Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cross-sectional Study to Estimate Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Background: There is increasing recognition of cardiovascular mortality and comorbidity in bipolar disorder (BD) in the recent times. Framingham 10 years risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) has been a widely accepted as a reliable estimate of cardiovascular risk in the general population. A few studies have estimated the relative risk of developing CHD in BDs, in India. We attempt to present a cross-sectional data from a prospective study to estimate the 10 years cardiovascular risk in BD population. Subjects and Methods: A total of 50 patients with BD aged between 20 and 60 years fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled into this study. Demographic variables and clinical evaluations including smoking history, medical and pharmacologic treatment history, physical examination, anthropometric measurements, and clinical laboratories for metabolic profiles were assessed. Using the Framingham 10-year risk questionnaire, the risk for each patient was calculated and compared with that of normal healthy control group. Results: The risk of developing a future cardiovascular event was 3.26% in BD and 2.02% in controls. We identified that a higher age at onset of illness, waist-hip ratio, total cholesterol, and unemployment showed a strong positive correlation with future CHD risk whereas administration of valproate, lithium for management of BD, higher socioeconomic status and educational status, and nonsmokers was associated negatively with the future CHD risk. Conclusions: It appears that there is a significant association between BD and metabolic factors, CHD, sociodemographic variables, and underscores the predictive ability of Framingham risk score in detecting cardiovascular diseases.
Title Human CD 271-Positive Melanoma Stem Cells Associated with Metastasis Establish Tumor Heterogeneity and Long-Term Growth Running Title : Human Melanoma Contains CD 271-Positive Melanoma Stem Cells

Cell and Developmental Biology, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland. Oncology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 10, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Zurich, Gloriastrasse 31, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Department of Pathology, Institute of Surgical Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 12, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Biostatistics Unit ISPM, University Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland.
On the Number of Spanning Trees in Random Regular Graphs

Let $d\geq 3$ be a fixed integer. We give an asympotic formula for the expected number of spanning trees in a uniformly random $d$-regular graph with $n$ vertices. (The asymptotics are as $n\to\infty$, restricted to even $n$ if $d$ is odd.) We also obtain the asymptotic distribution of the number of spanning trees in a uniformly random cubic graph, and conjecture that the corresponding result holds for arbitrary (fixed) $d$. Numerical evidence is presented which supports our conjecture.
Thresholding-based iterative selection procedures for model selection and shrinkage

This paper discusses a class of thresholding-based iterative selection procedures (TISP) for model selection and shrinkage. People have long before noticed the weakness of the convex $l_1$-constraint (or the soft-thresholding) in wavelets and have designed many different forms of nonconvex penalties to increase model sparsity and accuracy. But for a nonorthogonal regression matrix, there is great difficulty in both investigating the performance in theory and solving the problem in computation. TISP provides a simple and efficient way to tackle this so that we successfully borrow the rich results in the orthogonal design to solve the nonconvex penalized regression for a general design matrix. Our starting point is, however, thresholding rules rather than penalty functions. Indeed, there is a universal connection between them. But a drawback of the latter is its non-unique form, and our approach greatly facilitates the computation and the analysis. In fact, we are able to build the convergence theorem and explore theoretical properties of the selection and estimation via TISP nonasymptotically. More importantly, a novel Hybrid-TISP is proposed based on hard-thresholding and ridge-thresholding. It provides a fusion between the $l_0$-penalty and the $l_2$-penalty, and adaptively achieves the right balance between shrinkage and selection in statistical modeling. In practice, Hybrid-TISP shows superior performance in test-error and is parsimonious.
Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Treatment Outcomes of Isoniazid- and Rifampicin- Mono-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Lima, Peru

