Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical Fitness and Frailty Syndrome in Institutionalized Older Women

Associations between frailty and physical-functional fitness (PFF) indicators in frail women over 65 years of age remain largely unexplored. This study analyzed the relationship between frailty syndrome (FS) and PFF indicators and assessed how the latter might predict the former. Participants were 119 elderly women (81.96 ± 7.89 years) recruited from four social and healthcare centers. PFF was assessed through muscle strength tests of upper and lower limbs, endurance, agility-dynamic balance, flexibility, and body composition. The following FS indicators were assessed: weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low physical activity level. Significant correlations were found between FS and endurance, agility-dynamic balance, upper and lower limbs muscle strength tests. Comparitive analyses also revealed that, among FS groups, the frail subgroup performed significantly poorer on all PFF measures except body composition. Additionally, a receiving operating characteristics curve analysis revealed good diagnostic accuracy for predicting FS using the agility-dynamic balance test (Area Under Curve [AUC] = .82, 95% CI [0.74, 0.90]; sensitivity and specificity were 70.4% and 84.8% for the cutoff = 16.22 seconds). Accurately, the risk of frail condition (not pre-frail) increases about 2.12% per second spent in this test. Thus, the agility-dynamic balance test is a promising tool for screening institutionalized older people for risk of FS.
Plasma CTGF is independently related to an increased risk of cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with atherosclerotic disease: the SMART study

Abstract Aims: Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) plays a key role in tissue fibrogenesis and growing evidence indicates a pathogenic role in cardiovascular disease. Aim of this study is to investigate the association of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) with cardiovascular risk and mortality in patients with manifest vascular disease. Methods and results: Plasma CTGF was measured by ELISA in a prospective cohort study of 1227 patients with manifest vascular disease (mean age 59.0 ± 9.9 years). Linear regression analysis was performed to quantify the association between CTGF and cardiovascular risk factors. Results are expressed as beta (β) regression coefficients with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The relation between CTGF and the occurrence of new cardiovascular events and mortality was assessed with Cox proportional hazard analysis. Adjustments were made for potential confounding factors. Plasma CTGF was positively related to total cholesterol (β 0.040;95%CI 0.013–0.067) and LDL cholesterol (β 0.031;95%CI 0.000–0.062) and inversely to glomerular filtration rate (β −0.004;95%CI −0.005 to −0.002). CTGF was significantly lower in patients with cerebrovascular disease. During a median follow-up of 6.5 years (IQR 5.3–7.4) 131 subjects died, 92 experienced an ischemic cardiac complication and 45 an ischemic stroke. CTGF was associated with an increased risk of new vascular events (HR 1.21;95%CI 1.04–1.42), ischemic cardiac events (HR 1.41;95%CI 1.18–1.67) and all-cause mortality (HR 1.18;95%CI 1.00–1.38) for every 1 nmol/L increase in CTGF. No relation was observed between CTGF and the occurrence of ischemic stroke. Conclusions: In patients with manifest vascular disease, elevated plasma CTGF confers an increased risk of new cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.
QF-PCR as a molecular-based method for autosomal aneuploidies detection

Objectives: The currently available methods for rapid prenatal diagnosis of common chromosomal aneuploidies are either Interphase-Fluorescence in Situ Hybridisation (I-FISH) or Quanti- tative Fluorescent Polymerase Chain Reaction (QF-PCR). QF-PCR represents a rapid, high throughput, cost-effective alternative for Interphase-FISH. The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of QF-PCR, as a molecular-based technique for the detection of chromosome 21, 18 and 13 copy numbers. Study design: A retrospective cohort of 163 samples referred for screening of common chromosomal aneuploidies was blindly tested for chromosome 21, 18 and 13 copy numbers using QF-PCR and the results were compared with those of conventional cytogenetic analysis. Results: QF-PCR demonstrated optimal sensitivity and specificity (100%) for non mosaic trisomies. QF-PCR was able to consistently detect maternal cell contamination and mosaic trisomies when the trisomic cell line was present at an adequate level (23% or more). However, QF-PCR was unable to detect chromosomal rearrangements for which the primers were not designed. Conclusion: QF- PCR proved its superior performance as a molecular-based method for autosomal aneuploidy detection concerning both sensitivity and specificity.
Optimality of 1-norm regularization among weighted 1-norms for sparse recovery: a case study on how to find optimal regularizations

