Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Passive smoking and smoking cessation among patients with coronary heart disease across Europe: results from the EUROASPIRE III survey.

AIMS Passive smoking is the inhalation of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). We aimed to describe the frequency of passive smoking among patients with CHD and to investigate the association between ETS exposure and smoking cessation. METHODS AND RESULTS The EUROASPIRE III survey was conducted in 2006-07 among CHD patients up to 80 years of age from 22 European regions. Patients were interviewed and examined on average 15 months after hospital admission for CHD. Information was obtained on smoking prior to hospital admission, smoking at interview, and ETS exposure at home, at work, and at other locations. Breath carbon monoxide was measured to validate self-reported non-smoking. Among 8729 patients, 6060 (69.4%) were non-smokers prior to hospital admission, of whom 10.3% reported ETS exposure at home, 7.2% at work, and 13.8% at other locations. Overall, 24.2% of non-smokers were exposed to ETS at any place. Among the 2669 patients who were smoking prior to hospital admission, the likelihood of cessation at interview was lower in those with ETS exposure at home than in those without [25.3 vs. 58.1%; adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20-0.33]. This finding applied also to ETS exposure at work (32.2 vs. 52.7%; adjusted OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.42-0.76) and at other locations (38.0 vs. 52.8%; adjusted OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.48-0.84). CONCLUSION A noteworthy proportion of non-smokers with CHD are exposed to ETS. Passive smoking may jeopardize smoking cessation among CHD patients.
Differential amplification of hypervariable region 1 of hepatitis C virus by partially mismatched primers.

The quasispecies nature of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been well documented over its whole genome and the most variable domain is located at the 5' end of the second envelope region, the so-called hypervariable region 1 (HVR1). HVR1 has therefore been extensively used as the target for characterizing HCV quasispecies profiles. In this study, we reported our finding that partially mismatched primers preferentially amplify different HVR1 sequences in a heterogeneous virus population. This finding suggests a possible mechanism of bias during the amplification of HVR1 sequences and may be responsible for some conflicting data regarding evolutionary or clinical implications of HCV quasispecies.
Deconstructing the Superorganism: Social Physiology, Groundplans, and Sociogenomics

Our understanding of insect societies is rapidly expanding due to an emphasis on integrative approaches. Emerging tools enabling the molecular dissection of social behavior, together with novel hypotheses for the evolution of eusociality, are emblematic of this progress. However, an obstacle to a truly integrative approach remains, as social physiology—the basis of group-level coordination—has generally been neglected by geneticists. In this paper, we begin a synthesis of these fields by first reviewing three classes of social insect organization that mark major transitions in increasing social complexity. We then develop an expansion of the superorganism concept in order to place eusociality into a broad evolutionary context, and we also interpret current molecular and genetic work on the evolution of eusociality. The groundplan hypothesis proposes that eusociality arose via simple changes in the regulation of ancestral gene sets affecting reproductive physiology and behavior, and we argue that this hypothesis is explanatory for the evolution of division of labor (social anatomy) but not for the regulatory systems that ensure group-level coordination of action (social physiology), which we propose is dependent on previously unrelated traits that are brought together into novel genetic networks. We conclude with a review of recent work in sociogenomics that supports our hypotheses.
A Study on the Residual Fatigue Strain and Damage of Steel Fiber Reinforced Recycled Concrete Under Constant Amplitude Flexural Fatigue Loading

Flexural fatigue tests under constant amplitude fatigue loading were carried out in order to obtain the residual fatigue strain of two kinds of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC): steel fiber reinforced recycled concrete (SFRRC) and steel fiber reinforced pebble concrete (SFRPC). The experimental results show that the residual fatigue strain of SFRC follows the three-stage law, and the residual fatigue strain of SFRRC develops more slowly than that of SFRPC at the same stress level. A residual fatigue strain equation is suggested. The fatigue damage of SFRC has also been studied. A fatigue damage evolution equation is proposed, and comparisons are made with other expressions, showing that the suggested model is in the best agreement with the experimental results.
Stimulating Vaginal Repair in Rats Through Skeletal Muscle–Derived Stem Cells Seeded on Small Intestinal Submucosal Scaffolds

