Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polar Coding for the Binary Erasure Channel With Deletions

We study the application of polar codes in deletion channels by analyzing the cascade of a binary erasure channel (BEC) and a deletion channel. We show how polar codes can be used effectively on a BEC with a single deletion, and propose a list decoding algorithm with a cyclic redundancy check for this case. The decoding complexity is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(N^{2}\log N)$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the blocklength of the code. An important contribution is an optimization of the amount of redundancy added to minimize the overall error probability. Our theoretical results are corroborated by numerical simulations, which show that the list size can be reduced to one and the original message can be recovered with high probability as the length of the code grows.
Comparison of MALDI TOF with conventional identification of clinically relevant bacteria.

BACKGROUND A completely new approach to diagnose microbial agents at least one day earlier based on mass spectrometric analysis becomes possible in the microbiology laboratory: MALDI TOF: matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight. Comparison between results of the new procedure with those obtained by conventional testing is mandatory. METHODS 204 clinical isolates grown on agar plates were analysed both, by the MALDI TOF Bruker microflex apparatus and by conventional identification using the VITEK II and API systems, both from bioMérieux. RESULTS Of the identified isolates, 72 were gram-positive and 130 gram-negative; 2 were yeasts (candida). Concordance was seen with 61/72 (85%) of the Gram-positive bacteria and with 115/130 (88%) of the Gram-negative bacteria. In 27 samples (13.2%), a discrepancy of the species and/or genus was obvious. The discrepancy appeared with 16 gram-negative (12.2%) and with 11 gram-positive germs (15.3%, n.s.). In the latter group, 6 samples showed discordance with Streptococcus pneumoniae (MALDI) and Streptococcus mitis/oralis (conventional identification) constellation. Among gram-negative samples, most differences occurred on the species level only, e.g. Enterobacter cloacae versus Enterobacter kobei. In 5 cases, discordance was major and appeared on the genus level: Enterobacter/Raoultella, Streptococcus/Gemella, Pseumdomonas/Burkholderia, Microbacter/Sphingomonas and Candida/Cryptococcus. The most outstanding difference was Microbacterium arborescens (MALDI TOF) and Sphingomonas paucimobilis (conventional). Molecular biological identification of two Streptococcus mitis group bacteria confirmed the erroneous diagnosis by MALDI TOF of Streptococcus pneumoniae. CONCLUSION Good comparability between MALDI TOF analysis and conventional identification procedures (86.8%) but special caution is needed when identifying streptococcal species.
The association of meat intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes may be modified by body weight

Aim: To investigate the association between meat intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes (type 2 DM) in a large cohort of middle-aged women. Design, subjects and methods: Incident cases of type 2 DM were identified during an average of 4.6 years of follow-up in a prospective cohort study of 74,493 middle-aged, Chinese women (mean age ± SD =51.7± 8.97 years). Participants completed in-person interviews that collected information on type 2 DM risk factors such as dietary factors and physical activity in adulthood. Anthropometric indices were measured. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We included in the current analysis 70,609 women who had no prior history of type 2 DM at study recruitment and who had valid dietary data. The association of type 2 DM with unprocessed meat intake (g/day) and the frequency of consumption of processed meat was evaluated using the Cox model with adjustment for age, kcals/day, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), vegetable intake, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, income level, education level, occupation status, and history of hypertension and chronic disease at baseline. Principal results: We identified 1972 incident cases of type 2 DM during a total of 326,581 person-years of follow up. Intake of unprocessed meat, particularly poultry, was associated with a decrease in the risk of type 2 DM in this cohort. The fully adjusted relative risks (RRs) for quintiles of total unprocessed meat intake were 1.00, 0.78, 0.83, 0.74, and 0.83 (P for trend: <0.01). When the joint effect between meat intake and BMI categories was evaluated, high intake of total unprocessed meat appeared to be associated with an increased risk of type 2 DM among obese women but a reduced risk among lean women (P value for the interaction tests = 0.05). Processed meat consumption was positively associated with the risk of type 2 DM. The adjusted RR was 1.15 (95% 1.01-1.32) in women consuming processed meats compared to those who did not consume processed meats (P=0.04). Conclusions: Processed meat intake was positively associated with the risk of type 2 DM. There was an indication that the effect of unprocessed meat intake on type 2 DM may be modified by BMI.
Mitochondrial dysfunction and transactivation of p53-dependent apoptotic genes in BaP-treated human fetal lung fibroblasts

