Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrepancies between classification systems of childhood obesity

Despite growing concern about weight‐related problems among children, no universally accepted classification system for childhood obesity exists. There is a number of proposed international body mass index (BMI)‐based systems in use and national variants also exist in many countries. The absence of a universally accepted standard and confusion concerning which classification system to use on national levels complicate monitoring of the development of the obesity epidemic, stratification for selective interventions in public health, screening in clinical practice and comparisons between studies. Some proposed international classification systems have not only been recommended for global monitoring and comparisons between studies, but also for clinical and national epidemiological use in some countries. Possible discrepancies may thereby lead to inefficiencies in health care delivery and prevention programmes. The problems associated with misclassification of individuals at risk may lead to overconsumption of health care resources by lower‐risk individuals and underconsumption by higher‐risk individuals, which is costly both in terms of foregone health improvements and in terms of wasteful monetary usage. The aim of this paper was to review the specific problems associated with BMI as a measure of adiposity in childhood, the most commonly used classification systems for childhood obesity based on BMI, and how their performance can be evaluated.
Interaction of Wheat Germ Agglutinin with Porphyrin Compounds—Potential Anticancer Agents

ABSTRACT Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) is the first studied plant lectin shown to bind more strongly to tumour cells than to normal ones. WGA interacts with prostate cancer cells, human pancreatic cells and colon-cancer cells. Our results showed the interaction of WGA with two porphyrin compounds—Fe porphyrin and Pdporphyrin. The dissociation constants for the porphyrin binding was kD (0.08–1.02 μM) showing high affinity for the two porphyrins for this protein. The hyperbolic titration curve indicated the presence of a single porphyrin binding site. In conclusion, we show that two photosentisizers with anticancer activity Fe porphyrin and Pd porphyrin, have high affinity for WGA. Since WGA binds to cancer cells, the results suggest that it may have utility in the targeted delivery of drugs for cancer.
Partial scan flip flop selection for simulation-based sequential ATPGs

The partial scan approach is now widely adopted and several commercial tools support this technique. However, there is no general agreement on how to select the scan flip flops, in general each technique is tailored to a particular ATPG algorithm and results effective when coupled with the right ATPG tool. In this paper, we propose an approach suitable for GA-based ATPGs, which is barred on exploiting some information coming from the ATPG itself we compare the results of our method with the ones of the approach based on cutting the topological loops and use a GA-based ATPG to demonstrate its effectiveness in terms of fault coverage and CPU time.
Maintaining participation and momentum in longitudinal research involving high-risk families.

PURPOSE The purpose of the current study was to identify and describe strategies available to optimize retention of a high-risk research cohort and assist in the recovery of study participants following participant dropout. DESIGN AND METHODS The Maternal Lifestyle Study (MLS), which investigated the effects of prenatal substance exposure (cocaine or opiates) on child outcome, is a prospective longitudinal follow-up study that extended from birth through 15 years of age. Retention strategies to maximize participation and factors that might negatively impact compliance were examined over the course of five follow-up phases. FINDINGS At the conclusion of the 15-year visits, MLS had successfully maintained compliance at 76%. Retention rates did not differ by exposure group. CONCLUSIONS Maintaining ongoing participation of enrolled study subjects is a critical element of any successful longitudinal study. Strategies that can be used to reengage and maintain participants in longitudinal research include persistence, flexibility with scheduling, home visits, long-distance trips, increased incentives, and development of a computerized tracking system. Establishing rapport with families and ensuring confidentiality contributed to overall participant retention. The use of multiple tracking techniques is essential. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Researchers are challenged to maintain participants in longitudinal studies to ensure the integrity of their research.
Electrophysiological and functional magnetic resonance imaging investigations on the influence of spatial and feature-based attention on the flanker effect

s . 2 Experiment I: Spatial cueing in the flanker task . 2 Experiment II: Feature-based cueing in the flanker task . 2 Integration: Spatial and feature-based attention in the present experiments . 3 German abstracts . 5 Experiment I: Räumliche Hinweisreize in der Flanker-Aufgabe . 5 Experiment II: Eigenschaftsbasierte Hinweisreize in der Flanker-Aufgabe . 6 Integration: Räumliche und eigenschaftsbasierte Aufmerksamkeit in den vorliegenden Experimenten . 7 Abbreviations . 8 2. GENERAL INTRODUCTION: VISUAL SELECTIVE ATTENTION . 9 1.1 Dimensions of attention . 9 1.2 Models of visual selective attention . 10 1.3 Vulnerabilities of visual selective attention: Interference effects . 12 1.4 Top-down control during interference processing . 13 2. SCOPE OF THE PRESENT THESIS AND METHODICAL IMPLEMENTATION . 16 2.1 Objectives of the present thesis . 16 2.2 Magnetic Resonance Imaging functional and structural imaging of the brain . 16 2.3 Electroencephalography and event-related brain potentials . 17 2.4 fMRI-constrained source analysis . 18 2.5 Methods applied in experiment I and II . 19 2.5. 1 Study design and experimental procedure . 19 2.5. 2 Data acquisition . 21 3. EXPERIMENT I: SPATIAL CUEING IN THE FLANKER TASK . 24 3.
Diversity in the Sir2 family of protein deacetylases

