Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeted next-generation sequencing reveals that a compound heterozygous mutation in phosphodiesterase 6a gene leads to retinitis pigmentosa in a Chinese family

ABSTRACT Purpose: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetically heterogeneous disease with over 70 causative genes identified to date. However, approximately 40% of RP cases remain genetically unsolved, suggesting that many novel disease-causing mutations are yet to be identified. The purpose of this study is to identify the causative mutations of a Chinese RP family. Methods: Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) for a total of 163 genes which involved in inherited retinal disorders were used to screen the possible causative mutations. Sanger sequencing was used to verify the mutations. Results: As results, we identified two heterozygous mutations: a splicing site mutation c.1407 + 1G>C and a nonsense mutation c. 1957C>T (p.R653X) in phosphodiesterase 6A (PDE6A) gene in the RP patient. These two mutations are inherited from his father and mother, respectively. Furthermore, these mutations are unique in our in-house database and are rare in human genome databases, implicating that these two mutations are pathological. Conclusion: By using targeted NGS method, we identified a compound heterozygous mutation in PDE6A gene that is associated with RP in a Chinese family.
Opportunity, Resources, and Threat: Explaining Local Nativist Organizing in the United States

I examine variation in nativist organizing through an analysis of the number of nativist organizations in U.S. counties. I make two primary contributions to literatures on anti-immigrant phenomena and right-wing mobilization. First, I investigate the extent to which theories of threat, in addition to resource mobilization and political opportunity theories, further our understandings of nativist mobilization. Pro-immigrant oppositional activism and racist hate resource and organizational bases facilitate this mobilization, whereas a weak economic base, growing working-class base, and increasing Latino political representation constrain it. In addition, the association between nativist mobilization and Latino population change, as well as conservative voting, is curvilinear (inverted U). Nativist mobilization thrives in the presence of low-to-moderate levels of demographic threat, as well as in contexts in which political conservatism is present but weak enough to make the conservative, nativist identity nonnormative. Second, few studies examine nonattitudinal or noninstitutionalized anti-immigrant phenomena. There is little understanding of whether or not social structures facilitating anti-immigrant attitudes and institutionalized anti-immigrant activity similarly influence the presence of anti-immigrant mobilization. Although results suggest that political and cultural threats shape diverse anti-immigrant phenomena, I also point to a unique set of structural conditions beyond threat to explain nativist mobilization in particular.
Testing of embedded A/D converters in mixed-signal circuit

In this paper, a complete functional testing of embedded ADC is presented. The integral non-linearity error, INLE, differential non-linearity error, DNLE, offset error, OSE, gain error and the signal-to-noise ratio, SNR are rested. The problem related to the propagation of the analog signal to the input of the ADC and the observation of the digital output of the converter at the output of the digital circuit are discussed. The two means for functional testing are discussed: the histogram and the FFT. To observe the outputs of the ADC at the digital circuit, the inverse function of the digital circuit is computed. This can be done by inverting the transfer function of the digital circuit whenever it is available. In the other case, when the digital circuit structure is available, the inverse of the digital circuit is found by boolean function manipulation.
Dynamic bandwidth allocation for target tracking in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we study the dynamic bandwidth allocation problem for target tracking based on quantized sensor data in wireless sensor networks. At each time step, the fusion center distributes the available bandwidth among the sensors in such a way that the posterior Cramér-Rao lower bound (PCRLB) on the mean squared error (MSE) is minimized. Since the optimal solution requires a combinatorial search, we seek computationally efficient suboptimal methods for dynamic bandwidth allocation. In order to minimize the estimation error, our objective is to maximize the determinant of the Fisher information matrix (FIM) subject to the total rate constraint. To maximize the determinant of the FIM, we formulate an approximate dynamic programming (A-DP) algorithm and compare its performance with other suboptimal methods, including the generalized Breiman, Friedman, Olshen, and Stone (GBFOS) algorithm and the greedy search. A-DP is computationally more efficient than the GBFOS and simulation results show that A-DP and GBFOS algorithms yield similar tracking performance in terms of the mean squared error and outperform the greedy search.
The impact of nutrition education with and without a school garden on knowledge, vegetable intake and preferences and quality of school life among primary-school students

