Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of leptin on Th1/Th2 balance in obese children with asthma*

OBJECTIVE In individuals with asthma, obesity induces the production of leptin and is associated with disease severity. Our objective was to evaluate the levels of serum leptin and their effect on Th1/Th2 balance in obese and non-obese children with asthma, as well as to investigate the association between serum leptin levels and clinical outcomes. METHODS We evaluated 50 atopic children with physician-diagnosed moderate-to-severe persistent asthma and 20 controls. The children with asthma were divided into two groups, by body mass index percentile: obese (n = 25) and non-obese (n = 25). From all subjects, we collected peripheral blood samples in order to determine the levels of leptin, IFN-γ, and IL-4. Asthma severity was assessed by an asthma symptom score, and the results were correlated with the parameters studied. RESULTS Serum leptin levels were significantly higher in the obese asthma group than in the non-obese asthma group, as well as being significantly higher in the children with asthma than in the controls, whereas IFN-γ levels were significantly higher and IL-4 levels were significantly lower in the obese asthma group than in the non-obese asthma group. In addition, the obese asthma group showed higher asthma symptom scores and significantly lower FEV1 (% of predicted) than did the non-obese asthma group. There was a significant positive correlation between leptin and IFN-γ levels only in the obese asthma group. CONCLUSIONS Although leptin is involved in the pathogenesis of asthma in obese and non-obese children, its effect is more pronounced in the former. In the presence of high leptin levels, only obese children with asthma exhibited Th1 polarization, with higher IFN-γ levels and greater asthma severity.
Apparent Half-Lives of Dioxins, Furans, and Polychlorinated Biphenyls as a Function of Age, Body Fat, Smoking Status, and Breast-Feeding

Objective In this study we reviewed the half-life data in the literature for the 29 dioxin, furan, and polychlorinated biphenyl congeners named in the World Health Organization toxic equivalency factor scheme, with the aim of providing a reference value for the half-life of each congener in the human body and a method of half-life estimation that accounts for an individual’s personal characteristics. Data sources and extraction We compared data from > 30 studies containing congener-specific elimination rates. Half-life data were extracted and compiled into a summary table. We then created a subset of these data based on defined exclusionary criteria. Data synthesis We defined values for each congener that approximate the half-life in an infant and in an adult. A linear interpolation of these values was used to examine the relationship between half-life and age, percent body fat, and absolute body fat. We developed predictive equations based on these relationships and adjustments for individual characteristics. Conclusions The half-life of dioxins in the body can be predicted using a linear relationship with age adjusted for body fat, smoking, and breast-feeding. Data suggest an alternative method based on a linear relationship between half-life and total body fat, but this approach requires further testing and validation with individual measurements.
Natural disaster and risk preferences: evidence from Sri Lankan twins

ABSTRACT We estimate whether risk preferences are affected by traumatic events by using a unique survey of Sri Lankan twins which contains information on individual’s exposure to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, validated measures of mental health and risk preferences, and a rich set of control variables. Our estimation strategy utilizes variation in experiences within twin pairs and allows us to explore wealth shocks and/or changes in mental health as mechanisms. We find that exposure to the tsunami lead to less risk aversion, a result that is not explained by mental health.
ON NEUTRAL ABSORPTION AND SPECTRAL EVOLUTION IN X-RAY BINARIES

Current X-ray observatories make it possible to follow the evolution of transient and variable X-ray binaries across a broad range in luminosity and source behavior. In such studies, it can be unclear whether evolution in the low-energy portion of the spectrum should be attributed to evolution in the source, or instead to evolution in neutral photoelectric absorption. Dispersive spectrometers make it possible to address this problem. We have analyzed a small but diverse set of X-ray binaries observed with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer across a range in luminosity and different spectral states. The column density in individual photoelectric absorption edges remains constant with luminosity, both within and across source spectral states. This finding suggests that absorption in the interstellar medium strongly dominates the neutral column density observed in spectra of X-ray binaries. Consequently, evolution in the low-energy spectrum of X-ray binaries should properly be attributed to evolution in the source spectrum. We discuss our results in the context of X-ray binary spectroscopy with current and future X-ray missions.
Situation Assessment of an Autonomous Emergency Brake for Arbitrary Vehicle-to-Vehicle Collision Scenarios

The autonomous emergency brake (AEB) is an active safety function for vehicles which aims to reduce the severity of a collision. An AEB performs a full brake when an accident becomes unavoidable. Even if this system cannot, in general, avoid the accident, it reduces the energy of the crash impact and is therefore referred to as a collision mitigation system. A new approach for the calculation of the trigger time of an emergency brake will be presented. The algorithm simultaneously considers all physically possible trajectories of the object and host vehicle. It can be applied to all different scenarios including rear-end collisions, collisions at intersections, and collisions with oncoming vehicles. Thus, 63% of possible accidents are addressed. The approach accounts for the object and host vehicles' dimensions. Unlike previous work, the orientation of the vehicles is incorporated into the collision estimation.
Low-rank Solutions of Linear Matrix Equations via Procrustes Flow