Background Isoniazid and rifampicin are the two most efficacious first-line agents for tuberculosis (TB) treatment. We assessed the prevalence of isoniazid and rifampicin mono-resistance, associated risk factors, and the association of mono-resistance on treatment outcomes. Methods A prospective, observational cohort study enrolled adults with a first episode of smear-positive pulmonary TB from 34 health facilities in a northern district of Lima, Peru, from March 2010 through December 2011. Participants were interviewed and a sputum sample was cultured on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) media. Drug susceptibility testing was performed using the proportion method. Medication regimens were documented for each patient. Our primary outcomes were treatment outcome at the end of treatment. The secondary outcome included recurrent episodes among cured patients within two years after completion of the treatment. Results Of 1292 patients enrolled, 1039 (80%) were culture-positive. From this subpopulation, isoniazid mono-resistance was present in 85 (8%) patients and rifampicin mono-resistance was present in 24 (2%) patients. In the multivariate logistic regression model, isoniazid mono-resistance was associated with illicit drug use (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.10; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1–4.1), and rifampicin mono-resistance was associated with HIV infection (aOR = 9.43; 95%CI: 1.9–47.8). Isoniazid mono-resistant patients had a higher risk of poor treatment outcomes including treatment failure (2/85, 2%, p-value<0.01) and death (4/85, 5%, p<0.02). Rifampicin mono-resistant patients had a higher risk of death (2/24, 8%, p<0.01). Conclusion A high prevalence of isoniazid and rifampicin mono-resistance was found among TB patients in our low HIV burden setting which were similar to regions with high HIV burden. Patients with isoniazid and rifampicin mono-resistance had an increased risk of poor treatment outcomes.
Trace Norm Regularized CANDECOMP/PARAFAC Decomposition With Missing Data

In recent years, low-rank tensor completion (LRTC) problems have received a significant amount of attention in computer vision, data mining, and signal processing. The existing trace norm minimization algorithms for iteratively solving LRTC problems involve multiple singular value decompositions of very large matrices at each iteration. Therefore, they suffer from high computational cost. In this paper, we propose a novel trace norm regularized CANDECOMP/PARAFAC decomposition (TNCP) method for simultaneous tensor decomposition and completion. We first formulate a factor matrix rank minimization model by deducing the relation between the rank of each factor matrix and the mode-n rank of a tensor. Then, we introduce a tractable relaxation of our rank function, and then achieve a convex combination problem of much smaller-scale matrix trace norm minimization. Finally, we develop an efficient algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers to solve our problem. The promising experimental results on synthetic and real-world data validate the effectiveness of our TNCP method. Moreover, TNCP is significantly faster than the state-of-the-art methods and scales to larger problems.
Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction

Abstract Despite numerous advances in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Novel and inexpensive interventions that can contribute to the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease are of interest. Numerous studies have reported on the benefits of meditation. Meditation instruction and practice is widely accessible and inexpensive and may thus be a potential attractive cost‐effective adjunct to more traditional medical therapies. Accordingly, this American Heart Association scientific statement systematically reviewed the data on the potential benefits of meditation on cardiovascular risk. Neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies demonstrate that meditation can have long‐standing effects on the brain, which provide some biological plausibility for beneficial consequences on the physiological basal state and on cardiovascular risk. Studies of the effects of meditation on cardiovascular risk have included those investigating physiological response to stress, smoking cessation, blood pressure reduction, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, endothelial function, inducible myocardial ischemia, and primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Overall, studies of meditation suggest a possible benefit on cardiovascular risk, although the overall quality and, in some cases, quantity of study data are modest. Given the low costs and low risks of this intervention, meditation may be considered as an adjunct to guideline‐directed cardiovascular risk reduction by those interested in this lifestyle modification, with the understanding that the benefits of such intervention remain to be better established. Further research on meditation and cardiovascular risk is warranted. Such studies, to the degree possible, should utilize randomized study design, be adequately powered to meet the primary study outcome, strive to achieve low drop‐out rates, include long‐term follow‐up, and be performed by those without inherent bias in outcome.
Haemophilus ducreyi hemolysin acts as a contact cytotoxin and damages human foreskin fibroblasts in cell culture

Haemophilus ducreyi, which causes the sexually transmitted disease chancroid, produces several factors that damage human cells. We used isogenic mutants of H. ducreyi 35000 to demonstrate that the hemolytic activity and the cytotoxic effect of H. ducreyi on human foreskin fibroblasts are due to the same toxin.
Rho Kinase-Mediated Vasoconstriction Is Important in Severe Occlusive Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rats

