Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Birth defects after use of antithyroid drugs in early pregnancy: a Swedish nationwide study.

OBJECTIVE Antithyroid drugs (ATDs) may have teratogenic effects, but more evidence is needed on the risk and types of birth defects after the use of methimazole (MMI) and propylthiouracil (PTU). This study aimed to evaluate the association between the use of ATDs in early pregnancy and birth defects. DESIGN Swedish nationwide register-based cohort study. METHODS The study included 684 340 children live-born in Sweden from 2006 to 2012. Exposure groups defined by maternal ATD use in early pregnancy were MMI (n = 162); PTU (n = 218); MMI and PTU (n = 66); ATD before or after, but not in pregnancy (n = 1551) and non-exposed (never ATD (n = 682 343)). Outcome was cumulative incidence of birth defects diagnosed before two years of age. RESULTS The cumulative incidence of birth defects was not significantly different in children exposed to MMI (6.8%, P = 0.6) or PTU (6.4%, P = 0.4) vs non-exposed (8.0%). For subtypes of birth defects, MMI was associated with an increased incidence of septal heart defects (P = 0.02). PTU was associated with ear (P = 0.005) and obstructive urinary system malformations (P = 0.006). A case of choanal atresia was observed after exposure to both MMI and PTU. The incidence of birth defects in children born to mothers who received ATD before or after, but not in pregnancy, was 8.8% and not significantly different from non-exposed (P = 0.3), MMI exposed (P = 0.4) or PTU exposed (P = 0.2). CONCLUSIONS MMI and PTU were associated with subtypes of birth defects previously reported, but the frequency of ATD exposure in early pregnancy was low and severe malformations described in the MMI embryopathy were rarely observed.
Decreased Expression of Hippocampal Cholinergic Neurostimulating Peptide Precursor Protein mRNA in the Hippocampus in Alzheimer Disease

Hippocampal cholinergic neurostimulating peptide (HCNP) is involved in the phenotype development of the septo-hippocampal system. HCNP precursor protein (HCNP-pp) is known to interact with other molecules including phosphatidylethanolamine and Raf-1 kinase, and is also known as phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein and raf kinase-inhibitory protein. To assess whether HCNP-pp is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD), the expression levels of its mRNA in the hippocampus of autopsy brains from patients with dementia (including AD and ischemic vascular dementia) were compared with those of non-demented control subjects. The in situ hybridization analysis revealed that the expression of HCNP-pp mRNA in patients with clinically late-onset AD was decreased in the hippocampal CA1 field, but not in the CA3 field or the dentate gyrus. The early-onset AD patients showed a wide range of expression levels in the hippocampal sub-regions. Northern blot analysis of HCNP-pp mRNA in brain tissue supported these observations. Since HCNP is known to stimulate the enzymatic activity of choline acetyltransferase in neurons, its low expression in the CA1 field of AD patients may explain the downregulation of cholinergic neurons seen in these patients and may thus contribute to the pathogenic processes underlying AD.
Bi-iteration SVD subspace tracking algorithms

We present a class of fast subspace tracking algorithms that arise from a straightforward extension of Bauer's (1957) classical bi-iteration to the sequential processing case. The bi-iteration concept has an unexpected potential in subspace tracking. Our new bi-SVD subspace trackers are well structured and show excellent convergence properties. They outperform the TQR-SVD subspace tracking algorithm. Detailed comparisons confirm our claims. An application to rank and data adaptive signal reconstruction is also discussed.
Static and Fatigue Analyses of RC Beams Strengthened with CFRP Laminates