OBJECTIVES: Grafts are used for vaginal repair after prolapse, but their use to carry stem cells to regenerate vaginal tissue has not been reported. In this study, we investigated whether 1) muscle-derived stem cells (MDSC) grown on small intestinal submucosa (SIS) generate smooth-muscle cells (SMC) in vitro and upon implantation in a rat model of vaginal defects; 2) express markers applicable to the in-vivo detection of vaginal endogenous stem cells; and 3) stimulate the repair of the vagina. METHODS: Mouse MDSC grown on monolayer, SIS, or polymeric mesh, were tested for cell differentiation by immunocytochemistry, Western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Stem cell markers were screened by DNA microarrays followed by real-time PCR, immunocytochemistry, and Western blot. Rats that underwent hysterectomy and partial vaginectomy were left as such or implanted in the vagina with 4',6-Diamidino-2-Phenylindole (DAPI)–labeled MDSC on SIS, or SIS without MDSC, immunosuppressed, and killed at 2–8 weeks. Immunofluorescence, hematoxylin-eosin, and Masson trichrome were applied to tissue sections. RESULTS: Muscle-derived stem cell cultures on monolayer and on scaffolds differentiate into SMC, as shown by &agr;-smooth muscle actin (ASMA), calponin, and smoothelin markers. Muscle-derived stem cells express embryonic stem cell markers Oct-4 and nanog. Dual DAPI/ASMA fluorescence indicated MDSC conversion to SMC. Muscle-derived stem cells/SIS stimulated vaginal tissue repair, including keratin-5 positive epithelium formation and prevented fibrosis at 4 and 8 weeks. Oct-4+ putative endogenous stem cells were identified. CONCLUSION: Muscle-derived stem cells/SIS implants stimulate vaginal tissue repair in the rat, thus autologous MDSC on scaffolds may be a promising approach for the treatment of vaginal repair.
Existence of Periodic Solutions in Nonlinear Asymmetric Oscillations

The existence of periodic solutions for the nonlinear asymmetric oscillator x″ + αx+ − rβx− = h(t),(′ = d/dt (is discussed, where α, rβ are positive constants satisfying 1/α+1/rβ=2/n for some positive integer n ∈ N and h(t) ∈ L∞ (0,2π) is 2π‐periodic with x± = max {±x,0}. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 34C10, 34C25.
Do Women Behave More Reciprocally than Men? Gender Differences in Real Effort Dictator Games

We analyze dictator allocation decisions in an experiment where the recipients have to earn the pot to be divided with a real-effort task. As the recipients move before the dictators, their effort decisions resemble the first move in a trust game. Depending on the recipients’ performance, the size of the pot is either high or low. We compare this real-effort treatment to a baseline treatment where the pot is a windfall gain and where a lottery determines the pot size. In the baseline treatment, reciprocity cannot play a role. We find that female dictators show reciprocity and decrease their taking-rates significantly in the real-effort treatment. This treatment effect is larger when female dictators make a decision on recipients who successfully generated a large pot compared to the case where the recipients performed poorly. By contrast, there is no treatment effect with male dictators, who generally exhibit more selfish behavior.
Biopsy of a biopsy: validation of immunoprofiling in gastric cancer biopsy tissue microarrays

Aims: Tissue microarrays offer an efficient way of examining a large number of tumour cases on a single glass slide. A major concern, however, is tumour heterogeneity. Also, the use of tissue microarrays in biopsy material is unexplored. The purpose of the present study was to assess the possibility and validity of arraying three 0.6‐mm cores per case in endoscopic gastric cancer biopsies for immunophenotyping.
Longest Common Subsequences in Sets of Words