The silent information regulator (Sir2) family of protein deacetylases (Sirtuins) are nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)+‐dependent enzymes that hydrolyze one molecule of NAD+ for every lysine residue that is deacetylated. The Sirtuins are phylogenetically conserved in eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and Archeal species. Prokaryotic and Archeal species usually have one or two Sirtuin homologs, whereas eukaryotes typically have multiple versions. The founding member of this protein family is the Sir2 histone deacetylase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is absolutely required for transcriptional silencing in this organism. Sirtuins in other organisms often have nonhistone substrates and in eukaryotes, are not always localized in the nucleus. The diversity of substrates is reflected in the various biological activities that Sirtuins function, including development, metabolism, apoptosis, and heterochromatin formation. This review emphasizes the great diversity in Sirtuin function and highlights its unusual catalytic properties.
Profiling Students’ Multiple Source Use by Question Type

The present study examined undergraduate students’ multiple source use in response to two different types of academic questions, one discrete and one open-ended. Participants (N = 240) responded to two questions using a library of eight digital sources, varying in source type (e.g., newspaper article) and reliability (e.g., authors’ credentials). Log-data captured students’ source use process. Differences were found in the total number and types of sources students accessed when responding to the two questions. Across the questions, cluster analysis identified five consistent patterns of source use; however, the percentage of student in each cluster differed across the two questions.
A parallel, distributed algorithm for relational frequent pattern discovery from very large data sets

The amount of data produced by ubiquitous computing applications is quickly growing, due to the pervasive presence of small devices endowed with sensing, computing and communication capabilities. Heterogeneity and strong interdependence, which characterize 'ubiquitous data', require a (multi-)relational approach to their analysis. However, relational data mining algorithms do not scale well and very large data sets are hardly processable. In this paper we propose an extension of a relational algorithm for multi-level frequent pattern discovery, which resorts to data sampling and distributed computation in Grid environments, in order to overcome the computational limits of the original serial algorithm. The set of patterns discovered by the new algorithm approximates the set of exact solutions found by the serial algorithm. The quality of approximation depends on three parameters: the proportion of data in each sample, the minimum support thresholds and the number of samples in which a pattern has to be frequent in order to be considered globally frequent. Considering that the first two parameters are hardly controllable, we focus our investigation on the third one. Theoretically derived conclusions are also experimentally confirmed. Moreover, an additional application in the context of event log mining proves the viability of the proposed approach to relational frequent pattern mining from very large data sets.
THERMODYNAMIC LIMITS ON MAGNETODYNAMOS IN ROCKY EXOPLANETS

To ascertain whether magnetic dynamos operate in rocky exoplanets more massive or hotter than the Earth, we developed a parametric model of a differentiated rocky planet and its thermal evolution. Our model reproduces the established properties of Earth's interior and magnetic field at the present time. When applied to Venus, assuming that planet lacks plate tectonics and has a dehydrated mantle with an elevated viscosity, the model shows that the dynamo shuts down or never operated. Our model predicts that at a fixed planet mass, dynamo history is sensitive to core size, but not to the initial inventory of long-lived, heat-producing radionuclides. It predicts that rocky planets larger than 2.5 Earth masses will not develop inner cores because the temperature–pressure slope of the iron solidus becomes flatter than that of the core adiabat. Instead, iron “snow” will condense near or at the top of these cores, and the net transfer of latent heat upward will suppress convection and a dynamo. More massive planets can have anemic dynamos due to core cooling, but only if they have mobile lids (plate tectonics). The lifetime of these dynamos is shorter with increasing planet mass but longer with higher surface temperature. Massive Venus-like planets with stagnant lids and more viscous mantles will lack dynamos altogether. We identify two alternative sources of magnetic fields on rocky planets: eddy currents induced in the hot or molten upper layers of planets on very short-period orbits, and dynamos in the ionic conducting layers of “ocean” planets with ∼10% mass in an upper mantle of water (ice).
A Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization formula for quasinormal frequencies of AdS black holes

