Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The psychological impact of mild ovarian stimulation combined with single embryo transfer compared with conventional IVF.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to assess the psychological implications of mild ovarian stimulation combined with single embryo transfer (SET) during a first IVF cycle. METHODS We conducted a randomized controlled two-centre trial. Three hundred and ninety-one couples were randomized to undergo either mild ovarian stimulation with GnRH antagonist co-treatment and SET (n=199) or conventional GnRH agonist long protocol ovarian stimulation with double embryo transfer (DET) (n=192). Women completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist and the Subjective Sleep Quality Scale at baseline, on the first day of ovarian stimulation and following embryo transfer. Affect was assessed daily with the Daily Record Keeping Chart from the first day of ovarian stimulation until the day treatment outcome became known. RESULTS The conventional IVF group experienced elevated levels of physical and depressive symptoms during pituitary downregulation. At oocyte retrieval, this group experienced more positive affect and less negative affect than the mild IVF group. In the conventional IVF group, cycle cancellation was associated with less positive and more negative affect. CONCLUSIONS During the first IVF treatment cycle, mild ovarian stimulation and SET does not lead to more psychological complaints than conventional IVF.
Testing Hardy-Weinberg Proportions in a Frequency-Matched Case-Control Genetic Association Study

In case-control genetic association studies, cases are subjects with the disease and controls are subjects without the disease. At the time of case-control data collection, information about secondary phenotypes is also collected. In addition to studies of primary diseases, there has been some interest in studying genetic variants associated with secondary phenotypes. In genetic association studies, the deviation from Hardy-Weinberg proportion (HWP) of each genetic marker is assessed as an initial quality check to identify questionable genotypes. Generally, HWP tests are performed based on the controls for the primary disease or secondary phenotype. However, when the disease or phenotype of interest is common, the controls do not represent the general population. Therefore, using only controls for testing HWP can result in a highly inflated type I error rate for the disease- and/or phenotype-associated variants. Recently, two approaches, the likelihood ratio test (LRT) approach and the mixture HWP (mHWP) exact test were proposed for testing HWP in samples from case-control studies. Here, we show that these two approaches result in inflated type I error rates and could lead to the removal from further analysis of potential causal genetic variants associated with the primary disease and/or secondary phenotype when the study of primary disease is frequency-matched on the secondary phenotype. Therefore, we proposed alternative approaches, which extend the LRT and mHWP approaches, for assessing HWP that account for frequency matching. The goal was to maintain more (possible causative) single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the sample for further analysis. Our simulation results showed that both extended approaches could control type I error probabilities. We also applied the proposed approaches to test HWP for SNPs from a genome-wide association study of lung cancer that was frequency-matched on smoking status and found that the proposed approaches can keep more genetic variants for association studies.
Blind channel estimation for MIMO MC-CDMA with arbitrary numbers of antennas and users

A subspace blind channel estimation scheme is proposed for multicarrier(MC)-CDMA systems using multiple antennas. To obtain noise subspace that is essential for subspace blind channel estimation, frequency-domain over-sampling (FDO) is employed at the receiver side. A unique feature of this scheme is that it is applicable to general MC-CDMA systems without any constraint on the numbers of antennas and users. In particular, it can be applied in two challenging situations, for which existing schemes fail: (1) the number of transmit antennas is larger than the number of receive antennas; (2) the number of users is larger than the processing gain. In other cases, the proposed scheme also compare favorably with other existing schemes.
Determination of the Exact Molecular Requirements for Type 1 Angiotensin Receptor Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Transactivation and Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy

Major interest surrounds how angiotensin II triggers cardiac hypertrophy via epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation. G protein–mediated transduction, angiotensin type 1 receptor phosphorylation at tyrosine 319, and &bgr;-arrestin–dependent scaffolding have been suggested, yet the mechanism remains controversial. We examined these pathways in the most reductionist model of cardiomyocyte growth, neonatal ventricular cardiomyocytes. Analysis with [32P]-labeled cardiomyocytes, wild-type and [Y319A] angiotensin type 1 receptor immunoprecipitation and phosphorimaging, phosphopeptide analysis, and antiphosphotyrosine blotting provided no evidence for tyrosine phosphorylation at Y319 or indeed of the receptor, and mutation of Y319 (to A/F) did not prevent either epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation in COS-7 cells or cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Instead, we demonstrate that transactivation and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy are completely abrogated by loss of G-protein coupling, whereas a constitutively active angiotensin type 1 receptor mutant was sufficient to trigger transactivation and growth in the absence of ligand. These results were supported by the failure of the &bgr;-arrestin–biased ligand SII angiotensin II to transactivate epidermal growth factor receptor or promote hypertrophy, whereas a &bgr;-arrestin–uncoupled receptor retained these properties. We also found angiotensin II–mediated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy to be attenuated by a disintegrin and metalloprotease inhibition. Thus, G-protein coupling, and not Y319 phosphorylation or &bgr;-arrestin scaffolding, is required for epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via the angiotensin type 1 receptor.
Existence Results for fractional boundary Value Problem via Critical Point Theory