Given a set of $t\ge k+2$ words of length $n$ over a $k$-letter alphabet, it is proved that there exists a common subsequence among two of them of length at least $\frac{n}{k}+cn^{1-1/(t-k-2)}$ for some $c>0$ depending on $k$ and $t$. This is sharp up to the value of $c$.
Single-Step Selection of Drug Resistant Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 Mutants Reveals a Functional Redundancy in the Recruitment of Multidrug Efflux Systems

Members of the genus Acinetobacter have been the focus recent attention due to both their clinical significance and application to molecular biology. The soil commensal bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 has been proposed as a model system for molecular and genetic studies, whereas in a clinical environment, Acinetobacter spp. are of increasing importance due to their propensity to cause serious and intractable systemic infections. Clinically, a major factor in the success of Acinetobacter spp. as opportunistic pathogens can be attributed to their ability to rapidly evolve resistance to common antimicrobial compounds. Whole genome sequencing of clinical and environmental Acinetobacter spp. isolates has revealed the presence of numerous multidrug transporters within the core and accessory genomes, suggesting that efflux is an important host defense response in this genus. In this work, we used the drug-susceptible organism A. baylyi ADP1 as a model for studies into the evolution of efflux mediated resistance in genus Acinetobacter, due to the high level of conservation of efflux determinants across four diverse Acinetobacter strains, including clinical isolates. A single exposure of therapeutic concentrations of chloramphenicol to populations of A. baylyi ADP1 cells produced five individual colonies displaying multidrug resistance. The major facilitator superfamily pump craA was upregulated in one mutant strain, whereas the resistance nodulation division pump adeJ was upregulated in the remaining four. Within the adeJ upregulated population, two different levels of adeJ mRNA transcription were observed, suggesting at least three separate mutations were selected after single-step exposure to chloramphenicol. In the craA upregulated strain, a T to G substitution 12 nt upstream of the craA translation initiation codon was observed. Subsequent mRNA stability analyses using this strain revealed that the half-life of mutant craA mRNA was significantly greater than that of wild-type craA mRNA.
Depression of the Primary Immune Response by dl-Penicillamine.∗

Summary Treatment of mice with dipenicillamine for 3 weeks before antigen injection resulted in an overall reduction in antibody formation while treatment immediately after antigen injection for 8 consecutive days had no effect. In those groups showing depression of antibody response, the formation of both the 19S and 7S antibody was reduced, the latter type also showing a delay in appearance but subsequently reaching levels comparable to those seen in normal animals. Administration of penicillamine intravenously to animals having only 19S antibody in the serum resulted in an immediate but transient reduction of antibody titer. This observation, along with that showing failure of penicillamine to affect the formation of both 19S and 7S antibody when given after antigen injection, suggests that the depressive effect is primarily at the cellular level of the immunologic process rather than through an intravascular dissociation process.
Chronic disease self‐management education programs: challenges ahead

Chronic disease self‐management education programs aim to empower patients through providing information and teaching skills and techniques to improve self‐care and doctor–patient interaction, with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life. The recent 2006–07 federal budget allocated an unprecedented $515 million over 5 years for activation of patient self‐management activities, commencing this financial year. Previous attempts in other countries to incorporate self‐management education activities into the health care sector have faced setbacks because of inadequate integration into primary care. Engagement of health care professionals and their endorsement of self‐management activities is critical to success.
Cost-minimization analysis of a wide-area teleradiology network in a French region.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to perform a cost-minimization analysis of a wide-area teleradiology network. DESIGN A prospective analysis of all transmissions over 1 year (data transmitted at the time of the remote consultation, and health outcomes of patients from medical record). INTERVENTION The inter-hospital teleradiology network of the Aquitaine area (RIHRA) is a telemedicine system enabling the management of remote emergencies and elective radiology consultations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE A cost-minimization study enabled a comparison of care procedures following the use of the network with those which would have been implemented without the network. The outcome measures of effectiveness were the transfers, hospitalizations, and consultations avoided or added. Fixed and variable costs were estimated. RESULTS Among the 664 transmissions included in the study, 562 (85%) were performed in emergency and 102 (15%) for elective (non-emergency) cases. In emergency, 48% of transfers were avoided. For elective teleconsultations, a transfer was avoided for 37% of the patients and hospitalization for 12%. An extra consultation occurred after remote consultation for 2% of the patients. Annual saving can be estimated at 102,779 EUR for the Aquitaine area. CONCLUSIONS This study underlines the efficiency of an inter-hospital teleradiology network. A qualitative evaluation of the impact of the use of the system should be carried out to improve technical and organizational operations.
Analysis of Fungi in Wood Chip Storage Piles

