Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The triacylglycerol synthesis enzyme DGAT1 also catalyzes the synthesis of diacylglycerols, waxes, and retinyl esters Published, JLR Papers in Press, April 16, 2005. DOI 10.1194/jlr.M500036-JLR200

The final step of triacylglycerol biosynthesis is catalyzed by acyl CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) enzymes. The two known DGATs, DGAT1 and DGAT2, are encoded by unrelated genes. Although both DGAT1 and DGAT2 knockout mice have reduced tissue triacylglycerol contents, they have disparate phenotypes, prompting us to investigate whether the two enzymes have unrecognized functional differences. We now report that DGAT1 exhibits additional acyltransferase activities in vitro, including those of acyl CoA:monoacylglycerol acyltransferase (MGAT), wax monoester and wax diester synthases, and acyl CoA:retinol acyltransferase (ARAT), which catalyze the synthesis of diacylglycerols, wax esters, and retinyl esters, respectively. These activities were demonstrated in in vitro assays with membranes from insect cells or homogenates from COS7 cells overexpressing DGAT1. Wax synthase and ARAT activities were also demonstrated in intact COS7 cells expressing DGAT1. Additionally, cells and tissues from DGAT1-deficient mice exhibited reduced ARAT activity, and the mice had increased levels of unesterified retinol in their livers on a high-retinol diet. Our findings indicate that DGAT1 can utilize a variety of acyl acceptors as substrates in vitro and suggest that these activities may be relevant to the in vivo functions of DGAT1.
Predicting Students Final GPA Using Decision Trees: A Case Study

 Abstract—Educational data mining is the process of applying data mining tools and techniques to analyze data at educational institutions. In this paper, we used educational data mining to predict students' final GPA based on their grades in previous courses. In our case study, we collected students' transcript data that included their final GPA and their grades in all courses. After pre-processing the data, we applied the J48 decision tree algorithm to discover classification rules. We extracted useful knowledge for final GPA, and identify the most important courses in the students' study plan based on their grades in the mandatory courses.
Lapped Transforms and Hidden Markov Models for Seismic Data Filtering

Seismic exploration provides information about the ground substructures. Seismic images are generally corrupted by several noise sources. Hence, efficient denoising procedures are required to improve the detection of essential geological information. Wavelet bases provide sparse representation for a wide class of signals and images. This property makes them good candidates for efficient filtering tools, allowing the separation of signal and noise coefficients. Recent works have improved their performance by modelling the intra- and inter-scale coefficient dependencies using hidden Markov models, since image features tend to cluster and persist in the wavelet domain. This work focuses on the use of lapped transforms associated with hidden Markov modelling. Lapped transforms are traditionally viewed as block-transforms, composed of M pass-band filters. Seismic data present oscillatory patterns and lapped transforms oscillatory bases have demonstrated good performances for seismic data compression. A dyadic like representation of lapped transform coefficient is possible, allowing a wavelet-like modelling of coefficients dependencies. We show that the proposed filtering algorithm often outperforms the wavelet performance both objectively (in terms of SNR) and subjectively: lapped transform better preserve the oscillatory features present in seismic data at low to moderate noise levels.
Using temporal-domain peak interval determination for video-based short-term heart rate measurement

Video-based Heart Rate Measurement has drawn a lot of attention in recent years. A few papers have been proposed in this work and most of them applied Fourier transform peak interval determination method for heart rate measurement. However, the analyzing duration for one outcome in these methods is usually longer than 15 seconds. This is because that the measurement resolution in Fourier transform is proportional to the number of samples. In this paper, we apply a novel method to combine temporal-domain peak determination method and super resolution method for heart rate measurement. And we further propose a spectrum selection scheme and a data shift scheme to raise the measurement accuracy. The video database taken in our lab is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results show two important things. The first is that when the analyzing duration of the proposed method is one third of Fourier transform, the precision of the proposed method is only a little lower than that of the Fourier transform method. Furthermore the precision of the proposed method is superior to Fourier transform approach when the analyzing duration is the same for both methods.
A Cardinal Orientation Bias in Scene-Selective Visual Cortex

