Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unesterified plant sterols and stanols lower LDL-cholesterol concentrations equivalently in hypercholesterolemic persons.

BACKGROUND Plant sterols, in various forms, have been shown to reduce total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations. Particularly controversial at present is the effect of the degree of hydrogenation of the plant sterols on cholesterol-lowering efficacy and the responsible mechanisms. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to examine the effect of supplementation with unesterified plant sterols and stanols on plasma lipid and phytosterol concentrations and cholesterol absorption, synthesis, and turnover. DESIGN Fifteen otherwise healthy hypercholesterolemic subjects consumed each of 4 dietary treatments in a randomized crossover design. Unesterified sterols and stanols were blended into the butter component of the diet at a dosage of 1.8 g/d. The diets contained plant sterols (NS), plant stanols (SS), a 50:50 mixture of sterols and stanols (NSS), or cornstarch (control). RESULTS Plasma total cholesterol concentrations were 7.8%, 11.9%, and 13.1% lower (P < 0.01) in the NS, SS, and NSS groups, respectively, than in the control group. LDL-cholesterol concentrations were 11.3%, 13.4%, and 16.0% lower (P < 0.03) in the NS, SS, and NSS groups, respectively, than in the control group. Plasma triacylglycerols and HDL-cholesterol concentrations did not differ significantly across diets. Cholesterol absorption efficiency was 56.0%, 34.4%, and 48.9% lower (P < 0.001) in the NS, SS, and NSS groups, respectively, than in the control group. The fractional synthesis rate was higher by 45.5% (P < 0.003) in the NSS group than in the control group. Plasma campesterol and sitosterol concentrations were higher (P < 0.01) in the NS group and sitosterol concentrations were lower (P < 0.01) in the SS group than in the control group. CONCLUSION These data indicate that, in their free unesterified form, sterols and stanols lower plasma LDL cholesterol equivalently in hypercholesterolemic persons by suppressing cholesterol absorption.
CSALT: context switch aware large TLB

Computing in virtualized environments has become a common practice for many businesses. Typically, hosting companies aim for lower operational costs by targeting high utilization of host machines maintaining just enough machines to meet the demand. In this scenario, frequent virtual machine context switches are common, resulting in increased TLB miss rates (often, by over 5X when contexts are doubled) and subsequent expensive page walks. Since each TLB miss in a virtual environment initiates a 2D page walk, the data caches get filled with a large fraction of page table entries (often, in excess of 50%) thereby evicting potentially more useful data contents. In this work, we propose CSALT - a Context-Switch Aware Large TLB, to address the problem of increased TLB miss rates and their adverse impact on data caches. First, we demonstrate that the CSALT architecture can effectively cope with the demands of increased context switches by its capacity to store a very large number of TLB entries. Next, we show that CSALT mitigates data cache contention caused by conflicts between data and translation entries by employing a novel TLB-Aware Cache Partitioning scheme. On 8-core systems that switch between two virtual machine contexts executing multi-threaded workloads, CSALT achieves an average performance improvement of 85% over a baseline with conventional L1-L2 TLBs and 25% over a baseline which has a large L3 TLB.
Reinforcement Learning Through Gradient Descent

Abstract : Reinforcement learning is often done using parameterized function approximators to store value functions. Algorithms are typically developed for lookup tables, and then applied to function approximators by using backpropagation. This can lead to algorithms diverging on very small, simple MDPs and Markov chains, even with linear function approximators and epoch wise training. These algorithms are also very difficult to analyze, and difficult to combine with other algorithms. A series of new families of algorithms are derived based on stochastic gradient descent. Since they are derived from first principles with function approximators in mind, they have guaranteed convergence to local minima, even on general nonlinear function approximators. For both residual algorithms and VAPS algorithms, it is possible to take any of the standard algorithms in the field, such as Q learning or SARSA or value iteration, and rederive a new form of it with provable convergence. In addition to better convergence properties, it is shown how gradient descent allows an inelegant, inconvenient algorithm like Advantage updating to be converted into a much simpler and more easily analyzed algorithm like Advantage learning. hi this case that is very useful, since Advantages can be learned thousands of times faster than Q values for continuous time problems. In this case, there are significant practical benefits of using gradient descent based techniques. In addition to improving both the theory and practice of existing types of algorithms, the gradient descent approach makes it possible to create entirely new classes of reinforcement learning algorithms. VAPS algorithms can be derived that ignore values altogether, and simply learn good policies directly. One hallmark of gradient descent is the ease with which different algorithms can be combined, and this is a prime example.
The security cost of cheap user interaction