There are health and safety risks involved in the production and storage of forest biomass. Fungi that are formed in the stored piles of wood chips pose a high potential risk for human health. Three experimental piles, containing wood chips from three species of trees, were created. They included European beech (Fagus sylvatica), common aspen (Populus tremula), and European spruce (Picea abies). The piles created were in the shape of a pyramid with the base measuring 4 m x 4 m. In each pyramid, 3 points of measurements were established at 0.5 m, 1.0 m, and 1.5 m above the ground. Temperature, relative moisture, and the number of microscopic fungi colonies were monitored at each point of measurement in the period between 13th December 2011 and 6th June 2012. The highest relative moisture content was recorded in the pile with the European spruce. The aim of the experiment was to identify the genus and species of fungi that are formed in the chip piles during long-term storage and which pose a potential risk for human health. In total, 5 species and 8 genera of fungi were identified in the collected samples, whereby there was significant growth only during the first 4 to 6 months of storage.
Cell Phones and their Impact on Male Fertility: Fact or Fiction

Today, cell phone technology is an integral part of everyday life and its use is not only restricted to voice conversations but also conveying news, high resolution pictures and internet. However, these advances in technology are accompanied by progressive boost in the intensity and frequency of the emitted electromagnetic waves without consideration of their health consequences. Our bodies act as parasitic antennas that receive these waves and convert them into electric and magnetic fields. While thermal effects at the present level of cell phone radiation are negligible, most of the biological interactions are attributed to non-thermal effects. Male reproductive system is highly compartmentalized and sensitive biological system that requires the integration of intrinsic and extrinsic factors to properly function. The generated electrical currents may alter the hormonal milieu and testicular microenvironment, necessary for sperm production. Additionally, sperm are electrically active cells and their exposure to cell phone electromagnetic waves and currents may affect their motility, morphology and even their count. Leaky plasma membranes, calcium depletion and oxidative stress are the postulated cellular mechanisms mediating the harmful effects of cell phones radiation on sperm and male fertility potentials. Evidences for such impacts come from designed animal and in vitro studies which may be different from in vivo human exposure. Nevertheless, the important advice is to apply strict regulations on further increase in the power density of the emitted cell phone radiation and to conduct in vivo human research to study its negative effects on fertility.
Sooner or later?: immediate feedback as a source of inspiration in electronic brainstorming

Idea generation platforms are increasingly striving to become truly collaborative. Prior research suggests that people are inspired when being exposed to ideas of others. While most platforms defer judgment and separate it from the idea generation phase, we hypothesized that asking participants to rate ideas in the idea generation phase, the increased exposure to other people's ideas would serve as a source of inspiration and motivation and would therefore be preferred to a separate feedback phase. In an explorative study with 26 participants we found that preference on immediate versus deferred judgment of ideas very much diverged. The results of our study suggest that participants that feel already motivated and able are distracted by the integration of feedback, while to others it is highly beneficial in terms of facilitating their idea generation and motivating them further.
Semi-Coupled Dictionary Based Automatic Bandwidth Extension Approach for Enhancing Children's ASR