It has long been known that human vision is more sensitive to contours at cardinal (horizontal and vertical) orientations, compared with oblique orientations; this is the “oblique effect. ” However, the real-world relevance of the oblique effect is not well understood. Experiments here suggest that this effect is linked to scene perception, via a common bias in the image statistics of scenes. This statistical bias for cardinal orientations is found in many “carpentered environments” such as buildings and indoor scenes, and some natural scenes. In Experiment 1, we confirmed the presence of a perceptual oblique effect in a specific set of scene stimuli. Using those scenes, we found that a well known “scene-selective” visual cortical area (the parahippocampal place area; PPA) showed distinctively higher functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity to cardinal versus oblique orientations. This fMRI-based oblique effect was not observed in other cortical areas (including scene-selective areas transverse occipital sulcus and retrosplenial cortex), although all three scene-selective areas showed the expected inversion effect to scenes. Experiments 2 and 3 tested for an analogous selectivity for cardinal orientations using computer-generated arrays of simple squares and line segments, respectively. The results confirmed the preference for cardinal orientations in PPA, thus demonstrating that the oblique effect can also be produced in PPA by simple geometrical images, with statistics similar to those in scenes. Thus, PPA shows distinctive fMRI selectivity for cardinal orientations across a broad range of stimuli, which may reflect a perceptual oblique effect.
Faraday rotation measure synthesis

We extend the rotation measure work of Burn ( 1966, MNRAS, 133, 67) to the cases of limited sampling of lambda(2) space and non-constant emission spectra. We introduce the rotation measure transfer function (RMTF), which is an excellent predictor of n pi ambiguity problems with the lambda(2) coverage. Rotation measure synthesis can be implemented very efficiently on modern computers. Because the analysis is easily applied to wide fields, one can conduct very fast RM surveys of weak spatially extended sources. Difficult situations, for example multiple sources along the line of sight, are easily detected and transparently handled. Under certain conditions, it is even possible to recover the emission as a function of Faraday depth within a single cloud of ionized gas. Rotation measure synthesis has already been successful in discovering widespread, weak, polarized emission associated with the Perseus cluster (de Bruyn & Brentjens 2005, A&A, 441, 931). In simple, high signal to noise situations it is as good as traditional linear fits to chi versus lambda(2) plots. However, when the situation is more complex or very weak polarized emission at high rotation measures is expected, it is the only viable option.
Effects of Maternal Inflammation and Exposure to Cigarette Smoke on Birth Weight and Delivery of Preterm Babies in a Cohort of Indigenous Australian Women

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), neonatal deaths, and deaths from infection are higher among Indigenous Australians. This study aimed to determine the effects of inflammatory responses and exposure to cigarette smoke, two important factors associated with sudden death in infancy, on preterm birth, and birth weight in a cohort of Indigenous mothers. Indigenous Australian women (n = 131) were recruited as part of a longitudinal study while attending antenatal care clinics during pregnancy; blood samples were collected up to three times in pregnancy. Serum cotinine, indicating exposure to cigarette smoke, was detected in 50.4% of mothers. Compared with non-Indigenous women, the cohort had 10 times the prevalence of antibodies to Helicobacter pylori (33 vs. 3%). Levels of immunoglobulin G, antibodies to H. pylori, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were all inversely correlated with gestational age (P < 0.05). CRP levels were positively associated with maternal body mass index (BMI; ρ = 0.449, P = 0.001). The effects of cigarette smoke (cotinine) and inflammation (CRP) were assessed in relation to risk factors for SIDS: gestational age at delivery and birth weight. Serum cotinine levels were negatively associated with birth weight (ρ = −0.37, P < 0.001), this correlation held true for both male (ρ = −0.39, P = 0.002) and female (ρ = −0.30, P = 0.017) infants. Cotinine was negatively associated with gestational age at delivery (ρ = −0.199, P = 0.023). When assessed by fetal sex, this was significant only for males (ρ = −0.327, P = 0.011). CRP was negatively associated with gestational age at delivery for female infants (ρ = −0.46, P < 0.001). In contrast, maternal BMI was significantly correlated with birth weight. These data highlight the importance of putting programs in place to reduce cigarette smoke exposure in pregnancy and to treat women with chronic infections such as H. pylori to improve pregnancy outcomes and decrease risk factors for sudden death in infancy.
Determination of Context Window Size

Context windows are important for a variety of natural language analysis and processing. A trade-off exists between the task performance and the size of the context. Lucassen and Mercer used mutual information to determine the size of the context for English text. We apply the same technique to determine the Context window size for Chinese text. In addition, we use the association score, proposed by Church. The association score is directly related to the prediction ability of units in the context. To reduce the effects of spurious associations, the association score values at the N% quartile is used, instead of the maximum, and the association score derived from low frequency occurrences (i.e. <5) are discarded. A window size of 9 characters was found to be large enough for most associations between characters themselves, and between words themselves. An alternative approach using the (nonparametric) lambda statistic LB is examined, which overcomes spurious association problems and the averaging effect of mutual information. We conclude that the statistic is more suitable for exhaustive contextual models (e.g. variable N-gram models) whereas the association score is more suitable for non-exhaustive contextual models (e.g. identification of collocation).
Interaction techniques using prosodic features of speech and audio localization