Extensive testing has shown that externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates are particularly suited for improving the short-term behavior of deficient reinforced concrete beams. Accelerated fatigue tests conducted to date confirm that fatigue response is also improved. This paper describes an analytical model for simulating the static response and accelerated fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFRP laminates. Static and fatigue calculations are carried out using a fiber section model that accounts for the nonlinear time-dependent behavior of concrete, steel yielding, and rupture of CFRP laminates. Analysis results are compared with experimental data from two sets of accelerated fatigue tests on CFRP strengthened beams and show good agreement. Cyclic fatigue causes a time-dependent redistribution of stresses, which leads to a mild increase in steel and CFRP laminate stresses as fatigue life is exhausted. Based on the findigns, design considerations are suggested for the repair and/or strengthening of reinforced concrete beams using CFRP laminates.
Phenotype/Genotype Correlation and Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes Mellitus (Italian Multicenter Study)

BACKGROUND A genotype/phenotype correlation between early onset cystic fibrosis related diabetes (CFRD) and the N1303K mutation of the CF gene was previously identified in a small series of 28 CFRD patients, out of 313 CF patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS In order to confirm the observation, data of 141 CFRD patients out of 1,229 CF patients attending 14 Italian CF centers were collected. All patients were older than 10 years and had been genotyped. RESULTS DeltaF508 was the most frequent mutation (147/282 alleles: 52%) and N1303K the second most frequent mutation (18/282 alleles: 6.3%) in CFRD patients, without significant difference as compared with CF patients without DM (52% vs 48.6% and 6.3% vs 5.1%, respectively). W1282X was the third most frequent mutation in CFRD patients, more frequent than in CF patients without DM (5.3% vs 2%; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Unlike the previous study, we did not find a higher frequency of the N1303K mutation in CFRD patients; moreover, data from this large CF series showed a significant correlation between the W1282X mutation and CFRD.
Diversity and the Civic Spirit in British Neighbourhoods: An Investigation with MCDS and EMBES 2010 Data

Recently, there has been a proliferation of studies investigating the relationship between diversity and outcomes such as social cohesion and civic mindedness. This article addresses several common problems in this field and, using data for British neighbourhoods, elaborates on the experiences of both white British and ethnic minority respondents. We conclude that, if anything, diversity should be encouraged to cement the integration progress of migrants and foster stronger identification with Britain in the second generation. Deprivation at the neighbourhood level along with individual factors such as fear of crime is a much stronger predictor of deterioration of the civic spirit than diversity. Bridging contacts have the expected strong positive association with cohesion outcomes; and contrary to policy concerns no strong negative impact is observed for associational bonding among minority ingroupers.
In vitro evaluation of the pneumocandin antifungal agent L-733560, a new water-soluble hybrid of L-705589 and L-731373

Lipopeptide L-733560 is a hybrid analog of L-731373 and L-705589. All are water-soluble semisynthetic pneumocandin Bo derivatives. In vitro susceptibility testing of L-705589, L-731373, and L-733560 against more than 200 clinical isolates consisting of eight Candida species, Cryptococcus neoformans, and three Aspergillus species was performed by the broth microdilution methods. All three pneumocandins exhibited potent anti-Candida activity and moderate anti-C. neoformans activity. However, anti-Aspergillus activity was demonstrated only by an agar disk diffusion method. Antifungal agent-resistant Candida species and C. neoformans showed susceptibility comparable to that of susceptible isolates. Growth inhibition kinetic studies against Candida albicans revealed fungicidal activity within 3 to 5 h. Drug combination studies with pneumocandins and amphotericin B revealed indifferent activity against C. albicans and additive effects against C. neoformans and Aspergillus fumigatus. The activities of the compounds were not dramatically affected by the presence of serum. Resistance induction studies showed that the susceptibility of C. albicans MY1055 was not significantly altered by repeated exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of L-733560. Erythrocyte hemolysis studies indicated minimal hemolytic potential with pneumocandins. Results from preclinical evaluations and development studies performed thus far indicate that the pneumocandins should be safe, broad-spectrum fungicidal agents and potent parenteral antifungal agents.
Using perceptual mapping methods to understand gender differences in perceived barriers and benefits of clinical research participation in urban minority HIV+ patients