In this paper, by the critical point theory, the boundary value problem is discussed for a fractional differential equation containing the left and right fractional derivative operators, and various criteria on the existence of solutions are obtained. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time, the existence of solutions to the fractional boundary value problem is dealt with by using critical point theory.
Static Stretching Reduces Power Production in Gymnasts

Static stretching, consisting of holding muscles at lengthened positions for typically 15-45 seconds, has been recommended before participating in physical activity. Gymnasts historically have performed static stretches, such as splits, during the warmup portion of training. Recently however, data has been presented from studies on adults which have shown that static stretching immediately prior to performing powerful activities reduces performance (for example, Kokkonen, Nelson, " Cornwell, 1998; Nelson, Cornwell, " Heise, 1996). The reported reductions in performance have persisted over an hour following static stretching! Athletes in some sports such as track and field no longer stretch in this manner because of the detrimental effects on movement speed. This effect of static stretching on power has not been studied in children, and in particular on gymnasts who often use static stretching as part of their training. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate the effects of stretching the calf muscles on the ability to perform a drop jump (punch jump).
Mix and Match

Recently there has been much interest in blending successful development methods such as agile development and product line engineering into an even more successful hybrid. I will consider one technique for accomplishing this blending. I will briefly present an example that will be discussed in more detail at the Software Product Line Conference (SPLC) in September. In this issue of Strategic Software Engineering I want to discuss how to achieve synergy between methods and how to benefit from the results.
Finite Element Analysis and Notched Tensile Strength Evaluation of Center-Hole 2D Carbon/Carbon Laminates

Finite element analysis (FEA) has been carried out on 2D carbon/carbon (C/C) laminates containing a central circular hole utilizing the ANSYS software package. The stress concentration factor obtained from the existing empirical relation is comparable with the FEA result. Utilizing the stress concentration factor and the un-notched tensile strength of the 2D carbon/carbon laminates, the notched tensile strength estimates are found to be highly conservative. Modifications are made in one of the stress fracture criteria of Whitney and Nuismer known as the point stress criterion to estimate the notched strength close to the test results.
Biochemical evaluation of the effects of Nigerian polyherbal preparation on Wistar rabbits

Background : Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder with multiple etiologies. Its sufferers are generally at high risk of dyslipidemia characterized by hypercholesterolemia, hyper-triglyceridemia, hyperlipoproteinemia and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Globally, the estimated cost of diabetes care was $376 billion in 2010, representing 12% of health expenditures for that year. Methods : The effects of the aqueous extracts of a little known Nigerian traditional polyherbal formula consisting of Emilia coccinea , Acanthus montanus , Hibiscus rosasinensis and Asystasia gangetica on serum glucose concentration, amylase activity and lipid profiles of normal, diabetic, and liver-damaged rabbits were studied using standard procedures. The mixture of the aqueous extracts of the four plants was orally administered in two doses – 120mg/kg body weight and 240mg/kg body weight for 28 days. Results : The drug elicited dose- and duration-of-administration-dependent, significant (p<0.05) reductions in serum levels of glucose, total cholesterol, triacylglycerol and LDL-cholesterol; and significant (p<0.05) increases in the HDL-cholesterol concentrations with no changes in amylase activity. Conclusion : These results confirm the hypoglycemic, antihyperlipidemic and hepatoprotective potentials of the crude drug and thus justify its application in ethnomedicine in the management of diabetes. Key words : Emilia coccinea , Acanthus montanus , Hibiscus rosasinensis , Asystasia gangetica , antidiabetic, hepatoprotection.
Genetic Algorithm Optimization and Performance Comparative Analysis of Rectangular, Triangular and Circular Patch Antennas for X Band Applications