In this paper we study the problem of recovering a low-rank matrix from linear measurements. Our algorithm, which we call Procrustes Flow, starts from an initial estimate obtained by a thresholding scheme followed by gradient descent on a non-convex objective. We show that as long as the measurements obey a standard restricted isometry property, our algorithm converges to the unknown matrix at a geometric rate. In the case of Gaussian measurements, such convergence occurs for a $n_1 \times n_2$ matrix of rank $r$ when the number of measurements exceeds a constant times $(n_1+n_2)r$.
Profiles of fit and misfit: a repeated weekly measures study of perceived value congruence

ABSTRACT Value congruence is generally studied as a stable experience instead of a dynamic phenomenon. This static approach largely ignores the emerging evidence that the fit experiences of individuals vary over time, and that different individuals may develop distinct experience profiles as time unfolds. We hypothesize that these temporal profiles of value congruence provide relevant insights into the relationship between perceived value congruence and employee functioning. We conducted a repeated weekly measures study with 125 white-collar Belgian employees to assess perceptions of value congruence and work role behaviours during 12 consecutive weeks. Through cluster analysis we were able to group employees with similar experience profiles based on average, variance, and frequency of changes into five distinct fit and misfit types. These were differentially related to two types of work role behaviours, i.e., work role proficiency (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviour) and work role proactivity (change-oriented behaviour and innovative work behaviour). Overall, our findings challenge the idea that fit–misfit is a dichotomous category, and underscore the need for more temporal research on perceptions of organizational fit in order to get a better understanding of how different types of fit and misfit behave in work settings.
bold: The Barcode of Life Data System (http://www.barcodinglife.org)

The Barcode of Life Data System (bold) is an informatics workbench aiding the acquisition, storage, analysis and publication of DNA barcode records. By assembling molecular, morphological and distributional data, it bridges a traditional bioinformatics chasm. bold is freely available to any researcher with interests in DNA barcoding. By providing specialized services, it aids the assembly of records that meet the standards needed to gain BARCODE designation in the global sequence databases. Because of its web-based delivery and flexible data security model, it is also well positioned to support projects that involve broad research alliances. This paper provides a brief introduction to the key elements of bold, discusses their functional capabilities, and concludes by examining computational resources and future prospects.
The Effects of Ischemic Postconditioning on Myocardial Function and Nitric Oxide Metabolites Following Ischemia-Reperfusion in Hyperthyroid Rats

Ischemic postconditioning (IPost) could decrease ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. It has not yet reported whether IPost is useful when ischemic heart disease is accompanied with co-morbidities like hyperthyroidism. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of IPost on myocardial IR injury in hyperthyroid male rats. Hyperthyroidism was induced with administration of thyroxine in drinking water (12 mg/L) over a period of 21 days. After thoracotomy, the hearts of control and hyperthyroid rats were perfused in the Langendorff apparatus and subjected to 30 minutes global ischemia, followed by 120 minutes reperfusion; IPost, intermittent early reperfusion, was induced instantly following ischemia. In control rats, IPost significantly improved the left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) and ±dp/dt during reperfusion (p<0.05); however it had no effect in hyperthyroid rats. In addition, hyperthyroidism significantly increased basal NOx (nitrate+nitrite) content in serum (125.5±5.4 µmol/L vs. 102.8±3.7 µmol/L; p< 0.05) and heart (34.9±4.1 µmol/L vs. 19.9±1.94 µmol/L; p<0.05). In hyperthyroid groups, heart NOx concentration significantly increased after IR and IPost, whereas in the control groups, heart NOx were significantly higher after IR and lower after IPost (p< 0.05). IPost reduced infarct size (p<0.05) only in control groups. In hyperthyroid group subjected to IPost, aminoguanidine, an inducible nitric oxide (NO) inhibitor, significantly reduced both the infarct size and heart NOx concentrations. In conclusion, unlike normal rats, IPost cycles following reperfusion does not provide cardioprotection against IR injury in hyperthyroid rats; an effect that may be due to NO overproduction because it is restored by iNOS inhibition.
Eye activity as a measure of human mental effort in HCI

The measurement of a user's mental effort is a problem whose solutions may have important applications to adaptive interfaces and interface evaluation. Previous studies have empirically shown links between eye activity and mental effort; however these have usually investigated only one class of eye activity on tasks atypical of HCI. This paper reports on research into eight eye activity based features, spanning eye blink, pupillary response and eye movement information, for real time mental effort measurement. Results from an experiment conducted using a computer-based training system show that the three classes of eye features are capable of discriminating different cognitive load levels. Correlation analysis between various pairs of features suggests that significant improvements in discriminating different effort levels can be made by combining multiple features. This shows an initial step towards a real-time cognitive load measurement system in human-computer interaction.
Dystrophin insufficiency causes selective muscle histopathology and loss of dystrophin‐glycoprotein complex assembly in pig skeletal muscle