Vascular remodeling, rather than vasoconstriction, is believed to account for high vascular resistance in severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We have found previously that acute Rho kinase inhibition nearly normalizes PAH in chronically hypoxic rats that have no occlusive neointimal lesions. Here we examined whether Rho kinase-mediated vasoconstriction was also important in a rat model of severe occlusive PAH. Adult rats were exposed to chronic hypoxia (≈10% O2) after subcutaneous injection of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor SUGEN 5416. Hemodynamic measurements were made in anesthetized rats after 2 weeks of hypoxia (early group) and 3 weeks of hypoxia plus 2 weeks of normoxia (late group). Both groups developed PAH, with greater severity in the late group. In the early group, intravenous fasudil was more effective than intravenous bradykinin, inhaled NO, or intravenous iloprost in reducing right ventricular systolic pressure. Despite more occlusive vascular lesions, fasudil also markedly reduced right ventricular systolic pressure in late-stage rats. Blood-perfused lungs from late-stage rats showed spontaneous vasoconstriction, which was reversed partially by the endothelin A receptor blocker BQ123 and completely by fasudil or Y-27632. Phosphorylation of MYPT1, a downstream target of Rho kinase, was increased in lungs from both groups of rats, and fasudil (intravenous) reversed the increased phosphorylation in the late group. Thus, in addition to structural occlusion, Rho kinase-mediated vasoconstriction is an important component of severe PAH in SUGEN 5416/hypoxia-exposed rats, and PAH can be significantly reduced in the setting of a severely remodeled lung circulation if an unconventional vasodilator is used.
The Cyanobacteria-Dominated Sponge Dactylospongia elegans in the South China Sea: Prokaryotic Community and Metagenomic Insights

The South China Sea is a special reservoir of sponges of which prokaryotic communities are less studied. Here, a new record of the sponge Dactylospongia elegans is reported near the coast of Jinqing Island in the South China Sea, and its prokaryotic community is comprehensively investigated. Sponge specimens displayed lower microbial diversity compared with surrounding seawater. At the phylum level, prokaryotic communities were consistently dominated by Proteobacteria, followed by Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Thaumarchaeota, and Poribacteria. Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) analysis alternatively showed that the most abundant symbiont was the sponge-specific cyanobacterial species “Candidatus Synechococcus spongiarum,” followed by OTUs belonging to the unidentified Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria. Phylogenetic tree based on 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer regions indicated that the dominated cyanobacterial OTU represented a new clade of “Ca. Synechococcus spongiarum. ” More reliable metagenomic data further revealed that poribacterial symbionts were highly abundant and only secondary to the cyanobacterial symbiont. One draft genome for each of the Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria and three poribacterial genomes were extracted from the metagenomes. Among them, genomes affiliated with the Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria were reported for the first time in sponge symbionts. Eukaryotic-like domains were found in all the binned genomes, indicating their potential symbiotic roles with the sponge host. The high quality of the six recovered genomes of sponge symbionts from the sponge D. elegans makes it possible to understand their symbiotic roles and interactions with the sponge host as well as among one another.
Transfer Learning for Video Recognition with Scarce Training Data

Unconstrained video recognition and Deep Convolution Network (DCN) are two active topics in computer vision recently. In this work, we apply DCNs as frame-based recognizers for video recognition. Our preliminary studies, however, show that video corpora with complete ground truth are usually not large and diverse enough to learn a robust model. The networks trained directly on the video data set suffer from significant overfitting and have poor recognition rate on the test set. The same lack-of-training-sample problem limits the usage of deep models on a wide range of computer vision problems where obtaining training data are difficult. To overcome the problem, we perform transfer learning from images to videos to utilize the knowledge in the weakly labeled image corpus for video recognition. The image corpus help to learn important visual patterns for natural images, while these patterns are ignored by models trained only on the video corpus. Therefore, the resultant networks have better generalizability and better recognition rate. We show that by means of transfer learning from image to video, we can learn a frame-based recognizer with only 4k videos. Because the image corpus is weakly labeled, the entire learning process requires only 4k annotated instances, which is far less than the million scale image data sets required by previous works. The same approach may be applied to other visual recognition tasks where only scarce training data is available, and it improves the applicability of DCNs in various computer vision problems. Our experiments also reveal the correlation between meta-parameters and the performance of DCNs, given the properties of the target problem and data. These results lead to a heuristic for meta-parameter selection for future researches, which does not rely on the time consuming meta-parameter search.
Nonrandom Transduction of Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Mouse Hepatocytes In Vivo: Cell Cycling Does Not Influence Hepatocyte Transduction