Abstract Objective To investigate the impact of school garden-enhanced nutrition education (NE) on children’s fruit and vegetable consumption, vegetable preferences, fruit and vegetable knowledge and quality of school life. Design Quasi-experimental 10-week intervention with nutrition education and garden (NE&G), NE only and control groups. Fruit and vegetable knowledge, vegetable preferences (willingness to taste and taste ratings), fruit and vegetable consumption (24 h recall × 2) and quality of school life (QoSL) were measured at baseline and 4-month follow-up. Setting Two primary schools in the Hunter Region, New South Wales, Australia. Subjects A total of 127 students in Grades 5 and 6 (11–12 years old; 54 % boys). Results Relative to controls, significant between-group differences were found for NE&G and NE students for overall willingness to taste vegetables (P < 0·001) and overall taste ratings of vegetables (P < 0·001). A treatment effect was found for the NE&G group for: ability to identify vegetables (P < 0·001); willingness to taste capsicum (P = 0·04), broccoli (P = 0·01), tomato (P < 0·001) and pea (P = 0·02); and student preference to eat broccoli (P < 0·001) and pea (P < 0·001) as a snack. No group-by-time differences were found for vegetable intake (P = 0·22), fruit intake (P = 0·23) or QoSL (P = 0·98). Conclusions School gardens can impact positively on primary-school students’ willingness to taste vegetables and their vegetable taste ratings, but given the complexity of dietary behaviour change, more comprehensive strategies are required to increase vegetable intake.
Differential uptake of cadmium and chromium in Brassica oleraceae in response to application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria.

Among various toxic heavy metals (HMs), Cadmium (Cd) and Chromium (Cr) have proven to be extremely noxious for environment, hence warranting their remediation. Current study investigated the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) assisted Cd and Cr removal by Brassica oleraceae under controlled environment. For this purpose, B. oleraceae plants were grown at different concentration of Cd (4, 10 mg kg) and Cr (35, 50 mg kg) and inoculated with strains evaluated for PGPR characteristics. For heavy metals and growth hormone production experiments, two strains, HRS-C3 and B6 were used. Inoculation with PGPRs significantly increased the fresh and dry biomass of plant shoots as compared to un-inoculated counterparts. Under heavy metal stress conditions, inoculation with HRS-C3 increased the fresh biomass of plants from 535.08 to 657.66 mg and corresponding dry weight from 214.50 to 295.30 mg compared to un-inoculated plants under stressed conditions. Interestingly, PGPRs treatment increased the Cd uptake by plant, while Cr accumulation was significantly reduced in inoculated plants as compared to un-inoculated plants. PGPR strain, HRS-C3 has proved to be more efficient than B6 with reference to growth hormones (IAA and GA) production. Inoculation with mix culture of both strains, HRS-C3 and B6 produced significantly higher concentrations of IAA and GA than singular applications. Overall, PGPRs enhanced Cd availability to plant by reducing stress to tested plants. This phenomenon suggests that microbes played a key role for remediation of medium level contamination of Cd by B. oleraceae in contaminated soil. However, the results of same strains indicated that Cr uptake was reduced in B. oleraceae. Results suggest that there is need to employ metal specific strains for Cr remediation. © 2018 Friends Science Publishers
Preperformance state, routines and automaticity: What does it take to realize expertise in self-paced events?

