Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mild Prematurity, Proximal Social Processes, and Development

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the role of gestational age in determining the risk of poor developmental outcomes among children born late preterm (34–36 weeks) and early term (37–38 weeks) versus full term (39–41 weeks) by examining the contribution of gestational age to these outcomes in the context of proximal social processes. METHODS: This was an analysis of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Developmental outcomes were examined at 2 to 3 (N = 15 099) and 4 to 5 years (N = 12 302). The sample included singletons, delivered at 34 to 41 weeks, whose respondents were their biological mothers. Multivariable modified Poisson regression was used to directly estimate adjusted relative risks (aRRs). We assessed the role of parenting by using moderation analyses. RESULTS: In unadjusted analyses, children born late preterm appeared to have greater risk for developmental delay (relative risk = 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.56) versus full term. In adjusted analyses, results were nonsignificant at 2 to 3 years (late preterm aRR = 1.13; 95% CI, 0.90 to 1.42; early term aRR = 1.11; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.27) and 4 to 5 years (late preterm aRR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.43; early term aRR = 1.03; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.25). Parenting did not modify the effect of gestational age but was a strong predictor of poor developmental outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that, closer to full term, social factors (not gestational age) may be the most important influences on development.
Rate of methadone use among Aboriginal opioid injection drug users

Background: Previous studies have shown elevated rates of health-related harms among Aboriginal people who use injection drugs such as heroin. Methadone maintenance therapy is one of the most effective interventions to address the harms of heroin injection. We assessed the rate of methadone use in a cohort of opioid injection drug users in Vancouver and investigated whether methadone use was associated with Aboriginal ethnic background. Methods: Using data collected as part of the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (May 1996–November 2005), we evaluated whether Aboriginal ethnic background was associated with methadone use using generalized estimating equations and Cox regression analysis. We compared methadone use among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal injection drug users at the time of enrolment and during the follow-up period, and we evaluated the time to first methadone use among people not using methadone at enrolment. Results: During the study period, 1603 injection drug users (435 Aboriginal, 1168 non-Aboriginal) were recruited. At enrolment, 54 (12.4%) Aboriginal participants used methadone compared with 247 (21.2%) non-Aboriginal participants (odds ratio [OR] 0.53, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.38–0.73, p < 0.001). Among the 1351 (84.3%) participants who used heroin, Aboriginal people were less likely to use methadone throughout the follow-up period (adjusted OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.45–0.81, p < 0.001). Among people using heroin but who were not taking methadone at enrolment, Aboriginal ethnic background was associated with increased time to first methadone use (adjusted relative hazard 0.60, 95% CI 0.49–0.74, p < 0.001). Interpretation: Methadone use was lower among Aboriginal than among non-Aboriginal injection drug users. Culturally appropriate interventions with full participation of the affected community are required to address this disparity.
Ancient DNA reveals traces of Iberian Neolithic and Bronze Age lineages in modern Iberian horses

Multiple geographical regions have been proposed for the domestication of Equus caballus. It has been suggested, based on zooarchaeological and genetic analyses that wild horses from the Iberian Peninsula were involved in the process, and the overrepresentation of mitochondrial D1 cluster in modern Iberian horses supports this suggestion. To test this hypothesis, we analysed mitochondrial DNA from 22 ancient Iberian horse remains belonging to the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Middle Ages, against previously published sequences. Only the medieval Iberian sequence appeared in the D1 group. Neolithic and Bronze Age sequences grouped in other clusters, one of which (Lusitano group C) is exclusively represented by modern horses of Iberian origin. Moreover, Bronze Age Iberian sequences displayed the lowest nucleotide diversity values when compared with modern horses, ancient wild horses and other ancient domesticates using nonparametric bootstrapping analyses. We conclude that the excessive clustering of Bronze Age horses in the Lusitano group C, the observed nucleotide diversity and the local continuity from wild Neolithic Iberian to modern Iberian horses, could be explained by the use of local wild mares during an early Iberian domestication or restocking event, whereas the D1 group probably was introduced into Iberia in later historical times.
The fraction of perforin-expressing HIV-specific CD8 T cells is a marker for disease progression in HIV infection

