Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differences in Patellar Cartilage Thickness, Transverse Relaxation Time, and Deformational Behavior

Background: The origin of patellofemoral pain (PFP) may be associated with the inability of the patellofemoral joint cartilage to absorb and distribute patellofemoral joint forces. Hypothesis: When compared with a pain-free control group, young active women with PFP will demonstrate differences in their baseline patellar cartilage thickness and transverse (T2) relaxation time, as well as a less adaptive response to an acute bout of joint loading. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Ten women between the ages of 23 to 37 years with PFP and 10 sex-, age-, and activity-matched pain-free controls participated. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of the patellofemoral joint was performed at baseline and after participants performed 50 deep knee bends. Differences in baseline cartilage thickness and T2 relaxation time, as well as the postexercise change in patellar cartilage thickness and T2 relaxation time, were compared between groups. Results: Individuals with PFP demonstrated reductions in baseline cartilage thickness of 14.0% and 14.1% for the lateral patellar facet and total patellar cartilage, respectively. Similarly, individuals with PFP exhibited significantly lower postexercise cartilage thickness change for the lateral patellar facet (2.1% vs 8.9%) and the total patellar cartilage (4.4% vs 10.0%) when compared with the control group. No group differences in baseline or postexercise change in T2 relaxation time were found. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a baseline reduction in patellar cartilage thickness and a reduced deformational behavior of patellar cartilage following an acute bout of loading are associated with presence of PFP symptoms.
Mitochondrial Ccs1 contains a structural disulfide bond crucial for the import of this unconventional substrate by the disulfide relay system

The Mia40/Erv1 disulfide relay system forms a structural disulfide bond in Ccs1, an unconventional substrate of this system. Thereby it promotes import of Ccs1 into mitochondria and controls its cellular distribution. Thus this system is unexpectedly able to form single disulfide bonds in complex multidomain proteins.
Improved bounds on the max-flow min-cut ratio for multicommodity flows

In this paper we consider the worst case ratio between the capacity of min-cuts and the value of max-flow for multicommodity flow problems. We improve the best known bounds for the min-cut max-flow ratio for multicommodity flows in undirected graphs, by replacing theO(logD) in the bound byO(logk), whereD denotes the sum of all demands, andk demotes the number of commodities. In essence we prove that up to constant factors the worst min-cut max-flow ratios appear in problems where demands are integral and polynomial in the number of commodities.Klein, Rao, Agrawal, and Ravi have previously proved that if the demands and the capacities are integral, then the min-cut max-flow ratio in general undirected graphs is bounded byO(logClogD), whereC denotes the sum of all the capacities. Tragoudas has improved this bound toO(lognlogD), wheren is the number of nodes in the network. Garg, Vazirani and Yannakakis further improved this toO(logklogD). Klein, Plotkin and Rao have proved that for planar networks, the ratio isO(logD). Our result improves the bound for general networks toO(log2k) and the bound for planar networks toO(logk). In both cases our result implies the first non-trivial bound that is independent of the magnitude of the numbers involved. The method presented in this paper can be used to give polynomial time approximation algorithms to the minimum cuts in the network up to the above factors.
Extraction of Pectin from Pomelo Peel

The extraction of pectin from pomelo peel was optimized to maximize pectin yield Y in this study. A central composite design of response surface methodology involving extracting time, extracting temperature, liquid-solid ratio and pH was used, and second-order model for Y was employed to generate the response surfaces. The optimum condition for Y was determined as follows: extracting time 1h, extracting temperature 95 °C, liquid-solid ratio 25, pH 1. Under the optimum condition, the pectin yield was 20.98%.
An Empirical Analysis of Multiple-Turn Reasoning Strategies in Reading Comprehension Tasks