Human attention is a scarce resource, and lack thereof can cause severe security breaches. As most security techniques rely on considerate human intervention in one way or another, this resource should be consumed economically. In this context, we postulate the view that every false alarm or unnecessary user interaction imposes a negative externality on all other potential consumers of this chunk of attention. The paper identifies incentive problems that stimulate overconsumption of human attention in security applications. It further outlines a lump-of-attention model, devised against the backdrop of established theories in the behavioral sciences, and discusses incentive mechanisms to fix the misallocation problem in security notification, for instance the idea of a Pigovian tax on attention consumption.
Relationship Between Kyphotic Posture and Falls in Community-Dwelling Men and Women: The Locomotive Syndrome and Health Outcome in Aizu Cohort Study

Study Design. A cohort study using data from the Locomotive Syndrome and Health Outcome in Aizu Cohort Study, a population-based prospective cohort study of residents of the towns of Tadami and Minamiaizu in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Objective. The aim of this study was to clarify the association between kyphotic posture and falls, and to investigate the presence or absence of sex differences. Summary of Background Data. In our literature review, we found no studies focusing on sex differences in the association between kyphotic posture and falls. Methods. We included subjects aged more than 40 years who participated in annual health check-ups from 2009 to 2010. We analyzed the effects of kyphotic posture, measured using the wall-occiput test (WOT), on falls, adjusting for potential confounders, such as age, body mass index, symptoms of depression, sedative medication, and other comorbidities. Results. We enrolled a total of 1418 subjects into primary analyses (593 men, 825 women; mean [standard deviation] age, 68.1 [7.7] yrs). We then stratified subjects into the following groups according to the degree of kyphotic posture: nonkyphotic posture (n = 1138, 80.3%), mild kyphotic posture (n = 172, 12.1%), and severe kyphotic posture (n = 108, 7.6%). We observed no significant difference in the severity of kyphotic posture between men and women (P = 0.18). Overall, 284 subjects (20.0%) experienced at least one fall during the one-year period. After adjustment for potential confounders using a logistic regression model, we observed a significant association between severe kyphotic posture and falls for men [odds ratio (OR) 2.14 (1.01–4.57); P = 0.048]. In contrast, we observed no significant association for women [OR for severe kyphotic posture 0.80 (0.43–1.50), OR for mild kyphotic posture 0.91 (0.53–1.57)]. Conclusion. We identified a sex difference in the association between kyphotic posture and falls in community-dwelling adults. In particular, severe kyphotic posture might only increase the incidence of falls in men. Level of Evidence: 3
Effect of meal frequency in schoolchildren. Changes in weight-height proportion and skinfold thickness.

HE PERIODIC intake of large amounts of T food with long time intervals b etween meals in laboratory rats leads to a number of metabolic changes'-3 among which enhanced lipogenesis is the most Apparently the time distribution of food intake plays a role also in man. From observations in populatlong~'" and v~lunteer~~-~~ groups, it appears that the intake of a small number of large m eals tends to promote the deposition of fat and over~veight,~~l~ hypercholester~lemia~-'~ and a reduced glucose tolerance. lo, In order to find out whether the frequency of food intake has significant effects alsoin children and adolescents, children from three boarding schools where t hree, five and seven meals, respectively, were studied per day. The changes in the proportion between body weight and height and changes in skinfold thickness after one year of the experimental dietary pattern are presented in this paper.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus serotype 6 outbreak in Israeli cattle in 2015

In September 2015, a large outbreak caused by epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) was identified in Israeli dairy and beef farms. The main clinical signs were reduced milk production, weakness, drooling, lameness and recumbency, fever, slight erythema of nasal and oral mucosae, weight loss, and abortion. Dyspnea, cachexia, and death were observed less frequently. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by ELISAs and EHDV-specific real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-rtPCR), followed by conventional RT-PCR of the VP2 gene and sequence analysis. According to the sequence and phylogenetic analysis of theVP2 gene, the 2015 Israeli EHD outbreak was caused by EHDV-6, which was found not only in clinically ill cattle, but also in aborted fetuses.
Do early caregiver concerns differ for girls with autism spectrum disorders?

Given that early caregiver concerns may be different for children who go on to receive a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder versus another developmental disability, early caregiver concerns may differ for girls. Using a community-based sample of children (n = 241), we examined the extent to which gender differences may be related to caregiver concerns prior to a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or other developmental disability. Participants were matched on chronological age, and cognitive functioning did not differ across groups. Using caregiver concern data, results showed that boys with autism spectrum disorder showed increased social interaction concerns; overall, autism spectrum disorder–related concerns did not differentiate those with autism spectrum disorder from developmental disability. Children with developmental disability, however, showed increased general developmental concerns as compared to those with autism spectrum disorder. Young girls with autism spectrum disorder may demonstrate behaviors that are not particularly salient or concerning for parents; future research may investigate the behaviors that differentiate girls with autism spectrum disorder early in development.
Preparation and characterization of highly thermostable polyisocyanurate foams modified with epoxy resin