ObjectivePerforin is an important component of the death machinery of cytotoxic T cells (CTL). To evaluate functional differences between HIV- and cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific CTL of coinfected patients, the frequencies of the respective perforin-expressing T cells were analysed in a rapid whole blood assay. MethodsWhole blood of HIV- and CMV-infected individuals was specifically stimulated by HIV-1 Pr55gag or complete CMV antigen, and activation-induced intracellular cytokine and perforin expression in CD8 T cells was analysed by flow cytometry. ResultsPerforin-expressing HIV-1- and CMV-specific CD8 T cells can be quantified simultaneously. Within a patient, the frequency of such HIV-specific CD8 T cells in peripheral blood was lower than the frequency of the respective CMV-specific cells. The number of the perforin-expressing HIV-specific CD8 T cells inversely correlated with the peripheral blood CD4 T cell count. ConclusionsThe differential fractions of perforin-expressing virus-specific CD8 T cells in HIV and CMV double infection might be caused by differences in priming and trafficking to or from replication sites. However, without knowing the underlying mechanism, the fraction of perforin-expressing HIV-specific CD8 T cells provides another surrogate marker for disease progression.
Inactivation of Rho GTPases by Statins Attenuates Anthrax Lethal Toxin Activity

ABSTRACT Anthrax lethal factor (LF), secreted by Bacillus anthracis, interacts with protective antigen to form a bipartite toxin (lethal toxin [LT]) that exerts pleiotropic biological effects resulting in subversion of the innate immune response. Although the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MKKs) are the major intracellular protein targets of LF, the pathology induced by LT is not well understood. The statin family of HMG-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors have potent anti-inflammatory effects independent of their cholesterol-lowering properties, which have been attributed to modulation of Rho family GTPase activity. The Rho GTPases regulate vesicular trafficking, cytoskeletal dynamics, and cell survival and proliferation. We hypothesized that disruption of Rho GTPase function by statins might alter LT action. We show here that statins delay LT-induced death and MKK cleavage in RAW macrophages and that statin-mediated effects on LT action are attributable to disruption of Rho GTPases. The Rho GTPase-inactivating toxin, toxin B, did not significantly affect LT binding or internalization, suggesting that the Rho GTPases regulate trafficking and/or localization of LT once internalized. The use of drugs capable of inhibiting Rho GTPase activity, such as statins, may provide a means to attenuate intoxication during B. anthracis infection.
Effect of swim suit design on passive drag.

INTRODUCTION The drag (D) of seven (7) male swimmers wearing five (5) swimsuits was investigated. METHODS The drag was measured during passive surface tows at speeds from 0.2 up to 2.2 m x s and during starts and push-offs. The swimsuits varied in body coverage from shoulder-to-ankle (SA), shoulder-to-knee (SK), waist-to-ankle (WA) and waist-to-knee (WK) and briefs (CS). RESULTS Differences in total drag among the suits were small, but significant. In terms of least drag at 2.2 m x s, the swimsuits ranked: SK, SA, WA, WK and CS. The drag was decomposed into its pressure drag (DP), skin friction drag (DSF) and wave drag (DW) components using nonlinear regression and classical formulations for each drag component. The transition-to-turbulence Reynolds number and decreasing frontal area with speed were taken into account. The transition-to-turbulence Reynolds number location was found to be very close to the swimmers' "leading edge," i.e. the head. Flow was neither completely laminar, nor completely turbulent; but rather, it was transitional over most of the body. The DP contributed the most to drag at low speeds (<1.0 m x s) and DW the least at all speeds. DSF contributed the most at higher speeds for SA and SK suits, whereas DP and DW were reduced compared with the other suits. CONCLUSION The decomposition of swimmer drag into DSF, DP and DW suggests that increasing DSF on the upper-body of a swimmer reduces DP and DW by tripping the boundary layer and attaching the flow to the body from the shoulder to the knees. It is possible that body suits that cover the torso and legs may reduce drag and improve performance of swimmers.
Managing Uncertainty

“The idea that markets can price risk is a difficult one because risk means different things to different people. And risk basically implies prediction. Prediction of the possible future states of the world. I think it’s pretty clear if you go look at the literature on decision analysis and forecasting, prediction is a difficult thing to do,” says Pich, one of the authors of the book 'Managing the Unknown: A New Approach to Managing High Uncertainty and Risk in Projects'.
A low phase noise Ka-band voltage controlled oscillator using 0.15 µm GaAs pHEMT technology

A low phase noise, low dissipated power and small sized Ka-band voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), using dual cross-coupled pair configuration and capacitance-splitting technique is presented. The Ka-band VCO circuit uses 0.15 μm GaAs pHEMT technology. The VCO has low phase noise, of -116.36 dBc/Hz, at a 1 MHz offset and can be tuned from 30.5 to 31.22 GHz. The figure of merit (FOM) is -192.36 dBc/Hz. The power consumption of the VCO with 1.04 mm2 chip area was 24 mW, from a 1 V power supply.
LOW‐CYCLE FATIGUE UNDER NON‐PROPORTIONAL LOADING