Reading comprehension (RC) is a challenging task that requires synthesis of information across sentences and multiple turns of reasoning. Using a state-of-the-art RC model, we empirically investigate the performance of single-turn and multiple-turn reasoning on the SQuAD and MS MARCO datasets. The RC model is an end-to-end neural network with iterative attention, and uses reinforcement learning to dynamically control the number of turns. We find that multiple-turn reasoning outperforms single-turn reasoning for all question and answer types; further, we observe that enabling a flexible number of turns generally improves upon a fixed multiple-turn strategy. %across all question types, and is particularly beneficial to questions with lengthy, descriptive answers. We achieve results competitive to the state-of-the-art on these two datasets.
Generalized Deep Image to Image Regression

We present a Deep Convolutional Neural Network architecture which serves as a generic image-to-image regressor that can be trained end-to-end without any further machinery. Our proposed architecture, the Recursively Branched Deconvolutional Network (RBDN), develops a cheap multi-context image representation very early on using an efficient recursive branching scheme with extensive parameter sharing and learnable upsampling. This multi-context representation is subjected to a highly non-linear locality preserving transformation by the remainder of our network comprising of a series of convolutions/deconvolutions without any spatial downsampling. The RBDN architecture is fully convolutional and can handle variable sized images during inference. We provide qualitative/quantitative results on 3 diverse tasks: relighting, denoising and colorization and show that our proposed RBDN architecture obtains comparable results to the state-of-the-art on each of these tasks when used off-the-shelf without any post processing or task-specific architectural modifications.
Intersecting D-branes on shift Bbb Z2 × Bbb Z2 orientifolds

We investigate 2 × 2 orientifolds with group actions involving shifts. A complete classification of possible geometries is presented where also previous work by other authors is included in a unified framework from an intersecting D-brane perspective. In particular, we show that the additional shifts not only determine the topology of the orbifold but also independently the presence of orientifold planes. In the second part, we work out in detail a basis of homological three cycles on shift 2 × 2 orientifolds and construct all possible fractional D-branes including rigid ones. A Pati-Salam type model with no open-string moduli in the visible sector is presented.
Tuberculosis in Poland in 2011.

AIM OF THE STUDY To evaluate the main features of TB epidemiology in 2011 in Poland and to compare with the corresponding EU data. METHODS Analysis of case- based clinical and demographic data on TB patients from Central TB Register, of data submitted by laboratories on anti-TB drug susceptibility testing results in cases notified in 2011, data from National Institute of Public Health- National Institute of Hygiene on cases of tuberculosis as AIDS-defining disease, from Central Statistical Office on deaths from tuberculosis based on death certificates, data from ECDC report "Tuberculosis surveillance in Europe 2011". RESULTS 8478 TB cases were reported in Poland in 2011. The incidence rate was 22.2 cases per 100,000, with large variability between voivodeships from 12.8 to 37.0. The mean annual decrease of TB incidence in 2007 - 2011 was 0.4%. 7515 cases had no history of previous treatment i.e. 19.7 per 100,000. The number of all notified pulmonary tuberculosis cases was 7879 i.e. 20.6 per 100,000. The proportion of extrapulmonary tuberculosis was 7.1% (599 cases). TB was diagnosed in 111 children (1.3% of all cases, incidence 1.9). The incidence of tuberculosis increased with age to 41.9 among patients 65 years old and older. The mean age of TB patients was 53.3 years. The incidence among men i.e. 31.0 was more than two times higher than among women i.e. 14.0. The incidence in rural population was slightly lower than in urban, respectively 21.9 and 22.4. Bacteriologically confirmed cases (5327) constituted 67.6% of all pulmonary TB cases. The number of smear positive pulmonary TB cases was 2916 (37.0% of all pulmonary cases). There were 38 foreigners registered among all cases of tuberculosis in Poland and 204 cases registered among prisoners. There were 41 patients with MDR-TB (0.8% of 4993 cases with DST results). TB was initial AIDS indicative disease in 26 cases. There were 575 deaths due to tuberculosis in 2010 (1.5 TB deaths per 100,000). Mortality among males--2.5--was four times higher than among females--0.6. CONCLUSIONS In Poland the incidence of tuberculosis is higher than the average in EU countries. In 2011 the highest incidence occurred in older age groups and was higher in men. Positive characteristic also when compared with the situation in many EU countries is the low incidence of tuberculosis in children and the low percentage of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Effect of Austenizing Temperature and Time on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cr12MoVNbRE Steel