ABSTRACT Recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors (rAAV) show promise in preclinical trials for the treatment of genetic diseases including hemophilia. Liver-directed gene transfer results in a slow rise in transgene expression, reaching steady-state levels over a period of 5 weeks concomitant with the conversion of the single-stranded rAAV molecules into high-molecular-weight concatemers in about 5% of hepatocytes. Immunohistochemistry and RNA in situ hybridization show that the transgene product is made in about ∼5% of hepatocytes, suggesting that most rAAV-mediated gene expression occurs in hepatocytes containing the double-stranded concatemers. In this study, the mechanism(s) involved in stable transduction in vivo was evaluated. While only ∼5% of hepatocytes are stably transduced, in situ hybridization experiments demonstrated that the vast majority of the hepatocytes take up AAV-DNA genomes after portal vein infusion of the vector. Two different vectors were infused together or staggered by 1, 3, or 5 weeks, and two-color fluorescent in situ hybridization and molecular analyses were performed 5 weeks after the infusion of the second vector. These experiments revealed that a small but changing subpopulation of hepatocytes were permissive to stable transduction. Furthermore, in animals that received a single infusion of two vectors, about one-third of the transduced cells contained heteroconcatemers, suggesting that dimer formation was a critical event in the process of concatemer formation. To determine if the progression through the cell cycle was important for rAAV transduction, animals were continuously infused with 5′-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU), starting at the time of administration of a rAAV vector that expressed cytoplasmic β-galactosidase. Colabeling for β-galactosidase and BrdU revealed that there was no preference for transduction of cycling cells. This was further confirmed by demonstrating no increase in rAAV transduction efficiencies in animals whose livers were induced to cycle at the time of or after vector administration. Taken together, our studies suggest that while virtually all hepatocytes take up vector, unknown cellular factors are required for stable transduction, and that dimer formation is a critical event in the transduction pathway. These studies have important implications for understanding the mechanism of integration and may be useful for improving liver gene transfer in vivo.
Using tone-based extended recognition network to detect non-native Mandarin tone mispronunciations

In this paper, we investigate a DNN tone-based extended recognition network (ERN) approach to Mandarin tone recognition and tone mispronunciation detection. Given a toneless syllable sequence, a tone-based ERN is constructed by assigning five different tones to each toneless syllable, obtaining a fully expanded tonal syllable network. Next, Viterbi decoding is carried out on the tone-based ERN to find the best tone sequence. With respect to the tone recognition task, different acoustic units, and DNN configurations are compared. The experimental results show that tonal phone and longer DNN input window achieve better recognition performance. Moreover, we have applied confidence score extracted from tone-based ERN to verify whether L2 learners' tones are correctly pronounced. Compared with the conventional tone-based GOP (Goodness of Pronunciation) system, the proposed framework reduces the equal error rate by 10.98% relative.
Detection of Anthrax Toxin in the Serum of Animals Infected with Bacillus anthracis by Using Engineered Immunoassays

ABSTRACT Several strategies that target anthrax toxin are being developed as therapies for infection by Bacillus anthracis. Although the action of the tripartite anthrax toxin has been extensively studied in vitro, relatively little is known about the presence of toxins during an infection in vivo. We developed a series of sensitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for detection of both the protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF) components of the anthrax exotoxin in serum. The assays utilize as capture agents an engineered high-affinity antibody to PA, a soluble form of the extracellular domain of the anthrax toxin receptor (ANTXR2/CMG2), or PA itself. Sandwich immunoassays were used to detect and quantify PA and LF in animals infected with the Ames or Vollum strains of anthrax spores. PA and LF were detected before and after signs of toxemia were observed, with increasing levels reported in the late stages of the infection. These results represent the detection of free PA and LF by ELISA in the systemic circulation of two animal models exposed to either of the two fully virulent strains of anthrax. Simple anthrax toxin detection ELISAs could prove useful in the evaluation of potential therapies and possibly as a clinical diagnostic to complement other strategies for the rapid identification of B. anthracis infection.
Impact of employees' character strengths of wisdom on stress and creative performance

Both conventional understanding and positive psychology recognise an important link between people’s character strengths and how they perform their jobs. However, no research to date has focused on the relationship of employees’ wisdom strengths, potential mediating effects and creative task performance. Utilising a large heterogeneous sample (N = 974) of working adults, this study found that participants’ levels of the character strengths of wisdom were positively related to their performance on a creative task and negatively related to their reported level of stress. In addition, stress was found to be negatively related to creative task performance, with reported stress partly mediating the relationship between participants’ wisdom and their performance on the creative task. Implications for incorporating character strengths in the development of HRM theory and practice conclude the article.