ABSTRACT Minority participation in HIV clinical trials research is critical to understanding the impact of medications or behavioral interventions, but little is known about gender differences in perceptions of participation. We surveyed 50 minority HIV+ patients from an urban clinic to assess perceived risks/benefits of clinical trial research participation and used innovative marketing methods to analyze results. Perceptual mapping and vector message-modeling, a method that creates 3-D models representing how groups conceptualize elements, were used to assess how male and female participants could be motivated to participate. Results showed men farther away from participation and more concerned with HIV disclosure and experimentation than women. Men expressed distrust of the medical system, doubted HIV's origin, and knew less about research implementation. Women were closer to participation in both behavior and medical trials and perceived medication issues as more significant, including fear of losing medication stability, medications not working, being in the placebo group, and experiencing side effects. Vector modeling shows that messages would need to focus on different aspects of clinical research for men and women and that interventions aimed at minority HIV+ patients to encourage clinical trial participation would need to be targeted to their unique perceptions. Understanding gender perceptions of HIV clinical research has significant implications for targeting messages to increase minority participation.
Gene–Environment Interactions and Intermediate Phenotypes: Early Trauma and Depression

This review focuses on current research developments in the study of gene by early life stress (ELS) interactions and depression. ELS refers to aversive experiences during childhood and adolescence such as sexual, physical or emotional abuse, emotional or physical neglect as well as parental loss. Previous research has focused on investigating and characterizing the specific role of ELS within the pathogenesis of depression and linking these findings to neurobiological changes of the brain, especially the stress response system. The latest findings highlight the role of genetic factors that increase vulnerability or, likewise, promote resilience to depression after childhood trauma. Considering intermediate phenotypes has further increased our understanding of the complex relationship between early trauma and depression. Recent findings with regard to epigenetic changes resulting from adverse environmental events during childhood promote current endeavors to identify specific target areas for prevention and treatment schemes regarding the long-term impact of ELS. Taken together, the latest research findings have underscored the essential role of genotypes and epigenetic processes within the development of depression after childhood trauma, thereby building the basis for future research and clinical interventions.
Loss Functions for Neural Networks for Image Processing

Neural networks are becoming central in several areas of computer vision and image processing and different architectures have been proposed to solve specific problems. The impact of the loss layer of neural networks, however, has not received much attention in the context of image processing: the default and virtually only choice is L2. In this paper, we bring attention to alternative choices for image restoration. In particular, we show the importance of perceptually-motivated losses when the resulting image is to be evaluated by a human observer. We compare the performance of several losses, and propose a novel, differentiable error function. We show that the quality of the results improves significantly with better loss functions, even when the network architecture is left unchanged.
Increased Coupled Gating of L-Type Ca2+ Channels During Hypertension and Timothy Syndrome

Rationale: L-Type (Cav1.2) Ca2+ channels are critical regulators of muscle and neural function. Although Cav1.2 channel activity varies regionally, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity. Objective: To test the hypothesis that Cav1.2 channels can gate coordinately. Methods and Results: We used optical and electrophysiological approaches to record Cav1.2 channel activity in cardiac, smooth muscle, and tsA-201 cells expressing Cav1.2 channels. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that small clusters of Cav1.2 channels can open and close in tandem. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer and electrophysiological studies suggest that this coupling of Cav1.2 channels involves transient interactions between neighboring channels via their C termini. The frequency of coupled gating events increases in hypertensive smooth muscle and in cells expressing a mutant Cav1.2 channel that causes arrhythmias and autism in humans with Timothy syndrome (LQT8). Conclusions: Coupled gating of Cav1.2 channels may represent a novel mechanism for the regulation of Ca2+ influx and excitability in neurons, cardiac, and arterial smooth muscle under physiological and pathological conditions.
Idealized Simulations of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and Its Multilevel Flows