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) has been shown to be an inducer of apoptosis. However, mechanisms involved in BaP-induced mitochondrial dysfunction are not well-known. In this study, human fetal lung fibroblasts cells were treated with BaP (8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 μM) for 4 and 12 h. Cell viability, intracellular level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and cytochrome c release were determined. Changes in transcriptional levels of p53-dependent apoptotic genes (p53, APAF1, CASPASE3, CASPASE9, NOXA and PUMA) were measured. At time point of 4 h, BaP induced the intracellular ROS generation in 64 (p < .05) and 128 μM BaP groups (p < .01) but decreased the T-AOC activities in 32, 64 (p < .05 for both) and 128 μM BaP groups (p < .01). At time point of 12 h, ΔΨm significantly decreased in ≥32 μM BaP groups (p < .05 for all). Amount of mitochondrial cytochrome c significantly increased in 128 μM BaP group (p < .01). Transcriptional levels of CASPASE3, CASPASE9, APAF1 and PUMA were up-regulated in all BaP groups (p < .05 for all) and in ≥32 μM groups for NOXA (p < .05). But only in 16 μM BaP group a relatively little expression of p53 mRNA was observed (p < .05). The results indicate that in the earlier period BaP promoted the generation of excessive ROS and subsequently the mitochondrial depolarization, whereas transactivations of the p53-dependent apoptotic genes were significantly induced at the later period.
The reliability and validity of the Resilience Scale for Adults-Turkish Version.

OBJECTIVE Resilience is as a dynamic process related to an individual's capacity to cope with difficult or stressful experiences and the ability to psychologically overcome adversity. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Resilience Scale for Adults-Turkish Version. METHOD The Resilience Scale for Adults was first translated into Turkish, and was then back translated. Subsequently, the questionnaire was administered to 350 students and 262 employees. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the scale were determined, and criterion-dependent validity and confirmative factor analysis were conducted using Amos v.16. 0. RESULTS Factor analysis of the scale confirmed the fit of the original's 6-dimensions: perception of self, perception of future, structured style, social competence, family cohesion, and social resources (c2=1104, df=480, c2/df=2.3; RMSEA=0.055; TLI=0.90; CFI=0.91). The 6-dimensions structure explained 53.5% of the total variance. The Social Comparison Scale and Locus of Control Scale were used to determine the criterion-dependent validity of the scale. Alpha coefficients for the sub-dimensions of the scale ranged from 0.66 to 0.81 and the test-retest reliability of the factors ranged from 0.68 to 0.81. CONCLUSION The present findings show that the Resilience Scale for Adults-Turkish Version exhibited acceptable levels of reliability and validity in the study samples.
Go with the Flow: When Listeners Use Music as Technology

Music has been shown to have a profound effect on lis-teners' internal states as evidenced by neuroscience research. Listeners report selecting and listening to music with specific intent, thereby using music as a tool to achieve desired psychological effects within a given context. In light of these observations, we argue that music information retrieval research must revisit the dominant assumption that listening to music is only an end unto itself. Instead, researchers should embrace the idea that music is also a technology used by listeners to achieve a specific desired internal state, given a particular set of circumstances and a desired goal. This paper focuses on listening to music in isolation (i.e., when the user listens to music by themselves with headphones) and surveys research from the fields of social psychology and neuro-science to build a case for a new line of research in music information retrieval on the ability of music to produce flow states in listeners. We argue that interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary in order to develop the understanding and techniques necessary to allow listeners to exploit the full potential of music as psychological technology.
Taking personal responsibility for well-being increases birth satisfaction of first time mothers

Birth satisfaction has been found to enhance a mother’s capacity to develop a sense of maternal identity. This study used a phenomenological form of thematic analysis to gain in-depth insights into the birth experiences of first-time New Zealand mothers. Taking personal responsibility (the choices participants made in relation to being in control of and accountable for their own birth processes) was a core theme. Those participants who described the neoliberalist ideal of taking personal responsibility to be well informed and well prepared for any birth experience felt more confident that they would be able to work with whatever labour and birth event eventuated.
Attentional Inhibition Has Social-Emotional Consequences for Unfamiliar Faces

Visual attention studies often rely on response time measures to show the impact of attentional facilitation and inhibition. Here we extend the investigation of the effects of attention on behavior and show that prior attentional states associated with unfamiliar faces can influence subsequent social-emotional judgments about those faces. Participants were shown pairs of face images and were asked to withhold a response if a transparent stop-signal cue appeared over one of the faces. This served to associate the cued face with an inhibitory state. Later, when asked to make social-emotional choices about these face pairs, participants chose uncued faces more often than cued faces as “more trustworthy” and chose cued faces more often than uncued faces as “less trustworthy. ” For perceptual choices, there was no effect of how the question was framed (which face is “on a lighter background” vs. “on a darker background”). These results suggest that attentional inhibition can be associated with socially relevant stimuli, such as faces, and can have specific, deleterious effects on social-emotional judgments.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy among women in Israel.