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the extent to which dystrophin insufficiency caused histomorphological changes in a novel pig model of Becker muscular dystrophy. In our procedures, we used a combination of biochemical approaches, including quantitative PCR and Western blots, along with a histological analysis using standard and immunohistological measures. We found that 8‐wk‐old male affected pigs had a 70% reduction in dystrophin protein abundance in the diaphragm, psoas major, and longissimus lumborum and a 5‐fold increase in serum creatine kinase activity compared with healthy male littermates. Dystrophin insufficiency in the diaphragm and the longissimus resulted in muscle histopathology with disorganized fibrosis that often colocalized with fatty infiltration but not the psoas. Affected animals also had an 80–85% reduction in α‐sarcoglycan localization in these muscles, indicating compromised assembly of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex. Controls used in this study were 4 healthy male littermates, as they are most closely related to the affected animals. We concluded that pigs with insufficient dystrophin protein expression have a phenotype consistent with human dystrophinopathy patients. Given that and their similarity in body size and physiology to humans, we further conclude that this pig line is an appropriate translational model for dystrophinopathies. —Hollinger, K. , Yang, C. X. , Montz, R. E. , Nonneman, D. , Ross, J. W. , Selsby, J. T. Dystrophin insufficiency causes selective muscle histopathology and loss of dystrophin‐glycoprotein complex assembly in pig skeletal muscle. FASEB J. 28, 28–1600 (1609). www.fasebj. org
The Infrared Counterparts of the Optically Unidentified Chandra Deep Field-South 1 Ms Sources

The Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) 1 Ms exposure produced a catalog of 346 X-ray sources, of which 59 were not visible on the Very Large Telescope (VLT)/FORS1 and the ESO-MPI/WFI deep R-band images to a limit of Rvega = 26.1-26.7 mag. Using the first release of the ESO VLT/ISAAC JHKs data on the CDF-S, we identified six of the 12 such objects that were within the coverage of these IR observations. The VLT/FORS1 I-band data further confirm that five of these six objects are undetected in the optical. The photometric properties of these six counterparts are compared against those of the optically brighter counterparts of Chandra sources in the same field. We found that the location of these optically brighter Chandra sources in the near-IR color space was bifurcated, with the color of one branch being consistent with that of E/S0 galaxies at 0 ≤ z ≤ 1.5, and the other branch being consistent with that of unreddened active galactic nuclei/quasi-stellar objects (AGNs/QSOs) at 0 ≤ z ≤ 3.5. The six counterparts that we identified seemed to lie on the E/S0 branch and its extension, suggesting that these X-ray source hosts are mostly luminous E/S0 galaxies (MV ~ -20 mag in the AB system) at 1 ≤ z ≤ 2.5. On the other hand, some of them can also be explained by AGNs/QSOs over a wide redshift range (0 ≤ z ≤ 5), if a range of internal extinction (AV = 0-1 mag) is allowed. However, the later interpretation requires fine-tuning extinction together with redshift for these objects individually. If they are indeed AGNs/QSOs, the most luminous of them is just barely qualified for being a QSO. Finally, we point out that neither high-redshift (z > 5) star-forming galaxies nor irregular galaxies at lower redshift can be a viable explanation to the nature of these six counterparts.
Video Surveillance for Behaviour Monitoring in Home Health Care

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Learning-by-Sharing : Monetary Policy and the Information Content of Aggregate Variables ( Job Market Paper )

Does central bank stabilization policy change economic uncertainty about the driving forces of the economy? In this paper, I argue that the e ect of monetary policy on the information content of aggregate variables depends critically on the extent of central bank transparency. To do this, I construct a simple analytical model and then demonstrate that the key results carry over to a dispersed imperfect information DSGE model. I show that monetary policy without central bank transparency induces a powerful two-sided learning externality, leading to a trade-o between households' and the central bank's knowledge about the driving forces of the economy. With central bank transparency, however, the choice of stabilization policy is to a large extent separated from its e ect on economic uncertainty. Furthermore, I show that, when the monetary authority actively stabilizes endogenous aggregates, central bank transparency can decrease the level of economic uncertainty for everyone in the economy even the central bank. This upends the anti-transparency result in Morris and Shin (2002, 2005). (JEL codes: E52, D82, D83)
OxyR tightly regulates catalase expression in Neisseria meningitidis through both repression and activation mechanisms