To execute flawlessly and automatically in sports competition is the goal of any serious athlete. Automaticity suggests nonconscious attention to the act itself while executing, and not being aware of and therefore vulnerable to external and internal distractors. Self-paced sports and events in sports allow time for preparing to perform in a stable and predictable situation. More recently, cognitive, behavioral, and psychophysiological measures associated with developing and realizing proficiency in such acts have become increasingly identified. Many themes associated with these topics appear in the scholarly literature: conscious vs. nonconscious, controlled vs. automatic, voluntary vs. involuntary, explicit vs. implicit, systematic vs. heuristic, willed vs. nonwilled, aware vs. unaware, internal vs. externally oriented, and intentional vs. unintentional behaviors. Implications are being made about ways to influence the learning process by modeling expertise behaviors, as well as enhancing the performanc.
FORCES AND WAKE MODES OF AN OSCILLATING CYLINDER

This investigation considers the wake states of a cylinder subjected to forced oscillations at frequencies close to the Karman frequency. Two distinctly different wake states are observed. The emphasis is on the transition between these states, which is characterized in terms of the lift force on the cylinder and the instantaneous patterns of vortex structures in the near-wake. As the frequency of oscillation increases, there is simultaneously an abrupt jump in the lift force and a change in the mode of vortex shedding. The jump in the lift force involves a sharp increase in the magnitude of the lift coefficient and a phase shift of the order 180°. The corresponding mode change involves an alteration in both the timing of the vortex initially shed from the cylinder and the overall pattern of vortices in the near-wake. Whilst previously these changes have been observed individually in separate forced vibration investigations, we show conclusive evidence that these two events are intrinsically linked. Moreover, for a narrow band of frequencies, a self-excited transition is possible, where the wake state changes while the cylinder oscillates at a constant frequency.
On Some Properties of the Heisenberg Laplacian

Let IHn be the (2n+1) -dimensional Heisenberg group and let Lα and be the sublaplacian and central element of the Lie algebra of IHn respectively. Forα=0 denote by L0=L the Heisenberg Laplacian and let K ∈Aut(IHn) be a compact subgroup of Au-tomorphism of IHn. In this paper, we give some properties of the Heisenberg Laplacian and prove that L and T generate the K-invariant universal enveloping algebra, U(hn)k of IHn.
Image Denoising and Inpainting with Deep Neural Networks

We present a novel approach to low-level vision problems that combines sparse coding and deep networks pre-trained with denoising auto-encoder (DA). We propose an alternative training scheme that successfully adapts DA, originally designed for unsupervised feature learning, to the tasks of image denoising and blind inpainting. Our method's performance in the image denoising task is comparable to that of KSVD which is a widely used sparse coding technique. More importantly, in blind image inpainting task, the proposed method provides solutions to some complex problems that have not been tackled before. Specifically, we can automatically remove complex patterns like superimposed text from an image, rather than simple patterns like pixels missing at random. Moreover, the proposed method does not need the information regarding the region that requires inpainting to be given a priori. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in the tasks of image denoising and blind inpainting. We also show that our new training scheme for DA is more effective and can improve the performance of unsupervised feature learning.
COVERED MICROSTRIP LINE WITH GROUND PLANES OF FINITE WIDTH

Characteristic parameters of a covered microstrip line with ground planes of finite width are determined using the hybrid boundary element method (HBEM). This method, developed at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering of Nis is based on the combination of equivalent elec­tro­des method (EEM) and boundary ele­ment method (BEM). Results for the characteristic impedance of observed microstrip line are com­pared with corresponding ones obtained by the finite element method.
Curcumin Promotes KLF5 Proteasome Degradation through Downregulating YAP/TAZ in Bladder Cancer Cells

KLF5 (Krüppel-like factor 5) plays critical roles in normal and cancer cell proliferation through modulating cell cycle progression. In this study, we demonstrated that curcumin targeted KLF5 by promoting its proteasome degradation, but not by inhibiting its transcription in bladder cancer cells. We also demonstrated that lentivirus-based knockdown of KLF5 inhibited cancer cell growth, while over-expression of a Flag-tagged KLF5 could partially reverse the effects of curcumin on cell growth and cyclin D1 expression. Furthermore, we found that curcumin could down-regulate the expression of Hippo pathway effectors, YAP and TAZ, which have been reported to protect KLF5 protein from degradation. Indeed, knockdown of YAP by small interfering RNA caused the attenuation of KLF5 protein, but not KLF5 mRNA, which was reversed by co-incubation with proteasome inhibitor. A xenograft assay in nude mice finally proved the potent inhibitory effects of curcumin on tumor growth and the pro-proliferative YAP/TAZ/KLF5/cyclin D1 axis. Thus, our data indicates that curcumin promotes KLF5 proteasome-dependent degradation through targeting YAP/TAZ in bladder cancer cells and also suggests the therapeutic potential of curcumin in the treatment of bladder cancer.
Maternal predictors of school readiness among at- risk Head Start preschool children