The 1-norm was proven to be a good convex regularizer for the recovery of sparse vectors from under-determined linear measurements. It has been shown that with an appropriate measurement operator, a number of measurements of the order of the sparsity of the signal (up to log factors) is sufficient for stable and robust recovery. More recently, it has been shown that such recovery results can be generalized to more general low-dimensional model sets and (convex) regularizers. These results lead to the following question: to recover a given low-dimensional model set from linear measurements, what is the “best” convex regularizer? To approach this problem, we propose a general framework to define several notions of “best regularizer” with respect to a low-dimensional model. We show in the minimal case of sparse recovery in dimension 3 that the 1-norm is optimal for these notions. However, generalization of such results to the n-dimensional case seems out of reach. To tackle this problem, we propose looser notions of best regularizer and show that the 1-norm is optimal among weighted 1-norms for sparse recovery within this framework.
Group social rank is associated with performance on a spatial learning task

Dominant individuals differ from subordinates in their performances on cognitive tasks across a suite of taxa. Previous studies often only consider dyadic relationships, rather than the more ecologically relevant social hierarchies or networks, hence failing to account for how dyadic relationships may be adjusted within larger social groups. We used a novel statistical method: randomized Elo-ratings, to infer the social hierarchy of 18 male pheasants, Phasianus colchicus, while in a captive, mixed-sex group with a linear hierarchy. We assayed individual learning performance of these males on a binary spatial discrimination task to investigate whether inter-individual variation in performance is associated with group social rank. Task performance improved with increasing trial number and was positively related to social rank, with higher ranking males showing greater levels of success. Motivation to participate in the task was not related to social rank or task performance, thus indicating that these rank-related differences are not a consequence of differences in motivation to complete the task. Our results provide important information about how variation in cognitive performance relates to an individual's social rank within a group. Whether the social environment causes differences in learning performance or instead, inherent differences in learning ability predetermine rank remains to be tested.
Model hamiltonians in density functional theory

The formalism of Kohn and Sham uses a specific (model) hamiltonian which highly simplifies the many-electron problem to that of noninteracting fermions. The theorem of Hohenberg and Kohn tells us that, for a given ground state density, this hamiltonian is unique. In principle, this density can be chosen as that of the real, interacting system. To obtain the energy, or other properties of the real system, approximations are needed. Working with non interacting fermions is an important simplification, but it may be easier to produce approximations with different choices of the model hamiltonian. The feature that the exact density is (ideally) reproduced can be kept in the newly defined fictitious systems. Using model hamiltonians having the same form as the physical one, that is, being built of one- and two-body operators, allows to approach the physical hamiltonian arbitrarily close, and thus a systematic reduction of the approximations.
Consecutive operative procedures in patients with Marfan syndrome up to 28 years after initial aortic root surgery

OBJECTIVES Most patients (75%) with Marfan syndrome present with aortic root dilatation that may require surgical intervention. However, associated cardiovascular disorders are not limited to the aortic root. These patients frequently require consecutive operations on the remaining thoracic aorta or the heart valves. Our intent was to characterize the spectrum of such procedures. METHODS Data from all patients with Marfan syndrome undergoing aortic root surgery at our centre between 1988 and 2016 were analysed retrospectively. RESULTS Overall, 73 patients (26 women) were selected for the study. The median age at 1st operation was 30 years (3-68 years). Indications for aortic root surgery were aneurysm (78%) and dissection (22%). Initially, 33 Bentall procedures and 40 valve-sparing root replacement procedures were performed, with a 97% rate of follow-up completion. The median follow up was 8 years (0-28 years). Survival at 1, 10 and 15 years was 100%, 85% and 82%, respectively. During follow-up monitoring, 48 subsequent procedures were performed in 33 patients (aorta, 23; aortic valve, 11; mitral valve, 7 and combined procedures, 7). The 30-day mortality rate after subsequent procedures was 4.2%. Freedom from subsequent operation and death (combined end-point) after 5, 10 and 15 years was 70%, 53% and 34%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS After the initial surgery, subsequent procedures required in the setting of Marfan syndrome most often involve the remaining native aorta, followed by the aortic and mitral valves. The continued need for additional operative procedures remains high, even decades after the initial surgeries are undertaken. Therefore, long-term patient monitoring at specialized centres is imperative.
Non-suckling starvation of neonatal mice promotes primordial follicle formation with activation of ovarian autophagy