We derive a quantization formula of Bohr-Sommerfeld type for computing quasinormal frequencies for scalar perturbations in an AdS black hole in the limit of large scalar mass or spatial momentum. We then apply the formula to find poles in retarded Green functions of boundary CFTs on $R^{1,d-1}$ and $RxS^{d-1}$. We find that when the boundary theory is perturbed by an operator of dimension $\Delta>> 1$, the relaxation time back to equilibrium is given at zero momentum by ${1 \over \Delta \pi T} << {1 \over \pi T}$. Turning on a large spatial momentum can significantly increase it. For a generic scalar operator in a CFT on $R^{1,d-1}$, there exists a sequence of poles near the lightcone whose imaginary part scales with momentum as $p^{-{d-2 \over d+2}}$ in the large momentum limit. For a CFT on a sphere $S^{d-1}$ we show that the theory possesses a large number of long-lived quasiparticles whose imaginary part is exponentially small in momentum.
Agent Organized Networks Redux

Individual robots or agents will often need to form coalitions to accomplish shared tasks, e.g., in sensor networks or markets. Furthermore, in most real systems it is infeasible for entities to interact with all peers. The presence of a social network can alleviate this problem by providing a neighborhood system within which entities interact with a reduced number of peers. Previous research has shown that the topology of the underlying social network has a dramatic effect on the quality of coalitions formed and consequently on system performance (Gaston & deslardins 2005a). It has also been shown that it is feasible to develop agents which dynamically alter connections to improve an organization's ability to form coalitions on the network. However those studies have not analysed the network topologies that result from connectivity adaptation strategies. In this paper the resulting network topologies were analysed and it was found that high performance and rapid convergence were attained because scale free networks were being formed. However it was observed that organizational performance is not impacted by limiting the number of links per agent to the total number of skills available within the population. implying that bandwidth was wasted by previous approaches. We used these observations to inform the design of a token based algorithm that attains higher performance using an order of magnitude less messages for both uniform and non-uniform distributions of skills.
Making a Reuse Aspectual View Explicit in Existing Software

As the field of aspect-oriented software development [14] has become more firmly established certain emphasis has now been diverted to introducing the benefits of the approach to existing software where aspects were not made explicit during design or implementation. This paper proposes an automatic, dynamic analysis-based approach to aspect mining that affords the recovery of reuse aspectual views from existing software. The potential of the technique is demonstrated through a case study.
Emerging roles of flavin monooxygenase 3 in cholesterol metabolism and atherosclerosis

Purpose of review Atherosclerosis and associated cardiovascular disease still remain the largest cause of mortality worldwide. Several recent studies have discovered that metabolism of common nutrients by gut microbes can produce a proatherogenic metabolite called trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). The goal of this review is to discuss emerging evidence that the hepatic enzyme that generates TMAO, flavin monooxygenase 3 (FMO3), plays a regulatory role in maintaining whole body cholesterol balance and atherosclerosis development. Recent findings Several independent studies have recently uncovered a link between either FMO3 itself or its enzymatic product TMAO with atherosclerosis and hepatic insulin resistance. These recent studies show that inhibition of FMO3 stimulates macrophage reverse cholesterol transport and protects against atherosclerosis in mice. Summary A growing body of work demonstrates that nutrients present in high-fat foods (phosphatidylcholine, choline and L-carnitine) can be metabolized by the gut microbial enzymes to generate trimethylamine, which is then further metabolized by the host enzyme FMO3 to produce proatherogenic TMAO. Here, we discuss emerging evidence that the TMAO-producing enzyme FMO3 is centrally involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis by regulating cholesterol metabolism and insulin resistance, and how these new insights provide exciting new avenues for cardiovascular disease therapies.
Analysis of prognostic factors for melanoma patients

Introduction. Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. Morbidity from melanoma is increasing every year. Previous studies have revealed that there are some demographic and clinical factors having effect on melanoma survival prognosis. Aim of the study. Purpose of our study was to assess melanoma survival depending on prognostic factors, such as age, sex, stage, depth, histology and anatomical site. Materials and methods. We investigated melanoma-specific survival up to 10 years in 85 primary cases of melanoma from diagnosis at the National Cancer Institute in 2006. Analysis was performed for one-, five-, and ten-year survival. The data were processed with Microsoft Excel, data analysis was conducted using SPSS® software. Results. Melanomas diagnosed at stage IV or thicker than 4.00 mm had lower survival (five-year survival: 12.5% and 26.66%, respectively). A significant survival difference was observed among the different stages (p = 0.003) and different depths (p = 0.049) of melanoma. Ten-year survival was 32% for men and 61% for women, but melanoma-specific survival dependent on sex did not have a statistically significant difference (p = 0.121). In persons diagnosed at the age of 65 or older, ten-year survival was lower than in those of 40–64 years of age and in the age group of 15–39 years (44.44% and 26.66%, respectively), but melanoma-specific survival in different age groups did not have a statistically significant difference (p = 0.455). Back/breast skin melanoma had lower ten-year survival (37.03%) than other anatomic sites. Nodular melanoma had the poorest five-year and ten-year melanoma-specific survival among histological subtypes (51.67% and 38.75%). The differences between melanoma localizations (p = 0.457) and histological types (p = 0.364) were not statistically significant. Conclusions. Lower melanoma-specific survival rates were observed among patients diagnosed at a late stage, older age, and when melanomas were thicker than 4.00 mm. Female and younger patients had better melanoma-specific survival than men and older people, and these differences were statistically significant. Melanoma diagnosed at an early stage and of a small depth had higher survival rates. Back/breast skin melanoma had poorer prognosis than other anatomic sites. Nodular melanoma had the lowest melanoma-specific survival, while superficial spreading or lentigo maligna had the best prognosis among histological subtypes. However, differences in melanoma survival in different sex and age groups, localizations and histological types were not statistically significant.
Dkk-1-derived Synthetic Peptides and Lithium Chloride for the Control and Recovery of Adult Stem Cells from Bone Marrow*