Abstract A mesoscale numerical model with an idealized tropical channel environment is used to study the dynamics of intertropical convergence zones (ITCZs) and the recently identified shallow return flow (SRF) and midlevel inflow (MLI). Four idealized sea surface temperature (SST) distributions are used: a meridionally symmetric SST profile with a sharply peaked SST maximum at the equator, a similar profile with the maximum SST shifted off the equator, a cosine-shaped SST profile with zero gradient at the equator, and an idealized SST profile modeled after the observed SST of the eastern Pacific. The simulations show that both the SRF and the MLI are robust features of the ITCZ. The prior result that the SRF is a sea-breeze-like response to surface temperature gradients is further supported, whereas the MLI is caused by the upper-level maxima in diabatic heating and vertical motion. Simulations with the SST maximum at the equator generate long-lasting, convectively coupled Kelvin waves. When the SST maxi.
Aag DNA Glycosylase Promotes Alkylation-Induced Tissue Damage Mediated by Parp1

Alkylating agents comprise a major class of front-line cancer chemotherapeutic compounds, and while these agents effectively kill tumor cells, they also damage healthy tissues. Although base excision repair (BER) is essential in repairing DNA alkylation damage, under certain conditions, initiation of BER can be detrimental. Here we illustrate that the alkyladenine DNA glycosylase (AAG) mediates alkylation-induced tissue damage and whole-animal lethality following exposure to alkylating agents. Aag-dependent tissue damage, as observed in cerebellar granule cells, splenocytes, thymocytes, bone marrow cells, pancreatic β-cells, and retinal photoreceptor cells, was detected in wild-type mice, exacerbated in Aag transgenic mice, and completely suppressed in Aag −/− mice. Additional genetic experiments dissected the effects of modulating both BER and Parp1 on alkylation sensitivity in mice and determined that Aag acts upstream of Parp1 in alkylation-induced tissue damage; in fact, cytotoxicity in WT and Aag transgenic mice was abrogated in the absence of Parp1. These results provide in vivo evidence that Aag-initiated BER may play a critical role in determining the side-effects of alkylating agent chemotherapies and that Parp1 plays a crucial role in Aag-mediated tissue damage.
Fabrication and characterization of 3D printed BaTiO3/PVDF nanocomposites

This paper presents a fabrication process to enhance homogeneous dispersion of BaTiO3 nanoparticles in polyvinylidene fluoride matrix nanocomposites using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing technique. The nanocomposites integrate the functional property (piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and dielectric) of BaTiO3 with the flexibility and lightweight of polyvinylidene fluoride. Traditionally, the simple yet effective way to fabricate the nanocomposites includes solvent-casting, spin-coating, and hot-embossing. However, these methods have disadvantages such as heterogeneous dispersion of BaTiO3 nanoparticles in polyvinylidene fluoride matrix due to the higher density of BaTiO3 compared with polyvinylidene fluoride and agglomeration during fabrication process. This heterogeneous dispersion could weaken functional and mechanical properties. Herein, fused deposition modeling 3D printing technique was utilized for homogeneous dispersion to alleviate the agglomeration of BaTiO3 in polyvinylidene fluoride through two processes: filament extrusion and 3D printing. In addition, thermal poling was applied to further enhance piezoelectric response of the BaTiO3/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposites. It is found that 3D printed BaTiO3/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposites exhibit three times higher piezoelectric response than solvent-casted nanocomposites.
High-Energy Neutrinos and Cosmic Rays from Low-Luminosity Gamma-Ray Bursts?

The recently discovered gamma-ray burst GRB 060218/SN 2006aj is classified as an X-ray flash with very long duration driven possibly by a neutron star. Since GRB 060218 is very near, ~140 Mpc, and very dim, the 1 yr observation by Swift suggests that the rate of GRB 060218-like events might be very high so that such low-luminosity (LL) GRBs might form a different population from the cosmological high-luminosity (HL) GRBs. We found that the high-energy neutrino background from LL GRBs could be comparable with that from HL GRBs. If each neutrino event is detected by IceCube, later optical-infrared follow-up observations such as those by Subaru and HST can possibly identify a Type Ibc supernova associated with LL GRBs, even if gamma rays and X-rays are not observed by Swift. This is in a sense a new window from neutrino astronomy, which might enable us to confirm the existence of LL GRBs and to obtain information about their rate and origin. We also suggest that LL GRBs are high-energy gamma-ray and cosmic-ray sources.
Design of Wideband Dual Linearly Polarized Transmitarray Antennas