A series of epoxy resin–modified polyisocyanurate (EP-PIR) foams with oxazolidone (OX) rings and isocyanurate (IS) rings have been successfully prepared by the reaction of polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate (PAPI) and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry are performed to investigate the influence of curing temperature on the chemical structure of EP-PIR foams. The results indicate that low temperature is beneficial to the formation of the IS ring, and high temperature is in favor of the OX ring. The influence of the mole ratio of [PAPI]/[DGEBA] on the mechanical properties and thermal stability has also been studied. With the increase of [PAPI]/[DGEBA], the specific compressive strength shows a maximum of 0.0135 ± 0.0003 MPa m3/kg. The optimized mole ratio of [PAPI]/[DGEBA] is around 2.5 to reach the better mechanical and thermal properties, and the glass-transition temperature is as high as 323.5°C. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 43085.
Verified Firewall Policy Transformations for Test Case Generation

We present an optimization technique for model-based generation of test cases for firewalls. Starting from a formal model for firewall policies in higher-order logic, we derive a collection of semantics-preserving policy transformation rules and an algorithm that optimizes the specification with respect of the number of test cases required for path coverage. The correctness of the rules and the algorithm is established by formal proofs in Isabelle/HOL. Finally, we use the normalized policies to generate test cases with the domain-specific firewall testing tool HOL-TestGen/FW. The resulting procedure is characterized by a gain in efficiency of two orders of magnitude. It can handle configurations with hundreds of rules such as frequently occur in practice. Our approach can be seen as an instance of a methodology to tame inherent state-space explosions in test case generation for security policies.
Alternatives for macronutrient intake and chronic disease: a comparison of the OmniHeart diets with popular diets and with dietary recommendations.

BACKGROUND Enhancements to current dietary advice to prevent chronic disease are of great clinical and public health importance. The OmniHeart Trial compared 3 diets designed to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk-one high in carbohydrate and 2 that replaced carbohydrate with either unsaturated fat or protein. The lower carbohydrate diets improved the CVD risk factors. Several popular diets claiming health benefits emphasize carbohydrate, fat, or protein or various combined approaches. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the macronutrient contents of the OmniHeart trial diets to those of several popular diets and to evaluate each diet for consistency with national health guidelines. DESIGN The macronutrient contents of 7-d menu plans from the OmniHeart Study, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Zone, Atkins, Mediterranean, South Beach, and Ornish diets were evaluated for consistency with the US Food and Nutrition Board's Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs) and with the dietary recommendations of several health organizations. RESULTS The OmniHeart diets fulfilled the major AMDRs, but, of the popular diets, only the Zone diet did. The OmniHeart diets were generally consistent with national guidelines to prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, whereas most popular diets had limitations for fulfilling one or more guidelines. CONCLUSIONS Although the OmniHeart protein and unsaturated fat diets were superior to the carbohydrate diet in improving CVD risk, all 3 study diets were consistent with national guidelines to reduce chronic disease risk, which suggests that the guidelines might now be fine-tuned to optimize disease prevention. Popular diets vary in their nutritional adequacy and consistency with guidelines for risk reduction.
Parametric Prediction from Parametric Agents

Prediction algorithms are often designed under the assumption that the training data is provided to the algorithm, and that the algorithm has no control over the quality of the training data. In many situations, however, the training data is collected by surveying people, for instance, in the prediction of the future demand for a product by surveying a number of potential customers, or the prediction of the winner of an election by surveying potential voters. Collecting data from people is much cheaper, easier and faster today due to the emergence of several commercial crowdsourcing platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and others. In such situations, it is possible to monetarily incentivize the respondents to provide higher quality inputs. In any realistic setup, the responses obtained from people (“the agents”) are noisy: one cannot expect a naive customer to gauge the sales of a product accurately. Moreover, every individual has a different expertise and ability, and will likely react differently to the amount of money paid per task. For example, some people may be active users of the surveyed product, therefore have a better understanding of its anticipated usage. We assume that the surveyor (“the principal”) has no knowledge of the behavior of individual agents. It is therefore important to design an appropriate incentive mechanism for the prediction procedure that exploits the heterogeneity of the agents, motivating them to participate and exert suitable levels of effort. An appropriate incentive will provide higher quality data and as result, a superior prediction performance. This requirement motivates the problem at the interface between statistical estimation and mechanism design considered in this paper. As compared to problems that tackle only one of the prediction and the mechanism design problems, the problem of joint design poses a significantly greater challenge. From the statistical prediction point of view, the challenge is that every sample is drawn from a different distribution, whose properties are unknown apriori to the principal. From the mechanism design perspective, the challenge is that the incentivization procedure not only needs to ensure that agents report truthfully, but also needs to ensure that each agent exerts an effort that minimizes the overall prediction error. In this paper, we formulate and optimally solve a “parametric” form of this joint design problem. More specifically, the principal desires to predict a parameter of a known distribution. Each agent is modeled in a parametric fashion, with her work quality (or expertise) governed by a single parame-
Herbal Medicine for Low Back Pain: A Cochrane Review