— A series of strain-controlled, low-cycle fatigue experiments have been conducted on 42CrMo steel under various loading paths including circular, square, cruciform, and rectangular paths. Present experiments have shown that there is additional hardening under non-proportional cyclic loading. Non-proportional cyclic additional hardening also results in a shorter life for multiaxial low cycle fatigue. A non-proportionality measure of strain path based on both a physical basis and macromechanical phenomena is proposed. The loading path effect on additional hardening is also described well. Low-cycle fatigue damage accumulation and the evolution process under non-proportional loading is analysed via the Continuum Damage Mechanics Model of Chaboche. A non-proportinality measure is introduced in the damage evolution equation and a modified Coffin-Manson type formula is derived. A novel fatigue life prediction approach based on the critical-plane concept of Brown and Miller is proposed.
Comparison of Creep and Shrinkage of High-Strength Silica Fume Concretes With Fly Ash Concretes of Similar Strengths

This paper describes how the specific creep and shrinkage of five high-strength concrete mixtures were monitored for 400 days at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. One 52.6 MPa (7630 psi) silica fume (SF) concrete was compared with a fly ash concrete of similar compressive strength, and SR concrete and fly ash concrete having compressive strengths of approximately 69 MPa (10,000 psi) were compared. A 106.6 MPa (15,450 psi) SF concrete was also studied in the paper. The creep of SF concretes was not significantly different from that of the fly ash concretes. Furthermore, the relationship between creep and compressive strength was consistent with that reported in the open literature for high-strength portland cement concretes. Several other concrete properties were studied, including slump retention, time of setting, compressive strength development for one year, split-tensile strength, modulus of rupture, and for the nominal 69 Mpa concretes only, rapid freezing and thawing durability and the hardened concrete air-void system.
Interaction between Record Matching and Data Repairing

Central to a data cleaning system are record matching and data repairing. Matching aims to identify tuples that refer to the same real-world object, and repairing is to make a database consistent by fixing errors in the data by using integrity constraints. These are typically treated as separate processes in current data cleaning systems, based on heuristic solutions. This article studies a new problem in connection with data cleaning, namely the interaction between record matching and data repairing. We show that repairing can effectively help us identify matches, and vice versa. To capture the interaction, we provide a uniform framework that seamlessly unifies repairing and matching operations to clean a database based on integrity constraints, matching rules, and master data. We give a full treatment of fundamental problems associated with data cleaning via matching and repairing, including the static analyses of constraints and rules taken together, and the complexity, termination, and determinism analyses of data cleaning. We show that these problems are hard, ranging from NP-complete or coNP-complete, to PSPACE-complete. Nevertheless, we propose efficient algorithms to clean data via both matching and repairing. The algorithms find deterministic fixes and reliable fixes based on confidence and entropy analyses, respectively, which are more accurate than fixes generated by heuristics. Heuristic fixes are produced only when deterministic or reliable fixes are unavailable. We experimentally verify that our techniques can significantly improve the accuracy of record matching and data repairing that are taken as separate processes, using real-life and synthetic data.
Utilization of HER2 genetic testing in a multi-institutional observational study.

INTRODUCTION Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression is amplified in about 20% of breast cancer tumors, and evaluation of HER2 status should influence therapy selection. A critical gap in our knowledge is the real-world implementation of HER2 testing and its impact on treatment decisions for women diagnosed with breast cancer. OBJECTIVES To assess use of HER2 testing, to describe characteristics of patients who do or do not receive HER2 testing, to describe which HER2 tests were used (fluorescence in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry), and to evaluate trastuzumab use as a function of HER2 results. STUDY DESIGN The population included 6460 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1999 and 2007 at 8 geographically distributed Cancer Research Network healthcare delivery systems in the United States. METHODS Electronic records were used to identify patient and tumor characteristics and treatment with trastuzumab. Chart abstraction was performed for 400 women (50 per site) to identify receipt of HER2 testing and results. RESULTS More than 90% of study participants received HER2 testing. Everyone who received trastuzumab had a HER2 test, and nearly all (>95%) who received trastuzumab had a positive HER2 test result recorded in their medical chart. Most (77%) eligible patients with a positive HER2 test result diagnosed after 2005 received trastuzumab. This study expands upon previous work in individual health plans. CONCLUSIONS HER2 status has been successfully incorporated into medical practice to guide treatment decisions for breast cancer patients in diverse integrated healthcare delivery settings.
Phytochemical composition, bioactivity and wound healing potential of Euphorbia heterophylla (Euphorbiaceae) leaf extract.