A new-type of Cr12MoVNbRE die steel was designed and investigated. The phase transition temperature was measured by dilatometer. Effects of austenizing temperature and time on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Cr12MoVNbRE die steel were studied. The results show that the hardness decreases with the increasing austenitizing time. As for the austenitizing temperature, it increases firstly, and then decreases when the austenitizing temperature increases. The most suitable austenitizing temperature and time are 1010 °C and 20 min respectively. The high hardness of the Cr12MoVNbRE die steel is mainly attributed to the martensite with high alloy content and fine uniformly dispersed carbides.
Handedness in Captive Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Species level right-handedness is often considered to be unique to humans. Handedness is held to be interrelated to our language ability and has been used as a means of tracing the evolution of language. Here we examine handedness in 3 captive groups of bonobos (Pan paniscus) comprising 22 individuals. We found no evidence for species level handedness. Conclusions that can be drawn from these findings are: (1) species level handedness evolved after the divergence of the Pan and Homo lineages; (2) inconsistent preferences may represent precursors to human handedness, and (3) Pan may have language abilities but these cannot be measured using handedness.
SIR based interference modeling for wireless mesh networks: A detailed measurement study

Spatial reuse is a central aspect in the efficiency of wireless mesh networks. Accurate inter-link interference measurement and estimation is necessary for such spatial reuse. In this work, we explore in depth Signal to Interference Ratio (SIR) based interference modeling. We take a measurement centric approach, characterizing the SIR versus PDR (Packet Delivery Ratio) relationship in outdoor mesh network settings. Our significant findings are the following. (1) In outdoor environment there is a range of SIR values (intermediate SIR region), wherein it is difficult to predict the PDR accurately. (2) Fortunately, the width of this intermediate SIR region is small: about 4-5dB for most data rates. (3) The SIR vs PDR relationship depends significantly on the modulations used by transmitter as well as the interferer: we characterize this dependence. The use of an outdoor 802.11g-based testbed is a significant aspect of our measurements. The above findings have important implications for the design of interference measurement and prediction schemes. We quantify the accuracy of our SIR-based technique by applying an offline prediction model in our outdoor mesh testbed and observe that of the 44 pairs of links the SIR technique predicts performance with less than 10% error for over 85% of the links for which the SIR values lie outside the intermediate SIR region. An evaluation of existing interference modeling techniques reveals that these make certain incorrect assumptions which make them perform significantly worse than our proposed technique.
Graves’ Disease Is Associated with a Defective Expression of the Immune Regulatory Molecule Galectin-9 in Antigen-Presenting Dendritic Cells

Introduction Patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) show defects in their immune-regulatory mechanisms. Herein we assessed the expression and function of galectin-1 and galectin-9 (Gal-1, Gal-9) in dendritic cells (DCs) from patients with AITD. Materials and Methods Peripheral blood samples from 25 patients with Graves’ disease (GD), 11 Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT), and 24 healthy subjects were studied. Thyroid tissue samples from 44 patients with AITD and 22 patients with goiter were also analyzed. Expression and function of Gal-1 and Gal-9 was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. Results A diminished expression of Gal-9, but not of Gal-1, by peripheral blood DCs was observed in GD patients, mainly in those with Graves´ ophthalmopathy, and a significant negative association between disease severity and Gal-9 expression was detected. In addition, the mRNA levels of Gal-9 and its ligand TIM-3 were increased in thyroid tissue from AITD patients and its expression was associated with the levels of Th1/Th12/Th17 cytokines. Immunofluorescence studies proved that intrathyroidal Gal-9 expression was confined to DCs and macrophages. Finally, in vitro functional assays showed that exogenous Gal-9 had a suppressive effect on the release of Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines by DC/lymphocyte autologous co-cultures from both AITD patients and healthy controls. Conclusions The altered pattern of expression of Gal-9 in peripheral blood DCs from GD patients, its correlation with disease severity as well as its ability to suppress cytokine release suggest that Gal-9 could be involved in the pathogenesis of AITD.
Molecular epidemiology of malaria prevalence and parasitaemia in a wild bird population

