% of the continuum) at energies above 7 keV in the quasar rest frame, which can be attributed to a series of blueshifted K-shell absorption edges due to highly ionized iron. The higher resolution soft X-ray Reflection Grating Spectrometer spectrum exhibits a broad absorption line feature near 1 keV, which can be modeled by a blend of L-shell transitions from highly ionized iron (Fe XVII-Fe XXIV). An extreme outflow velocity of ~50,000 km s-1 is required to model the K- and L-shell iron absorption present in the XMM-Newton data. Overall, a large column density (NH = 5 × 1023 cm-2) of highly ionized gas (log ξ = 2.5) is required in PDS 456. A high-mass outflow rate of ~10 M☉ yr-1 (assuming a conservative outflow covering factor of 0.1 sr) is derived, which is of the same order as the overall mass accretion rate in PDS 456. The kinetic energy of the outflow represents a substantial fraction (~10%) of the quasar energy budget, while the large column and outflow velocity place PDS 456 toward the extreme end of the broad absorption line quasar population.
Depth-First Forwarding for Unreliable Networks: Extensions and Applications

This paper introduces extensions and applications of depth-first forwarding (DFF)-a data forwarding mechanism for use in unreliable networks such as sensor networks and Mobile Ad hoc NETworks with limited computational power and storage, low-capacity channels, device mobility, etc. Routing protocols for these networks try to balance conflicting requirements of being reactive to topology and channel variation while also being frugal in resource requirements-but when the underlying topology changes, routing protocols require time to re converge, during which data delivery failure may occur. DFF was developed to alleviate this situation: it reacts rapidly to local data delivery failures and attempts to successfully deliver data while giving a routing protocol time to recover from such a failure. An extension of DFF, denoted as DFF++, is proposed in this paper, in order to optimize the performance of DFF by way of introducing a more efficient search ordering. This paper also studies the applicability of DFF to three major routing protocols for the Internet of Things (IoT), including the Lightweight On-demand Ad hoc Distance-vector Routing Protocol-Next Generation (LOADng), the optimized link state routing protocol version 2 (OLSRv2), and the IPv6 routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks (RPL), and presents the performance of these protocols, with and without DFF, in lossy and unreliable networks.
Effects of Metformin on CD133+ Colorectal Cancer Cells in Diabetic Patients

In diabetic patients complicated with colorectal cancer (CRC), metformin treatment was reported to have diverse correlation with CRC-specific mortality. In laboratory studies, metformin was reported to affect the survival of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in breast and pancreatic cancers and glioblastoma. Although cscs play a critical role in the resistance to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy in CRC patients, the effect of metformin on cscs in CRC patients and the synergistic effect of metformin in combination with 5-FU on cscs are not reported. In the present study pathological examinations were performed in 86 CRC patients complicated with type 2 DM who had been divided into a metformin group and a non-metformin group. Comparisons regarding pathological type, incidence of metastasis, expression of CD133 and β-catenin were conducted between the two groups. We explored the synergistic effects of metformin in combination with 5-FU on the proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis and the proportion of CD133+ cscs of SW620 human colorectal cancer cell lines. The results show that metformin treatment had reverse correlations with the proportion of patients with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, the proportion of CD133+ cscs in CRC patients with type 2 DM. Metformin enhanced the antiproliferative effects of 5-FU on CD133+ cscs in SW620 cells. These findings provide an important complement to previous study. Inhibition of the proliferation of CD133+ cscs may be a potential mechanism responsible for the association of metformin use with improved CRC outcomes in CRC patients with type 2 diabetes.
Quantitative assessment of the effect of pre-gestational diabetes and risk of adverse maternal, perinatal and neonatal outcomes