Study Design. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Objectives. To determine the effectiveness of herbal medicine compared with placebo, no intervention, or “standard/accepted/conventional treatments” for nonspecific low back pain. Summary of Background Data. Low back pain is a common condition and a substantial economic burden in industrialized societies. A large proportion of patients with chronic low back pain use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and/or visit CAM practitioners. Several herbal medicines have been purported for use in low back pain. Methods. The following databases were searched: Medline (1966 to April 2003), Embase (1980 to April 2003), Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 1, 2003), and Cochrane Complementary Medicine (CM) field Trials Register. Additionally, reference lists in review articles, guidelines, and in the retrieved trials were checked. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), using adults (>18 years of age) suffering from acute, subacute, or chronic nonspecific low back pain. Types of interventions included herbal medicines defined as a plant that is used for medicinal purposes in any form. Primary outcome measures were pain and function. Two reviewers (J.J.G. and M.W.T.) conducted electronic searches in all databases. One reviewer (J.J.G.) contacted content experts and acquired relevant citations. Authors, title, subject headings, publication type, and abstract of the isolated studies were downloaded or a hard copy was retrieved. Methodologic quality and clinical relevance were assessed separately by two individuals (J.J.G. and M.W.T.). Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Results. Ten trials were included in this review. Two high-quality trials utilizing Harpagophytum procumbens (Devil’s claw) found strong evidence for short-term improvements in pain and rescue medication for daily doses standardized to 50 mg or 100 mg harpagoside with another high-quality trial demonstrating relative equivalence to 12.5 mg per day of rofecoxib. Two moderate-quality trials utilizing Salix alba (White willow bark) found moderate evidence for short-term improvements in pain and rescue medication for daily doses standardized to 120 mg or 240 mg salicin with an additional trial demonstrating relative equivalence to 12.5 mg per day of rofecoxib. Three low-quality trials using Capsicum frutescens (Cayenne) using various topical preparations found moderate evidence for favorable results against placebo and one trial found equivalence to a homeopathic ointment. Conclusions. Harpagophytum procumbens, Salix alba, and Capsicum frutescens seem to reduce pain more than placebo. Additional trials testing these herbal medicines against standard treatments will clarify their equivalence in terms of efficacy. The quality of reporting in these trials was generally poor; thus, trialists should refer to the CONSORT statement in reporting clinical trials of herbal medicines.
Low elastic modulus Ti–17Nb processed by powder injection moulding and post-sintering heat treatments

Ti–Nb alloys are attractive as biomaterials because of their excellent combination of low elastic modulus, high strength, corrosion resistance and enhanced biocompatibility. The effect of a post-sintering quenching treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of powder injection moulded Ti–17Nb has been investigated. Tensile test specimens were produced using a feedstock based on blended elemental powders, some of which were solution-treated in the β phase field and water quenched. Both as-sintered and quenched alloys had densities 95·5% of theoretical. The as-sintered material showed an α−β structure, whereas after quenching a fully martensitic α″ structure was obtained. The modulus of elasticity of the water-quenched alloy (∼45 GPa) was about 40% lower than that of the as-sintered alloy (∼76 GPa).
Phenotype risk scores identify patients with unrecognized Mendelian disease patterns

Hidden effects of Mendelian inheritance Identifying the determinate factors of genetic disease has been quite successful for Mendelian inheritance of large-effect pathogenic variants. In these cases, two non- or low-functioning genes contribute to disease. However, Mendelian effects of lesser strength have generally been ignored when looking at genomic consequences in human health. Bastarache et al. used electronic records to identify the phenotypic effects of previously unidentified Mendelian variations. Their analysis suggests that individuals with undiagnosed Mendelian diseases may be more prevalent in the general population than assumed. Because of this, genetic analysis may be able to assist clinicians in arriving at a diagnosis. Science, this issue p. 1233 Electronic health records coupled with exome sequencing identify disease phenotypes linked to Mendelian inheritance. Genetic association studies often examine features independently, potentially missing subpopulations with multiple phenotypes that share a single cause. We describe an approach that aggregates phenotypes on the basis of patterns described by Mendelian diseases. We mapped the clinical features of 1204 Mendelian diseases into phenotypes captured from the electronic health record (EHR) and summarized this evidence as phenotype risk scores (PheRSs). In an initial validation, PheRS distinguished cases and controls of five Mendelian diseases. Applying PheRS to 21,701 genotyped individuals uncovered 18 associations between rare variants and phenotypes consistent with Mendelian diseases. In 16 patients, the rare genetic variants were associated with severe outcomes such as organ transplants. PheRS can augment rare-variant interpretation and may identify subsets of patients with distinct genetic causes for common diseases.