We describe several approaches for using prosodic features of speech and audio localization to control interactive applications. This information can be applied to parameter control, as well as to speech disambiguation. We discuss how characteristics of spoken sentences can be exploited in the user interface; for example, by considering the speed with which a sentence is spoken and the presence of extraneous utterances. We also show how coarse audio localization can be used for low-fidelity gesture tracking, by inferring the speaker's head position.
A Dyadic Analysis of Couple Attachment Behaviors as Predictors of Dietary Habits and Physical Activity Levels

A Dyadic Analysis of Couple Attachment Behaviors as Predictors of Dietary Habits and Physical Activity Levels Stephanie Young School of Family Life, BYU Master of Science While there is substantial evidence that marriage impacts health, no studies have explicitly analyzed the association between attachment behaviors and health practices. This study examines the relationship between couples’ attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by physical activity levels and dietary habits. Couple data was analyzed from the RELATE database (n= 4,957 couples). An Actor Partner Interdependence Model, using a multinomial logistic regression, was used to examine the relationships between attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by activity level and dietary habits. Results for actor paths indicate that wives’ own attachment behaviors significantly influence their own health practices. Husbands’ attachment behaviors are not significantly related to their own health practices. Results also show no significant partner paths for either spouse. Clinical implications for treating women who present with health problems are discussed, as are directions for future research.
Effects of motivational and volitional email messages (MVEM) with personal messages on undergraduate students' motivation, study habits and achievement

This study investigated what kind of supportive information can be effective in improving the situation where there were severe motivational challenges. Motivational and volitional email messages (MVEM) were constructed based on an integrated model of four theories and methods, which are Keller's ARCS model, Kuhl's action control theory, Gollwitzer's Rubicon model of motivation and volition, and Visser & Keller's strategy of motivational messages, and distributed with personal messages created based on audience analysis to a large undergraduate class. In order to examine the effects of the messages on motivation for the course, study habits (study time), and achievement (test grade), MVEM were sent to 30 students (Personal Message Group: PMG) with personal messages and to 71 students (Non-Personal Message Group: NonPMG) without personal messages. Results indicated that PMG showed a higher level of motivation, especially in regard to confidence, than NonPMG. Also, the mean test grade of PMG increased so that the initial difference of the test grade between the two groups significantly decreased. Although there was no difference between the two groups in study habits, the findings suggest that personal messages addressing specific individual problems raise the positive effects of MVEM constructed based on the integrated model. Future research directions are discussed.
Toll-Like Receptors Signaling Contributes to Immunopathogenesis of HBV Infection

Innate and adaptive immune systems have important role in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV). These immune responses are mediated through complex interactions between the innate immune response and adaptive immune response. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a family of innate immune-recognition receptors that recognize the molecular patterns associated with microbial pathogens. So far, TLR1 to 13 were found in human or mice and investigated to detect the target molecules and the downstream mechanisms of these unique systems. Stimulation by their ligands initiates the activation of complex networks of intracellular signaling transduction and innate and adaptive immune-related cells (NK, NK-T, monocytes, dendritic cells, T cells, B cells, and Tregs, etc.). However, reports on such relationships between HBV and TLRs have been relatively rare in comparison to those on HCV and TLRs, but have recently been increasing. Thus, a review of TLRs involved in the pathogenesis of HBV infection may be needed toward better understanding of the immunopathogenesis of HBV infection.
Maternal Serum Cytokines in Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes

OBJECTIVE: To estimate whether maternal serum interleukin (IL)-6 or granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) obtained daily are elevated in women with preterm premature rupture of membranes who develop funisitis. METHODS: Daily blood samples were obtained from women with preterm premature rupture of membranes and analyzed for IL-6 and G-CSF by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Funisitis was determined by placental examination. Observations were stratified based on the presence or absence of funisitis and analyzed. Proportional hazards models were used to evaluate time-to-delivery on the basis of diagnostic IL-6 and G-CSF levels, determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: Of the 107 patients available for analysis, 54 (50%) had evidence of funisitis after delivery. Patients with funisitis were more likely to deliver at an earlier gestational age (28.5 weeks compared with 31.5 weeks, P<.001) and have Medicaid insurance (57% compared with 39%, P=.04). Serum IL-6 and G-CSF were elevated 24 to 48 hours before delivery in women with preterm premature rupture of membranes with funisitis compared with those without funisitis (IL-6, 7.5 compared with 2.8 pg/mL, P<.001; G-CSF, 121.7 compared with 56.9 pg/mL, P=.002). Using values identified by the receiver operating characteristic curve, elevated serum IL-6 in the interval 24–72 hours before delivery was significantly associated with funisitis (P<.03), even after controlling for gestational age and insurance status. CONCLUSION: Maternal serum IL-6 and G-CSF appear to be biomarkers in the identification of women with preterm premature rupture of membranes likely to develop funisitis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
Health status after hip or knee arthroplasty