Pregnancies complicated by pre-gestational diabetes (PGD) are associated with a higher rate of adverse outcomes, including an increased rage of preterm delivery, pregnancy-induced hypertension, pre-eclampsia, caesarean section, perinatal mortality, stillbirth, shoulder dystocia, macrosomia, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, low birth weight, neonatal hypoglycemia, neonatal death, low Apgar score, NICU admission, jaundice and respiratory distress. In the past two decades, numerous reports have been published regarding associations between PGD and risk of adverse outcomes. However, study results are inconsistent. To provide a synopsis of the current understanding of PGD for risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, a random-effects meta-analysis over 40 million subjects from 100 studies was performed to calculate the pooled ORs. Potential sources of heterogeneity were systematically explored by multiple strata analyses and meta-regression. Overall, PGD were significantly associated with increased risk of preterm delivery (OR=3.48), LGA (OR=3.90), perinatal mortality (OR=3.39), stillbirth (OR=3.52), pre-eclampsia (OR=3.48), caesarean section (OR=3.52), NICU admission (OR=3.92), and neonatal hypoglycemia (OR=26.62). Significant results were also observed for 7 adverse outcomes with OR range from 1.54 to 2.82, while no association was found for SGA and respiratory distress after Bonferroni correction. We found that women with T1DM had higher risks for most of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared with women with T2DM. When stratified by study design, sample size, type of diabetes, geographic region, and study quality, significant associations remains. Our findings demonstrated that PGD is a strong risk-conferring factor for adverse maternal, perinatal and neonatal outcomes.
Effects of coolant on temperature distribution in metal machining

AbstractThe effects of coolant on tool temperature in metal turning operations were studied both experimentally and theoretically. Values for the coefficient of heat transfer from the tool to the coolant were obtained. Experimentally, a medium carbon steel was turned at a feed rate of 0·254 mm rev −1, at cutting speeds of 33–61 m min−1, with high speed steel tools and water based coolant. Tool temperatures estimated from structural changes in the tool were compared with values calculated by finite element analysis. Heat transfer coefficients from tool to coolant between 103 and 5 × 103 W m2K−1, depending on coolant flow rate, best match theory and experiment. Further, it is shown by the calculations that tool temperatures are particularly sensitive to changes in heat transfer coefficient between 103 and 104 W m−2K−1. This is the range in which coefficients are to be found in practice, explaining the critical nature of cutting fluid formulation, supply rate, and direction of application in those operations.
Characterization of Calcium Oxalate Biominerals in Pereskia Species (Cactaceae)

Calcium oxalate druses were isolated from the stems and leaves of six Pereskioideae family members and investigated by infrared spectroscopy, showing that in all samples the biomineral was present in the form of whewellite, CaC2O4 · H2O. As Pereskia is thought to represent the “ancestral” condition of the leafl ess stem-succulent cacti, these results suggest that the biomineralization of calcium oxalate in Cactaceae represents a primitive characteristic of the group and also support a close genetic relationship between Pereskia and Opuntia.
Role of electron-phonon coupling in femtosecond laser damage of metals

Multishot laser damage thresholds of Au-, Ni-, Cr-, and Mo- films on fused silica have been measured with 200 fs/400 nm pulses for a sequence of film thicknesses. We found a pronounced dependence of threshold fluences on film thickness in the ranges below 50 nm for Ni and Cr, below 70 nm for Mo, and extending up to 700 nm for Au. These variations reflect the depth of hot electron diffusion which is governed by the strength of the electron-phonon coupling. The onset of damage is defined as melting for Au-, Ni- and Mo-films. For Cr-films, we could identify the brittle-to ductile phase transition as well as melting. The change of damage thresholds can be described by the two-temperature model, provided the temperature dependence of optical and thermal properties of the material is properly accounted for. By fitting model predictions to the extrapolated single-shot damage thresholds, we find the following values of electron-phonon coupling constants (in units of 1016 W/Km3): g (Au) equals 2 plus or minus 20%, g (Ni equals 36 plus or minus 40%, g (Cr) equals 42 plus or minus 40%, g (Mo) equals 13 plus or minus 40%.