Avian malaria (Plasmodium spp.) and other blood parasitic infections of birds constitute increasingly popular model systems in ecological and evolutionary host–parasite studies. Field studies of these parasites commonly use two traits in hypothesis testing: infection status (or prevalence at the population level) and parasitaemia, yet the causes of variation in these traits remain poorly understood. Here, we use quantitative PCR to investigate fine‐scale environmental and host predictors of malaria infection status and parasitaemia in a large 4‐year data set from a well‐characterized population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). We also examine the temporal dynamics of both traits within individuals. Both infection status and parasitaemia showed marked temporal and spatial variation within this population. However, spatiotemporal patterns of prevalence and parasitaemia were non‐parallel, suggesting that different biological processes underpin variation in these two traits at this scale. Infection probability and parasitaemia both increased with host age, and parasitaemia was higher in individuals investing more in reproduction (those with larger clutch sizes). Several local environmental characteristics predicted parasitaemia, including food availability, altitude, and distance from the woodland edge. Although infection status and parasitaemia were somewhat repeatable within individuals, infections were clearly dynamic: patent infections frequently disappeared from the bloodstream, with up to 26% being lost between years, and parasitaemia also fluctuated within individuals across years in a pattern that mirrored annual population‐level changes. Overall, these findings highlight the ecological complexity of avian malaria infections in natural populations, while providing valuable insight into the fundamental biology of this system that will increase its utility as a model host–parasite system.
Economic Implications of Nonlinear Pricing Kernels

Based on a family of discrepancy functions, we derive nonparametric stochastic discount factor bounds that naturally generalize variance, entropy, and higher-moment bounds. These bounds are especially useful to identify how parameters affect pricing kernel dispersion in asset pricing models. In particular, they allow us to distinguish between models where dispersion comes mainly from skewness from models where kurtosis is the primary source of dispersion. We analyze the admissibility of disaster, disappointment aversion, and long-run risk models with respect to these bounds. This paper was accepted by Jerome Detemple, finance.
Clinical outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve implantation: from learning curve to proficiency

Objective The use of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is growing rapidly in countries with a predominantly elderly population, posing a huge challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. The increment of human and economic resource consumption imposes a careful monitoring of clinical outcomes and cost-benefit balance, and this article is aimed at analysing clinical outcomes related to the TAVI learning curve. Methods Outcomes of 177 consecutive transfemoral TAVI procedures performed in 5 years by a single team were analysed by the Cumulative Sum of failures method (CUSUM) according to the clinical events comprised in the Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC-2) safety end point and the VARC-2 definition of device success. Margins for events acceptance were extrapolated from landmark trials that tested both balloon or self-expandable percutaneous valves. Results 30-day and 1-year survival rates were 97.2% and 89.9%, respectively. Achievement of the primary end point (number of cases needed to provide the acceptable margin of the composite end point of any death, stroke, myocardial infarction, life-threatening bleeding, major vascular complications, stage 2–3 acute kidney injury and valve-related dysfunction requiring a repeat procedure) required the performance of 54 cases, while the learning curve to achieve ‘device success’ identified 32 cases to reach the expected proficiency. In this experience, the baseline clinical risk as assessed by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score determined the long-term survival rather than the adverse events related to the learning curve. Conclusions A relatively large number of cases are required to achieve clinical outcomes comparable to those reported in high-volume centres and controlled trials. According to our national workload standards, this represents more than 2 years of continuous activity.
Understanding Host-Switching by Ecological Fitting