BACKGROUND Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a range of disabilities caused by gestational exposure of the fetus to alcohol. Alcohol consumption in Israel has increased dramatically in the last decades. Our previous study revealed limited knowledge among Israeli medical professionals of the risks and potential long-term effects of FASD. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the awareness and knowledge of women regarding the current recommendations on alcohol consumption during pregnancy, evaluate how many of the women received information regarding alcohol consumption during pregnancy from medical professionals, and their personal drinking habits during pregnancy. METHODS A cross-sectional sample of new mothers in 3 large hospitals in Israel were asked to complete an ad hoc questionnaire on aspects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. RESULTS A total of 3815 women of mean age 30.4 years participated in the study; 82% were Jewish. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy was reported by 14.1%, including more than 17% of the Jewish women, 11.1% of the Christian women, and none of the Muslim women. Rates were higher among nonsecular and younger women and first-time mothers. 71.6% of the sample claimed that women should not drink alcohol at all during pregnancy, and 21.4% thought that it was permissible if limited to 2 drinks per week. Seventy-five percent had received no formal information from medical professionals regarding alcohol consumption during pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol consumption is frequent among pregnant women in Israel, especially young secular Jewish women with first pregnancies. Improved educational programs on the dangers of FASD are needed for both professionals and the general public.
Desmopressin acetate nasal spray for adults with nocturia

ABSTRACT Introduction: Nocturia impacts 70% of individuals over age 70 years. Nocturnal polyuria is present in up to 88% of adults with nocturia, however, treatment options for reducing nighttime urine production have historically been limited to behavioral modification and off label use of timed diuretics and desmopressin. NoctivaTM (desmopressin acetate nasal spray, DANS, Serenity Pharmaceuticals, LLC) is a novel formulation of desmopressin approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of nocturia due to nocturnal polyuria in March 2017. Areas covered: Incidence and etiology of nocturia, currently available therapies (approved and off label), and pharmacokinetic, efficacy, and safety data associated with DANS. Expert commentary: DANS has been studied for the treatment of nocturia in adults over age 50 without contraindications to the use of desmopressin. 49% receiving the higher clinical dose experienced ≥50% reduction in nocturnal voids in clinical trials vs. 30% with placebo. Although nadir serum sodium <135 mmol/L was not uncommon (14%), the incidence of sodium ≤125 mmol/L was rare (1%). DANS therefore appears to benefit a significant subset of patients with nocturia while maintaining an acceptable risk profile. Given the risks of hyponatremia, education of patients and prescribers in contraindications and the importance of monitoring are paramount.
Speech enhancement in harsh noisy environment using analytic decomposition of speech signal in critical bands

An effective noise reduction algorithm based on signal analysis in sub-bands is proposed. Speech signal is analyzed in sub-bands using analytic decomposition in hearing critical bands where the envelopes and phases of the analytic signals are used. Noise reduction uses minimum mean square error log-spectral amplitude estimation (MMSE LSAE) noise suppression rule which preserves speech components while producing less musical residual noise. Experiments show that the nature of the band analysis in this work results in less musical noise in comparison with Fourier transform based methods. Moreover noise estimation algorithm in this work is a minima tracking algorithm which significantly reduces the level of musical noise when used in combination with MMSE LSAE.
Fiducial Generalized Pivots for a Variance Component vs . an Approximate Confidence Interval

Abstract. The paper is devoted to comparison of different confidence intervals for a variance component corresponding to the random factor in mixed linear models with two variance components. Namely, generalized confidence intervals (based on fiducial generalized pivots (FGP), see Hannig et al. (2006)) are compared to an approximate solution suggested by El-Bassiouni (1994). We focus on FGPs of certain types that were shown to yield exact intervals in some limiting situations. This makes them more equivalent counterparts to the El-Bassiouni’s interval, if frequentist properties are the main concern. A simulation study is presented that reveals, how besides sharing the limiting properties, these FGPs and the mentioned approximate interval perform with respect to each other. We also comment on a relationship between the considered types of FGPs.
Energy balance in DNFB‐treated and untreated frog muscle.

1. Heat production and chemical changes were measured in untreated and dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB)‐treated muscles during isometric tetani. Levels of total creatine (Ct), free creatine, ATP, ADP, AMP, inorganic phosphate, glucose‐1‐phosphate, glucose‐6‐phosphate, fructose‐6‐phosphate, fructose‐1,6‐diphosphate, pyruvate, phosphoenolpyruvate, and lactate were measured. Changes in inosinic acid (IMP) were also measured. 2. DNFB effectively inhibited the creatine kinase reaction (Lohmann reaction). 3. Our major finding is that even after effective treatment with DNFB the observed heat plus work after 2 sec and 5 sec of stimulation is significantly greater than the enthalpy change produced by the measured chemical changes. This confirms that an unidentified exothermic process occurs during muscle contraction; this conclusion was reached previously from studies of untreated muscle. 4. The unexplained heat plus work is unlikely to be derived from glycolytic reactions since under anaerobic conditions no formation of lactate, pyruvate, phosphoenolpyruvate or fructose‐1,6‐diphosphate could be detected in either untreated or DNFB‐treated muscles even 34 sec after a series of three 5 sec isometric tetani. 5. In the first 2 sec of stimulation the unexplained heat plus work is less in DNFB‐treated muscles than in untreated muscles. However from 2 to 5 sec of stimulation the unexplained heat plus work is the same in treated and untreated muscles.
Different emergence phenology of European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana, Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) on six varieties of grapes