Around the time of oocyte meiotic arrest, germ cell nest breakdown occurs, and primordial follicle (PF) formation is initiated at the perinatal stage. Recently, autophagy was implicated in this process. Autophagy is induced by nutrient starvation. This study was conducted to understand how starvation affects PF formation and autophagy induction during neonatal life. Suckling of neonatal female mice was blocked immediately after birth for 12–36 h to induce starvation. The numbers of PFs at each stage were subsequently counted from serial sections of ovaries. The expression of autophagy-related proteins was also evaluated. The number of PFs peaked at 60 h after birth in the control group. The numbers for the starvation groups were significantly higher than those for the control groups at 12 and 36 h. LC3B was clearly present in the oocyte cytoplasm. At 36 h after birth, the starvation group showed a higher rate of LC3II/LC3-I expression as a marker for autophagy. Moreover, the expression of p62 as a selective substrate for autophagy decreased compared to the control group. The expression of caspase-9 as a marker for apoptosis tended to be lower at 36 h in the starvation groups. These results indicate that starvation promotes PF formation with a concomitant activation of autophagy in early neonatal ovaries, suggesting that autophagy induction during follicle assembly might increase the number of PFs.
Regulation of fluid reabsorption in rat or mouse proximal renal tubules by asymmetric dimethylarginine and dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1.

Nitric oxide prevents hypertension yet enhances proximal tubule Na+ reabsorption. Nitric oxide synthase is inhibited by asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) that is metabolized by dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) whose type 1 isoform is expressed abundantly in the proximal tubule (PT). We hypothesize that ADMA metabolized by DDAH-1 inhibits fluid reabsorbtion (Jv) by the proximal tubule. S2 segments of the PT were microperfused between blocks in vivo to assess Jv in anesthetized rats. Compared with vehicle, microperfusion of ADMA or Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) in the proximal tubule reduced Jv dose dependently. At 10-4 mol/l both reduced Jv by ~40% (vehicle: 3.2 ± 0.7 vs. ADMA: 2.1 ± 0.5, P < 0.01 vs. l-NAME: 1.9 ± 0.4 nl·min-1·mm-1, P < 0.01; n = 10). Selective inhibition of DDAH-1 in rats with intravenous L-257 (60 mg/kg) given 2 h before and L-257 (10-5 mol/l) perfused in the proximal tubule for 5 min reduced Jv by 32 ± 4% (vehicle: 3.2 ± 0.5 vs. L-257: 2.2 ± 0.5 nl·min-1·mm-1; P < 0.01) and increased plasma ADMA by ≈50% (vehicle: 0.46 ± 0.03 vs. L-257: 0.67 ± 0.03 µmol/l, P < 0.0001) without changing plasma symmetric dimethylarginine. Compared with nontargeted control small-interference RNA, knock down of DDAH-1 in mice by 60% with targeted small-interference RNAs (siRNA) reduced Jv by 29 ± 5% (nontargeted siRNA: 2.8 ± 0.20 vs. DDAH-1 knockdown: 1.9 ± 0.31 nl·min-1·mm-1, P < 0.05). In conclusion, fluid reabsorption in the proximal tubule is reduced by tubular ADMA or by blocking its metabolism by DDAH-1. L-257 is a novel regulator of proximal tubule fluid reabsorption.
EMI Radiated Noise Measurement System Using the Source Reconstruction Technique