Preschool has been identified as a critical period during which children who are at-risk for school difficulties are most responsive to intervention (National Institute of Mental Health, 2002; National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2001). Because of this, school readiness has recently become a prioritized area of interest for the educational system, the health care industry, and the federal government. However, many efforts to comprehensively prepare a child to begin school have not been successful because factors beyond the educational system (e.g., parenting/parent attributes, environmental stressors, and other demographic characteristics) have not been closely considered nor adequately researched. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if maternal characteristics (e.g., maternal role satisfaction, future orientation, and level of maternal involvement) were positively related to domains of school readiness in children. I hypothesized that higher levels of maternal satisfaction and future orientation would result in more maternal involvement, subsequently leading to higher levels of child school readiness. Participants included 202 low-income, African American mother-child dyads, with the child being preschool age and enrolled in a Head Start program at the time of the study. The current study utilized secondary data where participants were recruited from Head Start facilities in Detroit, Michigan. Hierarchical multiple regression was utilized to test study hypotheses. Results revealed that maternal satisfaction and future orientation was positively related to some domains of child school readiness. The current study did not find support for the mediation
A Survey Regarding Drug Shortage in Tertiary Care Hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Drug shortages have become a big concering issue for all over the world and for health care providers. The shortage of drugs have adverse and drastic effect on patient care and prescribing practices. Objectives: This aim of this study to assess the current drug shortage problems and adverse effect in of tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study in which data collected from different sources: Physicians and Pharmacist by using purposive sampling technique from October 2016 to March 2017. A total of 472 physician and pharmacist had participated in this study and the data was analysed by SPSS. Result: The shortage of injectable dosage form of drug is more common, that accounts for 52.2 % shortage. The main cause of drugs shortage is to increase drugs price which was rated by more than 36% participants.The adverse outcomes due to drugs shortage patient face are length of stay (25%) and cost of treatment (14%) increases reported by respondents. Conclusion: Those physicians and pharmacist who are working in public and private hospital sectors have to face drugs shortage problems. The shortage of drugs happen due to various causes and healthcare staff have to bear several challenges furthermore, all of these in the end make negative consequences on patient health. Key words: Health, Patient, Emergency, Drug shortages, Pakistan.
Additive versus multiplicative combination of differences of interaural time and intensity.

Predictions of the position‐variable model [R. M. Stern, Jr. and H. S. Colburn, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64, 127–140 (1978)] are compared to the observed lateralization of bandpass noise as a joint function of differences of interaural time, intensity, and phase (ITD, IID, and IPD, respectively) [T. N. Buell and C. Trahiotis, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90, 2266 (A) (1991)]. This presentation is primarily concerned with the effect of IIDs on the lateralization of bandpass noise. It is shown that the multiplicative intensity‐weighting function that had been a feature of all previous implementations of the position‐variable model is fundamentally unable to describe the data of Buell and Trahiotis. It is argued that the form of these data suggests that the effects of IID must be introduced in an additive fashion at a more central level, after image position is estimated on the basis of timing information alone. Such a model provides a very good description of the Buell and Trahiotis data, as well as the results of severa.
In vivo measurements of the triceps surae complex architecture in man: implications for muscle function