Dual linearly polarized transmitarray antennas with wideband performance are investigated in X-band. Their designs are based on unit-cells with bandpass response. Their structures consist of three conducting layers printed on two identical dielectric substrates glued with a bonding film. Detailed experimental results demonstrate excellent polarization independence, with expected performance and properly preserved radiation characteristics for each polarization. The measured data are in excellent agreement with full-wave simulation results.
Mass distribution and orbital anisotropy of early‐type galaxies: constraints from the mass plane

Massive early-type galaxies are observed to lie on the mass plane (MP), a two-dimensional manifold in the space of effective radius Re, projected mass M p (measured via strong gravitational lensing) and projected stellar velocity dispersion σ e2 withinRe/2. The MP is less ‘tilted’ than the traditional Fundamental Plane, and the two have comparable associated scatter. This means that the dimensionless structure parameter ce2 = 2GM p /(Reσ 2 ) is a nearly universal constant in the range σ e2 = 175–400 km s −1 . This finding can be used to constrain the mass distribution and internal dynamics of early-type galaxies: in particular, we explore the dependence of ce2 on light profile, dark matter distribution, and orbital anisotropy for several families of spherical galaxy models. We find that a relatively wide class of models has values of ce2 in the observed range, because ce2 is not very strongly sensitive to the mass distribution and orbital anisotropy. The degree of fine-tuning required to match the small intrinsic scatter of ce2 depends on the considered family of models: if the total mass distribution is isothermal (∝ r −2 ), a broad range of stellar luminosity profile and anisotropy is consistent with the observations, while Navarro, Frenk & White dark matter haloes require more fine-tuning of the stellar mass fraction, luminosity profile and anisotropy. If future data can cover a broader range of masses, the MP could be seen to be tilted by the known non-homology of the luminosity profiles of early-type galaxies, and the value of any such tilt would provide a discriminant between models for the total mass–density profile of the galaxies.
Experiments with wireless sensor networks for real-time athlete monitoring

Real-time physiological monitoring of athletes during sporting events has tremendous potential for maximizing player performance while preventing burn-out and injury, and also enabling exciting new applications such as referee-assist services and enhanced television broadcast. Emerging advanced monitoring devices have the right combination of light weight and unobtrusive size to allow truly non-intrusive monitoring during competition. However their small battery capacities, limited wireless ranges and susceptibility to body effects make real-time data extraction a challenge, particularly in sports with a large playing area. In this work we present the novel application of body area sensor networks to monitoring soccer players in a soccer field. We begin by outlining the challenges in experimental data collection and elaborate on the design choices we have made. Secondly, we show that the inherent characteristics of the operating environment lead to unacceptably high delays for direct transmissions from the players to the base stations. This leads to our third contribution, namely a multi-hop routing protocol that balances between the competing objectives of resource consumption and delay.
Assortment Size and Option Attractiveness in Consumer Choice among Retailers

An important decision that retailers make involves selecting the number of items constituting their assortments. A key issue in making these decisions is the role of assortment size in determining consumers’ choice of a retailer. The authors address this issue by investigating how consumer choice among retailers offering various-sized assortments is influenced by the attractiveness of the options constituting these assortments. The data show that consumer preference for retailers offering larger assortments tends to decrease as the attractiveness of the options in their assortments increases and can even lead to a reversal of preferences in favor of retailers offering smaller assortments. This research further presents evidence that the relationship between assortment size and option attractiveness is concave, such that the marginal impact of assortment size on choice decreases as the attractiveness of the options increases. Data from eight empirical studies offer converging evidence in support of the theoretical predictions.