One of the requirements that electronics circuits must satisfy comprises conducted and irradiated noise specifications. Whereas conducted noise is well covered in the literature, radiated noise is not. Radiated noise regulations impose limits on the noise measured 3 or 10 m away from electronic equipment. These measurements are usually made in anechoic rooms, which are very expensive. Moreover, the measurement procedure is not a ldquoplug-and-playrdquo feature, but requires a strict measuring protocol. Once the electronic circuit has been tested, the designer remains ignorant of the source of the problem should the regulation not be met. Hence, the procedure to make an electronic circuit comply with regulations is usually one of trial-and-error, in which the experience of the designer is essential. A new radiated noise measurement technique is proposed in this paper with a twofold objective: to simplify the measurement procedure and to obtain more information about noise sources. The main idea is to scan the electric/magnetic field at two arbitrary although known distances. From these measurements, the source reconstruction technique enables the identification of the noise sources in the surface of the circuit and the field estimation at any distance and the assessment of compliance with regulations. Moreover, if regulations are not met, the effect of modifying the noise source can be tested in order to ascertain how the circuit should be modified to comply with regulations.
dSpark: Deadline-Based Resource Allocation for Big Data Applications in Apache Spark

Large-scale data processing framework like Apache Spark is becoming more popular to process large amounts of data either in a local or a cloud deployed cluster. When an application is deployed in a Spark cluster, all the resources are allocated to it unless users manually set a limit on the available resources. In addition, it is not possible to impose any user-specific constraints and minimize the cost of running applications. In this paper, we present dSpark, a lightweight, pluggable resource allocation framework for Apache Spark. In dSpark, we have modelled the application completion time with respect to the number of executors and application input/iteration. This model is further used in our proposed resource allocation model where a deadlinebased, cost-efficient resource allocation scheme can be selected for any application. As opposed to the existing frameworks that focus more on modelling the number of VMs to use for an application, we have modelled both the application cost and completion time with respect to executors, hence providing a finegrained resource allocation scheme. In addition, users do not need to specify any application types in dSpark. We have evaluated our proposed framework through extensive experimentation, which shows significant performance benefits. The application completion time prediction model has a mean relative error (RE) less than 7% for different types of applications. Furthermore, we have shown that our proposed resource allocation model minimizes the cost of running applications and selects effective resource allocation schemes under varying user-specific deadlines.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Atmospheric Sub-3 Nm Particles at High Altitudes

Formation of new atmospheric aerosol particles is known to occur almost all over the world and the importance of these particles to climate and air quality has been recognized. Recently, it was found that atmospheric aerosol particle formation begins at the diameter of around 1.5–2.0 nm and a pool of sub-3 nm atmospheric particles – consisting of both charged and uncharged ones – was observed at the ground level. Here, we report on the first airborne observations of the pool of sub-3 nm neutral atmospheric particles. Between 2 and 3 nm, their concentration is roughly two orders of magnitude larger than that of the ion clusters , depending slightly on the altitude. Our findings indicate that new particle formation takes place throughout the tropo-spheric column up to the tropopause. Particles were found to be formed via neutral pathways in the boundary layer, and there was no sign of an increasing role by ion-induced nucle-ation toward the upper troposphere. Clouds, while acting as a source of sub-10 nm ions, did not perturb the overall budget of atmospheric clusters or particles.
Risk Factors for Depression in the Emerging Adulthood

Emerging adulthood is a period from the late teens through the twenties, when individuals are faced with more transitions and life-decisions than at any other stage of life. For the majority, psychological well-being is improved in this period, but for a significant number of individuals these challenges and contingencies entail many controversies, which in turn can lead to depression or anxiety. This paper focuses on the background of, and risk factors behind, high level depression among university students, who are typically in this life stage, in order to identify the typical client characteristics of a university counselling centre. 773 university students completed an online survey measuring depression symptoms, socioeconomic status, distal and proximal social capital, bullying, substance abuse and indirect aspects of mental health as mediate variables. 13.6% of the participants reported moderate or major depression symptoms. Using hierarchical multiple regression, male gender and poor financial situation were found to predict higher depression. After controlling for the effects of background variables, social capital factors, identity status and life skills made a significant contribution to the prediction of lower depression. This supports the idea of the importance of social skills in enabling the individual to create their own social circle and joining the community of young people at the university.
Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology Quanti ﬁ cation and phenotypic characterisation of peripheral IFN- γ producing leucocytes in chickens vaccinated against Newcastle disease