Despite the fact that parasites are highly specialized with respect to their hosts, empirical evidence demonstrates that host switching rather than co-speciation is the dominant factor influencing the diversification of host-parasite associations. Ecological fitting in sloppy fitness space has been proposed as a mechanism allowing ecological specialists to host-switch readily. That proposal is tested herein using an individual-based model of host switching. The model considers a parasite species exposed to multiple host resources. Through time host range expansion can occur readily without the prior evolution of novel genetic capacities. It also produces non-linear variation in the size of the fitness space. The capacity for host colonization is strongly influenced by propagule pressure early in the process and by the size of the fitness space later. The simulations suggest that co-adaptation may be initiated by the temporary loss of less fit phenotypes. Further, parasites can persist for extended periods in sub-optimal hosts, and thus may colonize distantly related hosts by a "stepping-stone" process.
Expression and characterization of transforming growth factor alpha precursor protein in transfected mammalian cells

Analysis of a cDNA clone derived from retrovirus-transformed rat fibroblasts has recently suggested that the mature 50-amino-acid form of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha) is derived from a 159-amino-acid transmembrane precursor by proteolytic cleavage. To understand the processing of the TGF alpha precursor molecule in more detail, we have expressed this protein in baby hamster kidney (BHK) fibroblasts under control of the metal-ion-inducible metallothionein promoter and characterized the expressed precursor with site-specific antipeptide antibodies. One of the BHK transfectants, termed 5:2, expressed the TGF alpha mRNA in a cadmium- and zinc-inducible manner. The TGF alpha precursor protein was detected by immunoprecipitation analysis of radiolabeled cell cultures. In the induced 5:2 cells, a polypeptide of Mr 13,000 to 17,000 was readily identified by peptide antisera made to three different regions of the TGF alpha precursor protein. No such protein species were observed in BHK cells treated with cadmium and zinc or in uninduced 5:2 cells. However, two cell lines known to produce TGF alpha naturally, Leydig testicular tumor cells and Snyder-Theilan feline sarcoma virus-transformed Fisher rat embryo fibroblasts, possessed detectable levels of immunologically related Mr 13,000 to 17,000 proteins. Cell fractionation studies indicate that the Mr 13,000 to 17,000 species expressed in induced 5:2 cells is membrane associated, consistent with predictions based on the cDNA sequence of the TGF alpha precursor. Media conditioned by induced 5:2 cells contained epidermal growth factor receptor-competing activity, which, upon size fractionation, was similar in size to the mature processed form of TGF alpha. These data show that these nontransformed BHK cells possess the ability to process the TGF alpha precursor molecule into its native form.
Is measurement error altered by participation in a physical activity intervention?

PURPOSE There is no "gold standard" measure for moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA); some error is inherent to self-report and device-based measures. Few studies have examined agreement between self-report and device-based measures in the intervention trial context or whether the difference between measures is influenced by intervention participation. METHODS MVPA was measured at baseline and after 6 months by Active Australia Survey (AAS) and by the GT1M accelerometer (≥1952 counts per minute) in the intervention (n = 135) and usual care control (n = 141) participants of a randomized trial targeting weight loss by MVPA increases and energy intake reductions in adults with type 2 diabetes. Agreement (for each group at each assessment) was examined using the Bland-Altman approach and regression-based modeling. Because the differences between MVPA measures varied with average values ([AAS + GT1M] / 2), they were examined as a percentage of average physical activity. t-tests were used to assess unadjusted group differences and changes over time. ANCOVA models tested intervention effects on measurement error at follow-up, adjusted for baseline. RESULTS Agreement worsened, and variability in the difference measures became greater, as the average amount of MVPA increased. Measurement error differed significantly between groups at follow-up (P = 0.010) but not at baseline (P = 0.157) and changed significantly within the intervention group (P = 0.001) but not the control group (P = 0.164). There was a statistically significant effect of the intervention on measurement error (P = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS Measurement error of self-report relative to the accelerometer appeared to be affected by intervention. Because measurement error cannot be definitively attributed to self-report or accelerometer, it would be prudent to measure both in future studies.