The growth of portable wireless communication devices has pushed designers to design miniature size antennas. The most prized among miniature antenna choices is the micro-strip patch antenna. These antennas have significant advantages such as low profile, light weight, relatively low manufacturing cost, and polarization diversity. In this paper Genetic Algorithm optimization technique has been utilized for dimensions optimization of three types of patch antennas in addition to the comparative performance analysis of rectangular, triangular and circular shape microstrip patch antennas at X band frequency in order to list the advantages of each shape and decide which shape is best suited for the desired frequency. The resonant frequency is chosen at 11 GHz which is suitable for a variety of wireless applications. Ansoft HFSS is used as the software environment to design and compare the performance of the antennas in terms of return loss, VSWR, directivity and radiation beam-width. A program has been developed in MATLAB for obtaining the patch antennas dimensions based on theoretical formulas and various important performance metrics are analyzed for performing comparative analysis between un-optimized and optimized multi-shape patch antennas design. The results show that the circular patch antenna has a very good value of return loss -44.42 dB and an improved VSWR value of 1.01 than those of other patch shapes. However, rectangular patch antenna is more directive, it has 9 dB in directivity and 61° in radiation beam-width at E-plane. Keyword-Circular patch antenna, Directivity, Genetic algorithm, HFSS, Rectangular patch antenna, Return loss, Triangular patch antenna. I. INTRODUCTION
Creatine Supplementation Associated or Not with Strength Training upon Emotional and Cognitive Measures in Older Women: A Randomized Double-Blind Study

Purpose To assess the effects of creatine supplementation, associated or not with strength training, upon emotional and cognitive measures in older woman. Methods This is a 24-week, parallel-group, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The individuals were randomly allocated into one of the following groups (n=14 each): 1) placebo, 2) creatine supplementation, 3) placebo associated with strength training or 4) creatine supplementation associated with strength training. According to their allocation, the participants were given creatine (4 x 5 g/d for 5 days followed by 5 g/d) or placebo (dextrose at the same dosage) and were strength trained or not. Cognitive function, assessed by a comprehensive battery of tests involving memory, selective attention, and inhibitory control, and emotional measures, assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale, were evaluated at baseline, after 12 and 24 weeks of the intervention. Muscle strength and food intake were evaluated at baseline and after 24 weeks. Results After the 24-week intervention, both training groups (ingesting creatine supplementation and placebo) had significant reductions on the Geriatric Depression Scale scores when compared with the non-trained placebo group (p = 0.001 and p = 0.01, respectively) and the non-trained creatine group (p < 0.001 for both comparison). However, no significant differences were observed between the non-trained placebo and creatine (p = 0.60) groups, or between the trained placebo and creatine groups (p = 0.83). Both trained groups, irrespective of creatine supplementation, had better muscle strength performance than the non-trained groups. Neither strength training nor creatine supplementation altered any parameter of cognitive performance. Food intake remained unchanged. Conclusion Creatine supplementation did not promote any significant change in cognitive function and emotional parameters in apparently healthy older individuals. In addition, strength training per se improved emotional state and muscle strength, but not cognition, with no additive effects of creatine supplementation. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01164020
Head injury and Parkinson's disease risk in twins

Head injury is an inconsistently reported risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). Many related variables might confound this association, such as differences in childhood and adolescent lifestyles or genetically determined risk‐taking behaviors. Twin studies circumvent some of these problems, because twins are genetically and environmentally much more similar than typical cases and control subjects.
Safety Evaluation of Cosmetic Ingredients: In Vitro Opportunities for the Identification of Contact Allergens

Irritant and allergic contact dermatitis are undesired side effects in the development of drugs and cosmetics as well as after contact with environmental or industrial chemicals. Over the last decades, a great deal of progress has been made in the development of alternative In vitro test to assess these issues. Driven by the 7th Amendment to the European Cosmetic Directive, the EU policy on chemicals (the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals (REACH) system), the update of the European legislation on the protection of animals used in research, and emerging visions and strategies for predicting toxicity, in vitro methods are likely to play a major role in the near future. On 12 December 2013, the European Union Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM, part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) published its Recommendation on the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA) for skin sensitization, capable of distinguishing sensitizers from non-sensitizers. Other assays (i.e., KeratinoSens™ assay) will follow shortly. While a number of methods are at various stages of development and use, currently it is not possible to rank chemicals for their sensitizing potency, an issue that is important for a full safety assessment. It is expected that a predictive method to totally replace animal testing will be in the form of a test battery comprising molecular, cell-based, and/or computational methods, the so-called “Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment”. This review aims to discuss the state-of-the-art in the field of in vitro assessment of contact sensitizers.
Center-of-Gravity Reduce Task Scheduling to Lower MapReduce Network Traffic