1 The objectives of this study were to (1) quantify experimentally in vivo changes in pennation angle, fibre length and muscle thickness in the triceps surae complex in man in response to changes in ankle position and isometric plantarflexion moment and (2) compare changes in the above muscle architectural characteristics occurring in the transition from rest to a given isometric plantarflexion intensity with the estimations of a planimetric muscle model assuming constant thickness and straight muscle fibres. 2 The gastrocnemius medialis (GM), gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) and soleus (SOL) muscles of six males were scanned with ultrasonography at different sites along and across the muscle belly at rest and during maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) trials at ankle angles of −15 deg (dorsiflexed direction), 0 deg (neutral position), +15 deg (plantarflexed direction) and +30 deg. Additional images were taken at 80, 60, 40 and 20 % of MVC at an ankle angle of 0 deg. 3 In all three muscles and all scanned sites, as ankle angle increased from −15 to +30 deg, pennation increased (by 6–12 deg, 39–67 %, P < 0.01 at rest and 9–16 deg, 29–43 %, P < 0.01 during MVC) and fibre length decreased (by 15–28 mm, 32–34 %, P < 0.01 at rest and 8–10 mm, 27–30 %, P < 0.05 during MVC). Thickness in GL and SOL increased during MVC compared with rest (by 5–7 mm, 36–47 %, P < 0.01 in GL and 6–7 mm, 38–47 %, P < 0.01 in SOL) while thickness of GM did not differ (P > 0.05) between rest and MVC. 4 At any given ankle angle the model underestimated changes in GL and SOL occurring in the transition from rest to MVC in pennation angle (by 9–12 deg, 24–38 %, P < 0.01 in GL and 9–14 deg, 25–28 %, P < 0.01 in SOL) and fibre length (by 6–15 mm, 22–39 %, P < 0.01 in GL and 6–8 mm, 23–24 %, P < 0.01 in SOL). 5 The findings of the study indicate that the mechanical output of muscle as estimated by the model used may be unrealistic due to errors in estimating the changes in muscle architecture during contraction compared with rest.
A comparative analysis of the activity of ligands acting at P2X and P2Y receptor subtypes in models of neuropathic, acute and inflammatory pain

Background and purpose: This study was undertaken to compare the analgesic activity of antagonists acting at P2X1, P2X7, and P2Y12 receptors and agonists acting at P2Y1, P2Y2, P2Y4, and P2Y6 receptors in neuropathic, acute, and inflammatory pain.
Autoeficacia, Prácticas de Aprendizaje Autorregulado y Docencia para fomentar el Aprendizaje Autorregulado en un Curso de Ingeniería de Software

En este trabajo se presenta un estudio sobre la autoeficacia de los estudiantes y las practicas relacionadas con el proceso de aprendizaje autorregulado por parte de los estudiantes de un curso de ingenieria de software de la carrera de Ingenieria Civil en Computacion e Informatica de la Universidad Catolica del Norte, Coquimbo, en Chile. El aprendizaje autorregulado es un proceso donde el estudiante autorregula su aprendizaje y toma conciencia de sus propios procesos cognitivos y socio-afectivos. Para realizar el estudio, se aplicaron dos instrumentos: la escala de autoeficacia general y un grupo focal (focus group) que permite describir las practicas asociadas al aprendizaje autorregulado. Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes no planifican, ni monitorean su proceso de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, son capaces de evaluar y reflexionar sobre las causas del por que no realizan una planificacion y monitoreo. Se presenta una propuesta de promocion del aprendizaje autorregulado que permite instruir a los estudiantes en esta area.
Multiple Intelligences Patterns of Students at King Saud University and Its Relationship with Mathematics' Achievement.

The purpose of this study was to determine the multiple intelligences patterns of students at King Saud University and its relationship with academic achievement for the courses of Mathematics. The study sample consisted of 917 students were selected a stratified random manner, the descriptive analysis method and Pearson correlation were used, the researcher prepared multiple intelligence scale for this study.The results showed an overall appearance of all multiple intelligences patterns of the sample students in the following order: self, social, bodily, logical, verbal, visual, musical and natural intelligence. It was also observed that progress medical track students in most of the multiple intelligences patterns compared with other tracks (Engineering, Humanities), as well as students of math 140 compared with students of other courses (Math130, Math150, Stat140). There is impact of visual intelligence, bodily, logical, and sometimes social, musical and natural on the Mathematics’ achievement.