Mechanisms for coping with oxidative stress (OS) are crucial for the survival of pathogenic Neisseria spp. in the human host. In this study we investigate the mechanism by which OxyR finely regulates the catalase gene (kat) in Neisseria meningitidis. Detailed transcriptional analyses show that catalase is transcribed from a single promoter that is induced by H2O2 in an OxyR‐dependent manner and two key cysteine residues are essential for this. OxyR also represses the kat promoter: kat expression in the null mutant is at a constitutive intermediary level higher than uninduced, but lower than H2O2‐induced levels in the wild type. Our data are consistent with a model in which OxyR binds to the kat promoter and exerts: (i) repression of transcription in the absence of OS signal and (ii) activation of the promoter in response to OS signal. This direct double‐edged mechanism may ensure tight regulatory control of kat expression ensuring catalase is synthesized only when needed. In addition, our results provide an explanation for the altered OS resistance phenotypes seen in Neisseria mutant strains where, paradoxically, the oxyR mutants are more resistant than the wild type in oxidative killing assays.
Conceptual representation of pictures and words: Reply to Clark.

Clark (1987) offers a dual coding alternative (Paivio, 1971, 1986) to the conceptual hypothesis that Potter, Kroll, Yachzel, Carpenter, and Sherman (1986) proposed to explain the ease with which people can read and understand rebus sentences in which a picture replaces a noun. We present theoretical and empirical reasons for positing a conceptual representation that is distinct from the representation of an object's name and from a mental image of it. The hierarchical conceptual model has greater explanatory and predictive power and is more parsimonious overall than Clark's alternative.
Computationally efficient nonstationary nearest‐neighbor Gaussian process models using data‐driven techniques

Due to the increased availability of measurements of various geophysical processes, a need has arisen for statistical methods suitable for the analysis of very large nonstationary spatial data sets. The nearest‐neighbor Gaussian process (NNGP) models are one of the latest and most popular Gaussian process‐based models, which reduce computational complexity and memory storage. The Bayesian inference is based on the assumption of a parametric covariance function that is often assumed stationary or known. Given that NNGP models are sensitive in the stationary assumption in comparison to other reduction methods, there is a need to build nonstationary covariance functions within the NNGP models. However, the construction of a nonstationary covariance function and/or matrix may be computationally expensive by itself in the presence of big data. In this paper, we develop an efficient two‐stage approach that deals with nonstationarity and the computational complexity in the presence of a big spatial data set. We propose a new low‐cost data‐driven tree‐structured partitioning technique to divide the spatial region into distinct subregions. Given the partitions, we construct computationally efficient nonstationary covariance functions for NNGP models. We demonstrate the performance of our approach through simulation experiments and an application to the global Total Ozone Matrix Spectrometer (TOMS) data set, in which the proposed approach performs well in terms of both prediction accuracy and computational complexity.
Stimulation of Na+/H+ Exchanger Isoform 1 Promotes Microglial Migration

Regulation of microglial migration is not well understood. In this study, we proposed that Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE-1) is important in microglial migration. NHE-1 protein was co-localized with cytoskeletal protein ezrin in lamellipodia of microglia and maintained its more alkaline intracellular pH (pHi). Chemoattractant bradykinin (BK) stimulated microglial migration by increasing lamellipodial area and protrusion rate, but reducing lamellipodial persistence time. Interestingly, blocking NHE-1 activity with its potent inhibitor HOE 642 not only acidified microglia, abolished the BK-triggered dynamic changes of lamellipodia, but also reduced microglial motility and microchemotaxis in response to BK. In addition, NHE-1 activation resulted in intracellular Na+ loading as well as intracellular Ca2+ elevation mediated by stimulating reverse mode operation of Na+/Ca2+ exchange (NCXrev). Taken together, our study shows that NHE-1 protein is abundantly expressed in microglial lamellipodia and maintains alkaline pHi in response to BK stimulation. In addition, NHE-1 and NCXrev play a concerted role in BK-induced microglial migration via Na+ and Ca2+ signaling.
Game-Based Assessment of Cognitive Status in Clinical and Non-Clinical Samples

In this dissertation I validated a serious game for cognitive assessment that was originally developed in my Masters thesis (Tong, 2014). I used a whack-a-mole game that requires response inhibition, by adding a distractor character that should not be hit. I evaluated the game as a potential screening tool for the clinically relevant condition of delirium, and I examined how game performance was correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a standard assessment of cognitive ability in the elderly. Patients 65 years and older presenting at the Sunnybrook emergency department participated in three clinical studies and response time (RT) on the game was found to be significantly correlated with MMSE scores, and sufficiently predictive of whether the person had delirium as determined by the Confusion Assessment Method. Comparing game performance at 8-hour intervals, I found that game RT showed good test-retest reliability in the second clinical study. In the third clinical study, I found that false alarm rate provided a useful supplement to median correct RT in predicting clinical measures. Following the clinical studies, I evaluated the game with healthy adults in a pilot study to determine how the duration of character appearance affected whether the task was speeded or