The work presented in this paper is motivated by our earlier work exploring sparse representation based approach for automatic bandwidth extension (ABWE) of speech signals. In that work, two dictionaries one for voiced and the other for unvoiced speech frames are created using KSVD algorithm on wideband data. Each of the atoms of these dictionaries is then decimated and interpolated by a factor of 2 to generate narrowband interpolated (NBI) dictionaries whose atoms have one-to-one correspondence with those of the WB dictionaries. The given narrowband speech frames are also interpolated to generated NBI targets and those are sparse coded over the NBI dictionaries. The resulting sparse codes are then applied to the WB dictionaries to estimate the WB target data. In this work, we extend the said approach by making use of an existing semi-coupled dictionary learning (SCDL) algorithm. Unlike the direct dictionary learning, the SCDL algorithm also learns a set of bidirectional transforms coupling the dictionaries more flexibly. The bandwidth enhanced speech obtained employing the SCDL approach and a modified high/low band gain adjustment yields significant improvements in terms of speech quality measures as well as in the context of children’s mismatched speech recognition.
The Relationships of the Maxillary Sinus With the Superior Alveolar Nerves and Vessels as Demonstrated by Cone‐Beam CT Combined With μ‐CT and Histological Analyses

There are no available detailed data on the three‐dimensional courses of the human superior alveolar nerves and vessels. This study aimed to clarify the relationships of the maxillary sinus with the superior alveolar nerves and vessels using cone‐beam computed tomography (CT) combined with μ‐CT and histological analyses. Digital imaging and communication in medicine data obtained from the scanned heads/maxillae of cadavers used for undergraduate/postgraduate dissection practice and skulls using cone‐beam CT were reconstructed into three‐dimensional (3D) images using software. The 3D images were compared with μ‐CT images and histological sections. Cone‐beam CT clarified the relationships of the maxillary sinus with the superior alveolar canals/grooves. The main anterior superior alveolar canal/groove ran anteriorly through the upper part of the sinus and terminated at the bottom of the nasal cavity near the piriform aperture. The main middle alveolar canal ran downward from the upper part of the sinus to ultimately join the anterior one. The main posterior alveolar canal ran through the lateral lower part of the sinus and communicated with the anterior one. Histological analyses demonstrated the existence of nerves and vessels in these canals/grooves, and the quantities of these structures varied across each canal/groove. Furthermore, the superior dental nerve plexus exhibited a network that was located horizontally to the occlusal plane, although these nerve plexuses appeared to be the vertical network that is described in most textbooks. In conclusion, cone‐beam CT is suggested to be a useful method for clarifying the superior alveolar canals/grooves including the nerves and vessels. Anat Rec, 299:669–678, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A performance evaluation of local descriptors

In this paper, we compare the performance of descriptors computed for local interest regions, as, for example, extracted by the Harris-Affine detector [Mikolajczyk, K and Schmid, C, 2004]. Many different descriptors have been proposed in the literature. It is unclear which descriptors are more appropriate and how their performance depends on the interest region detector. The descriptors should be distinctive and at the same time robust to changes in viewing conditions as well as to errors of the detector. Our evaluation uses as criterion recall with respect to precision and is carried out for different image transformations. We compare shape context [Belongie, S, et al., April 2002], steerable filters [Freeman, W and Adelson, E, Setp. 1991], PCA-SIFT [Ke, Y and Sukthankar, R, 2004], differential invariants [Koenderink, J and van Doorn, A, 1987], spin images [Lazebnik, S, et al., 2003], SIFT [Lowe, D. G. , 1999], complex filters [Schaffalitzky, F and Zisserman, A, 2002], moment invariants [Van Gool, L, et al., 1996], and cross-correlation for different types of interest regions. We also propose an extension of the SIFT descriptor and show that it outperforms the original method. Furthermore, we observe that the ranking of the descriptors is mostly independent of the interest region detector and that the SIFT-based descriptors perform best. Moments and steerable filters show the best performance among the low dimensional descriptors.