Abstract The phenology of insect emergence affects reproductive success and is especially critical in short-lived species. An increasing number of studies have documented the effects of thermal and other climatic variations and of unpredictable habitats on the timing of adult insect emergence within and between populations and years. Numerous interacting factors may affect the phenology of adult emergence. Host-plant quality and availability is a key factor that has been largely neglected in studies of the phenology of phytophagous insects. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of host plant characteristics on the rate of larval growth and the pattern of emergence in a wild population of Lobesia botrana (European grapevine moth), a significant pest in European vineyards. The phenology of emergence differed significantly among the six tested varieties of grapes. The percentage of bunches harboring pupae was similar among the different grape varieties, and the total number of pupae collected was similar to the number of emerging adults per bunch. Among the six varieties of grapes, 0–25 pupae were produced on each bunch. Each of the grape varieties had a single wave of emergence, in which males emerged before females, but their emergence phenology differed significantly in Chardonnay, Chasselas, and Pinot grapes. Both genders had extended durations of emergence in Merlot grapes. Together, the present results show that the characteristics of the grape host plant affect the emergence phenology of L. botrana.
Effect of verapamil on malignant tissue blood flow in SMT-2A tumor-bearing rats.

We investigated the influence of the calcium antagonist verapamil on malignant and normal tissue blood flow using 25-micrometer 113Sn-labeled microspheres. Isogeneic Wistar-Furth rats were inoculated with a metastasizing mammary gland adenocarcinoma (SMT-2A) in the hindlimb musculature and mammary gland. Verapamil was administered as an i.v. bolus via an external jugular vein catheter followed by a supplemental constant infusion with a Harvard infusion pump. Plasma verapamil levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography, and heart rate and systemic blood pressure were monitored. Verapamil in concentrations of 100 to 200 ng/ml resulted in an approximate 50% increase in tumor blood flow compared to control levels (p less than 0.001) regardless of the site of tumor implantation. These levels were not associated with a significant alteration in arterial blood pressure. These data suggest that verapamil in concentrations currently used in humans may provide a means of improving the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to solid neoplasms and may also enhance the effectiveness of ionizing radiation treatment by increasing tumor oxygenation.
Cytokine expression during orthotopic corneal allograft rejection in mice.

PURPOSE The acquisition of cell-mediated immunity against donor antigens has been shown to be associated with rejection of orthotopic corneal allografts, but the mechanisms that cause corneal allograft destruction in grafted tissue remain obscure. To determine which T-cell subsets infiltrate graft tissue and cause graft rejection, cytokine expression was examined in corneal tissue after orthotopic corneal allograft. METHODS BALB/c mice received orthotopic corneal allografts from either syngeneic BALB/c or allogeneic C57BL/6 donors. At 1 or 4 weeks after grafting, the mice were euthanatized, and their corneas were removed. Corneal tissue was frozen, homogenized, and placed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Each sample consisted of five corneas in 500 ml PBS. After centrifugation, the supernatant was collected, and the concentration of the following cytokines was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: interleukin (IL)-1alpha, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, interferon (IFN)-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. RESULTS Significantly increased amounts of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1alpha and TNF-alpha) were detected in supernatants from all grafted corneas (both syngeneic and allogeneic) at 1 week after grafting. At 4 weeks after grafting, supernatants from normal corneas, corneas with syngeneic grafts, and corneas with accepted corneal allografts contained undetectable amounts of IL-2 and IFN-gamma, whereas supernatants from corneas with rejected corneal allografts contained significant amounts of IL-2 and IFN-gamma. There were no significant differences in the amounts of IL-4 or IL-10 among all samples. Histologic examination confirmed the expression of IL-2 and IFN-gamma in rejected corneal allografts. CONCLUSIONS Because IL-2 and IFN-gamma are secreted primarily by T-helper type 1 (Th 1) cells, whereas IL-4 and IL-10 are secreted by T-helper type 2 (Th 2) cells, these results indicate that Th 1-type cytokines, rather than Th 2-type cytokines, contribute to the rejection of orthotopic corneal allografts in graft tissue.