The aim of this study was to optimise and evaluate an intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assay for assessment of T cell IFN- γ responses in chickens vaccinated against Newcastle disease (ND). We aimed to validate currently available antibodies to chicken IFN- γ using transfected CHO cells. Moreover, this ICS assay was evaluated for use to detect mitogen and antigen induced IFN- γ production in chicken peripheral blood leucocytes. Chickens from an inbred white leghorn line containing two MHC haplotypes, B19 and B21, were divided into three experimental groups; one group was kept as naive controls, one group was vaccinated intramuscularly twice with a commercial inactivated ND virus (NDV) vaccine, and the last group was vaccinated orally twice with a commercial live attenuated NDV vaccine. PBMC were ex vivo stimulated with ConA or with NDV antigen. The ICS assay was used to determine the phenotype and frequency of IFN- γ positive cells. ConA stimulation induced extensive IFN- γ production in both CD3 + TCR γδ + ( γδ T cells) cells and CD3 + TCR γδ − cells ( αβ T cells), but no signi ﬁ cant di ﬀ erences were observed between the experimental groups. Furthermore, a large proportion of the IFN- γ producing cells were CD3 − indicating that other cells than classic T cells, secreted this cytokine. NDV antigen stimulation induced IFN- γ production but to a lower extent than ConA and with a large variation between individuals. The CD3 + TCR1 γδ − CD8 α + (CTL) population produced the highest NDV speci ﬁ c IFN- γ responses, with signi ﬁ cantly elevated levels of IFN- γ producing cells in the B19 chickens vaccinated orally with live attenuated NDV vaccine. This was not the case in the B21 animals, indicating a haplotype restricted variation. In contrast, the CD3 + TCR1 γδ − CD4 + (Th) population did not show a signi ﬁ cant increase in IFN- γ production in NDV stimulated samples which was in part due to a high number of IFN- γ producing cells after incubation with medium alone. In conclusion, an ICS assay for phenotyping of IFN- γ producing chicken leu-kocytes was set up that proved useful in identifying cytokine producing cells upon either mitogen or antigen- speci ﬁ c stimulation.
Biogenesis of silver nanoparticles using leaf extract of Indigofera hirsuta L. and their potential biomedical applications (3-in-1 system)

Abstract The present study reports the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (IH-AgNPs) using aqueous leaf extract of Indigofera hisruta L. The biosynthesized IH-AgNPs were found to be FCC crystals, 5–10 nm in size, spherical in shape and stable. The biosynthesized IH-AgNPs showed dose-dependant cytotoxicity against prostate cancer (PC3) (IC50 = 68.5 μg/mL), colon cancer (COLO205) (IC50 = 85.2 μg/mL), and mouse melanoma (B16F10) (IC50 = 80.9 μg/mL). IH-AgNPs were found to be nontoxic towards normal CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cells. The biosynthesized IH-AgNPs showed effective in vitro antioxidant activity against DPPH (IC50 = 63.43 μg/mL) and H2O2 (IC50 = 89.93 μg/mL) radicals. IH-AgNPs exhibited effective antibacterial activity against both Gram+ve and Gram-ve bacteria. MIC values of IH-AgNPs against S. aureus, B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa and E. coli were found to be 7.8 μg/mL, 3.9 μg/mL, 15.6 μg/mL and 15.6 μg/mL respectively. IH-AgNPs also showed inhibitory activity against fungal pathogens including C. albicans, C. nonalbicans and C. tropicalis. Considering the results together, we demonstrate that IH-AgNPs exhibits three different bioactivities (3-in-1 system) and they could be employed as future antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer agents/drug delivery vehicles in the field of biomedicine.
Approximate analytical study of counter-current imbibition phenomenon in a heterogeneous porous media

Abstract Counter–current imbibition, where water spontaneously enters a waterwet rock while oil escapes by flowing in the opposite direction is a key recovery mechanism in oil reservoirs. In this paper, it discusses the counter–current imbibition phenomena in heterogeneous porous media with gravitational and inclination effect and calculate the saturation rate of wetting phase by using Adomian decomposition method. Finally compared the obtained results has been compared with homogeneous porous media. This problem has a great importance in the oil recovery process.