After hip and knee arthroplasty pain and disability still remain higher than in the general population Hip and knee problems are a major cause of pain and disability. Although only a minority of sufferers—those with severe symptoms and disability in association with radiographic osteoarthritis—will be candidates for surgery, this still means that in America, for example, 400 000 primary hip and knee arthroplasties are performed each year,1 and the demand is increasing.2 Randomised controlled trials of arthroplasty versus other treatments have not generally been performed, but total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty procedures are perceived by the public and by health professionals to be largely successful. Follow up studies have confirmed that postoperative levels of pain and disability are consistently lower than preoperative levels.3–7 However a number of small studies have also shown that, despite significant postoperative improvements, levels of pain and disability are higher in those who have undergone arthroplasty than in controls in the general population.8–11 A large interview based study, carried out in France by Boutron and colleagues and reported in this issue of the Annals , has now confirmed this finding.12 This new study was undertaken on the back of the French national census. Nearly 17 000 people were interviewed. The authors found that those with previous arthroplasty had persistent difficulties with physical functioning. After adjusting their analysis for age, sex, and a number of other chronic conditions, the group with hip and knee arthroplasty were more likely than those in the general population to have continuing lower limb disabilities (including self care, housekeeping, and mobility difficulties). The broad differences between the arthroplasty group and the general population cannot exclude the possibility that the actual contrasts lie in subgroups of the arthroplasty population. A higher proportion of patients …
Hair Regeneration Treatment Using Adipose-Derived Stem Cell Conditioned Medium: Follow-up With Trichograms

Objective: Adipose-derived stem cells secrete various growth factors that promote hair growth. This study examined the effects of adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned medium on alopecia. Methods: Adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned medium was intradermally injected in 22 patients (11 men and 11 women) with alopecia. Patients received treatment every 3 to 5 weeks for a total of 6 sessions. Hair numbers were counted using trichograms before and after treatment. A half-side comparison study was also performed in 10 patients (8 men and 2 women). Results: Hair numbers were significantly increased after treatment in both male (including those without finasteride administration) and female patients. In the half-side comparison study, the increase in hair numbers was significantly higher on the treatment side than on the placebo side. Conclusion: Treatment using adipose-derived stem cell-conditioned medium appears highly effective for alopecia and may represent a new therapy for hair regeneration.
A Geomorphological based rainfallrunoff model for ungauged watersheds

Dynamic parameter velocity is an important parameter in GIUH based models. Accuracy of the IUH/UH predicted using GIUH models largely depends on the estimate used for dynamic parameter velocity. Kirpich formula and velocity relationships are independently used to estimate time of concentration for a watershed. In the present study it is shown that combining these empirical formulae a new relationship useful for estimating dynamic parameter velocity for a watershed can be developed. The new technique can be used with easily measurable watershed parameters to estimate dynamic parameter velocity. The model is applied to an ungauged watershed in Barak basin, in India. Applicability of the present model is tested by using a standard UH example reported earlier by different investigators. Peak discharge and time to peak value for the selected example are estimated applying the present technique and are compared with earlier results. Model performances show that the present technique can provide accurate estimate for the dynamic parameter velocity and when used with GIUH approach results to improved prediction for the peak value. The present technique is simple and gives estimate of dynamic parameter velocity on the basis of easily measurable watershed parameters and is useful for ungauged watersheds.
The International Handbook of Suicide Prevention

The International Handbook of Suicide Prevention, 2nd Edition, presents a series of readings that consider the individual and societal factors that lead to suicide, it addresses ways these factors may be mitigated, and presents the most up-to-date evidence for effective suicide prevention approaches. An updated reference that shows why effective suicide prevention can only be achieved by understanding the many reasons why people choose to end their lives Gathers together contributions from more than 100 of the world’s leading authorities on suicidal behavior—many of them new to this edition Considers suicide from epidemiological, psychological, clinical, sociological, and neurobiological perspectives, providing a holistic understanding of the subject Describes the most up-to-date, evidence-based research and practice from across the globe, and explores its implications across countries, cultures, and the lifespa