MapReduce is by far one of the most successful realizations of large-scale data-intensive cloud computing platforms. MapReduce automatically parallelizes computation by running multiple map and/or reduce tasks over distributed data across multiple machines. Hadoop is an open source implementation of MapReduce. When Hadoop schedules reduce tasks, it neither exploits data locality nor addresses partitioning skew present in some MapReduce applications. This might lead to increased cluster network traffic. In this paper we investigate the problems of data locality and partitioning skew in Hadoop. We propose Center-of-Gravity Reduce Scheduler (CoGRS), a locality-aware skew-aware reduce task scheduler for saving MapReduce network traffic. In an attempt to exploit data locality, CoGRS schedules each reduce task at its center-of-gravity node, which is computed after considering partitioning skew as well. We implemented CoGRS in Hadoop-0.20. 2 and tested it on a private cloud as well as on Amazon EC2. As compared to native Hadoop, our results show that CoGRS minimizes off-rack network traffic by averages of 9.6% and 38.6% on our private cloud and on an Amazon EC2 cluster, respectively. This reflects on job execution times and provides an improvement of up to 23.8%.
A histologic, histomorphometric, and radiographic comparison between two complexes of CenoBoen/CenoMembrane and Bio-Oss/Bio-Gide in lateral ridge augmentation: A clinical trial

Background: Several grafting materials have been used for alveolar ridge augmentation. The literature lacks researches to compare CenoBone to other grafting materials. The aim of this study was to compare CenoBone/CenoMembrane complex to Bio-Oss/Bio-Gide complex in lateral alveolar bone augmentation in terms of radiographic, histologic, and histomorphometric parameters. Materials and Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, ten patients who needed lateral ridge augmentation were selected and augmentations were done using either of CenoBone/CenoMembrane or Bio-Oss/Bio-Gide complexes. In the re-entry surgery in 6 months following augmentation, core biopsies were taken and clinical, radiographic, histologic, and histomorphometric evaluations were performed. Results: No statistically significant difference was seen between groups except for the number of blood vessels and percentage of residual graft materials. Conclusion: CenoBone seems to present a comparable lateral ridge augmentation to Bio-Oss in.
A Unified Framework for Detecting Genetic Association with Multiple SNPs in a Candidate Gene or Region: Contrasting Genotype Scores and LD Patterns between Cases and Controls

It is critical to develop and apply powerful statistical tests for genetic association studies due to typically weak associations with complex human diseases or phenotypes. For population-based case-control studies with unphased multilocus genotype data, most of the existing methods are based on comparing genotype scores, e.g. allele frequencies, between the case and control groups. Another class of approaches are motivated to contrast linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns between the two groups. It is expected that no single test can be uniformly most powerful across all situations, and different tests may perform better under different scenarios. A recent effort has been devoted to combining the above two classes of approaches, which however has some potential drawbacks. Here we propose a general and simple framework to unify the above two classes of approaches: it is based on the simple idea to incorporate LD measurements, in addition to genotype scores, as covariates in a logistic regression model, from which various tests can be constructed by taking advantage of the nice properties of the score statistics for the logistic model. It also has an advantage in easily accommodating covariates and other study designs. We use simulated data to show that our proposed tests performed well across several scenarios. In particular, in contrast to either of the two classes of the tests that is only powerful in detecting only one, but not both, of the two types of the distributional differences between cases and controls, our proposed tests are sensitive to both.
Role of Aromatic Amino Acids in Receptor Binding Activity and Subunit Assembly of the Cytolethal Distending Toxin of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

ABSTRACT The periodontal pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans produces a cytolethal distending toxin (Cdt) that inhibits the proliferation of oral epithelial cells. Structural models suggest that the CdtA and CdtC subunits of the Cdt heterotrimer form two putative lectin domains with a central groove. A region of CdtA rich in heterocyclic amino acids (aromatic patch) appears to play an important role in receptor recognition. In this study site-specific mutagenesis was used to assess the contributions of aromatic amino acids (tyrosine and phenylalanine) to receptor binding and CdtA-CdtC assembly. Predominant surface-exposed aromatic residues that are adjacent to the aromatic patch region in CdtA or are near the groove located at the junction of CdtA and CdtC were studied. Separately replacing residues Y105, Y140, Y188, and Y189 with alanine in CdtA resulted in differential effects on binding related to residue position within the aromatic region. The data indicate that an extensive receptor binding domain extends from the groove across the entire face of CdtA that is oriented 180° from the CdtB subunit. Replacement of residue Y105 in CdtA and residues Y61 and F141 in CdtC, which are located in or at the periphery of the groove, inhibited toxin assembly. Taken together, these results, along with the lack of an aromatic amino acid-rich region in CdtC similar to that in CdtA, suggest that binding of the heterotoxin to its cell surface receptor is mediated predominantly by the CdtA subunit. These findings are important for developing strategies designed to block the activity of this prominent virulence factor.