Villagers have traditionally used E.heterophylla parts to treat a variety of ailments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phytoconstituents, bioactivity and wound healing potential of E.heterophylla leaf extracts in experimental Rattus novergicus.All experiments were conducted following standard procedures. The order of decreasing concentrations of the Phytochemical is alkaloids>cyanide >tannins>flavonoids> saponins. The order of decreasing cytotoxicity is aqueous extract (fresh)> ethanol extract (fresh)> ethanol extract (dry)> aqueous extract (dry). The extracts in the form of an ointment was used for evaluating the wound-healing potential in an excision wound model. The wound-healing property observed in E.heterophylla is attributed to the phytoconstituents and the faster process of wound-healing could be a function of either the individual or additive effects of the phytoconstituents.The ethanol extracts exhibited high percentage of wound closure. The prophylactic effect elicited by the extracts in terms of wound contraction and related biochemical parameter strongly support the healing and sealing characteristics of E.heterophylla leaf gel in rats following topical administration.
Nano-Cutting Fluid for Enhancement of Metal Cutting Performance

Nano-cutting fluids are the mixtures of conventional cutting fluid and nanoparticles. Addition of the nanoparticles can alter wettability, lubricating properties, and convective heat transfer coefficient (cooling properties) of nano-cutting fluids. In the present work, nano-cutting fluid is made by adding 1% Al2O3 nanoparticles to conventional cutting fluid. The wettability characteristic of this nano-cutting fluid on a carbide tool tip is measured using the macroscopic contact angle method. Comparative study of tool wear, cutting force, workpiece surface roughness, and chip thickness among dry machining, machining with conventional cutting fluid as well as nano-cutting fluid has been undertaken. This study clearly reveals that the cutting force, workpiece surface roughness, tool wear, and chip thickness are reduced by the using nano-cutting fluid compared to dry machining and machining with conventional cutting fluid.
Classification of Resilience Techniques Against Functional Errors at Higher Abstraction Layers of Digital Systems

Nanoscale technology nodes bring reliability concerns back to the center stage of digital system design. A systematic classification of approaches that increase system resilience in the presence of functional hardware (HW)-induced errors is presented, dealing with higher system abstractions, such as the (micro)architecture, the mapping, and platform software (SW). The field is surveyed in a systematic way based on nonoverlapping categories, which add insight into the ongoing work by exposing similarities and differences. HW and SW solutions are discussed in a similar fashion so that interrelationships become apparent. The presented categories are illustrated by representative literature examples to illustrate their properties. Moreover, it is demonstrated how hybrid schemes can be decomposed into their primitive components.
Construction and Characterization of Mutations within theKlebsiella mrkD1P Gene That Affect Binding to Collagen Type V

ABSTRACT The fimbria-associated MrkD1P protein mediates adherence of type 3 fimbriate strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae to collagen type V. Currently, three different MrkD adhesins have been described in Klebsiella species, and each possesses a distinctive binding pattern. Therefore, the binding abilities of mutants possessing defined mutations within themrkD1P gene were examined in order to determine whether specific regions of the adhesin molecule were responsible for collagen binding. Both site-directed and chemically induced mutations were constructed within mrkD1P, and the ability of the gene products to be incorporated into fimbrial appendages or bind to collagen was determined. Binding to type V collagen was not associated solely with one particular region of the MrkD1Pprotein, and two classes of nonadhesive mutants were isolated. In one class of mutants, the MrkD adhesin was not assembled into the fimbrial shaft, whereas in the second class of mutants, the adhesin was associated with fimbriae but did not bind to collagen. Both hemagglutinating and collagen-binding activities were associated with the MrkD1P molecule, since P pili and type 3 fimbriae carrying adhesive MrkD proteins exhibited identical binding properties.
Knowledge-Based Topic Model for Unsupervised Object Discovery and Localization

Unsupervised object discovery and localization is to discover some dominant object classes and localize all of object instances from a given image collection without any supervision. Previous work has attempted to tackle this problem with vanilla topic models, such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). However, in those methods no prior knowledge for the given image collection is exploited to facilitate object discovery. On the other hand, the topic models used in those methods suffer from the topic coherence issue—some inferred topics do not have clear meaning, which limits the final performance of object discovery. In this paper, prior knowledge in terms of the so-called must-links are exploited from Web images on the Internet. Furthermore, a novel knowledge-based topic model, called LDA with mixture of Dirichlet trees, is proposed to incorporate the must-links into topic modeling for object discovery. In particular, to better deal with the polysemy phenomenon of visual words, the must-link is re-defined as that one must-link only constrains one or some topic(s) instead of all topics, which leads to significantly improved topic coherence. Moreover, the must-links are built and grouped with respect to specific object classes, thus the must-links in our approach are semantic-specific, which allows to more efficiently exploit discriminative prior knowledge from Web images. Extensive experiments validated the efficiency of our proposed approach on several data sets. It is shown that our method significantly improves topic coherence and outperforms the unsupervised methods for object discovery and localization. In addition, compared with discriminative methods, the naturally existing object classes in the given image collection can be subtly discovered, which makes our approach well suited for realistic applications of unsupervised object discovery.