It is established that human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) from bone marrow are a source of osteoblast progenitors in vivo and under appropriate conditions, differentiate into osteoblasts ex vivo. Because hMSCs are recovered by iliac crest aspirate and enriched by virtue of their adherence to tissue culture plastic, the cells provide a convenient ex vivo model for the study of osteogenic tissue repair in an experimentally accessible system. Recent advances in the field of skeletal development and osteogenesis have demonstrated that signaling through the canonical wingless (Wnt) pathway is critical for the differentiation of progenitor cell lines into osteoblasts. Inhibition of such signals can predispose MSCs to cell cycle entry and inhibit osteogenesis. Here, we report that synthetic peptides derived from the second cysteine-rich domain of the canonical Wnt inhibitor Dickkopf-1 (Dkk-1) have utility in controlling the growth and recovery of hMSCs from bone marrow stroma. Three peptides corresponding to residues 217–269 in Dkk-1 were each found to enhance the proliferation of hMSCs in culture over 2 days. The most active peptide exhibited agonistic characteristics in that it ablated the proliferation lag observed when cultures of hMSCs receive fresh medium. It also reduced the expression of endogenous Dkk-1 (Gregory, C. A., Singh, H., and Prockop, D. J. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 28067–28078). When the cytosolic level of β-catenin was elevated by addition of LiCl to cultures of hMSCs, the peptide also accelerated degradation of β-catenin on withdrawal of lithium. A second peptide, corresponding to residues 184–204 had preferential and high affinity for hMSCs in the log phase of proliferation. Peptide overlay assays on hMSC lysates confirmed that the peptide bound to a 184-kDa protein corresponding to the molecular mass of LRP6. Cells recovered by this peptide had enhanced osteogenic potential but less chondrogenic potential compared with controls. Because Wnt antagonists increase the number of non-committed hMSCs in culture, they may be of use in increasing the rate of osseous wound healing in vivo by increasing the level of systemically migrating hMSCs. Therefore, such molecules could contribute to the development of a novel family of pharmaceutical agents for the improvement of the healing process in humans.
The Challenges of the Environment and the Human / Biometric Device Interaction on Biometric System Performance

This paper outlines various research projects that have been conducted at Purdue University in the areas of environment, population, and devices. These areas are of interest as biometric technologies are currently being implemented in various business applications. The environmental research is concerned with the performance of a facial recognition algorithm at differing illumination levels. The second study looks at population, which examines differences in image quality with regard to population age. The third study outlines dynamic signature verification and the issues associated with signing on different digitizers.
Exertional dyspnoea in cardiorespiratory disorders: the clinical use of cardiopulmonary exercise testing

Is dyspnoea worth documenting and accurately assessing? The answer is undoubtedly yes, for at least the following reasons. 1) Activity-related dyspnoea is usually the earliest and most troublesome complaint for which patients with cardiopulmonary diseases seek medical attention. 2) This symptom progresses relentlessly as the underlying disease advances, leading invariably to avoidance of activity with consequent skeletal muscle deconditioning and an impoverished quality of life. 3) It is estimated that up to a quarter of the general population and half of severely ill patients are affected by it. 4) Dyspnoea is also an important predictor of quality of life, exercise tolerance and mortality in various conditions. In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it has been shown to be a better predictor of mortality than forced expiratory volume in 1 s. In patients with heart disease referred for clinical exercise testing, it is a better predictor of mortality than angina. 5) Dyspnoea is also associated with decreased functional status and worse psychological health in older individuals living at home. 6) It is also a factor in the low adherence to exercise training programmes in sedentary adults and in patients with COPD. 7) The effective management of exertional dyspnoea remains a major challenge for caregivers and modern treatment strategies that are based on attempts to reverse the underlying chronic condition are only partially successful [1–7]. A series of articles on exertional dyspnoea in cardiorespiratory disorders begins in the European Respiratory Review http://ow.ly/fLT0300uHgw