Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of the alternative pathway of complement by monoclonal lambda light chains in membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis

Immunopathological evidence suggests that activation of the alternative pathway of complement (AP) is involved in membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) and in immunoglobulin A nephropathy. In this report we describe an AP dysfunction-associated factor that was isolated from the serum and urine of a patient with hypocomplementemic MPGN. Extensive glomerular deposits of C3, properdin, and of the terminal complement components were observed in the kidney of the patient. In her serum the AP hemolytic activity was virtually absent. When mixed with fresh normal serum, the patient's serum induced a 96% C3 conversion during a 30-min incubation at +37 degrees C. This activity was found to be due to a circulating factor that by immunochemical characterization proved to be a 46-kD monoclonal immunoglobulin lambda light (L) chain dimer (lambda L). Purified lambda L, but not control lambda or kappa L chains from patients with L chain disease, activated the AP in a dose- and ionic strength-dependent manner. Functionally, lambda L was differentiated from C3 nephritic factor (an autoantibody against the AP C3 convertase, C3bBb) by its inability to bind to and stabilize the C3bBb enzyme. Instead, lambda L was observed to interact directly with the AP control factor H. Thus, lambda L represents a novel type of immunoglobulin-related AP- activating factor with the capacity to initiate alternative complement pathway activation in the fluid phase.
Pragmareligious failure in translating Arabic politeness formulas into English: Evidence from Mahfouz’s Awlad Haritna

This paper deals with pragmareligious failure as it manifests itself in the course of translating into English 10 Arabic religious politeness formulas. The formulas, which have been drawn from Mahfouz's (1959) novel Awlad Haritna, were translated by 20 M.A. students. The study also uses six native speakers of English as consultants to evaluate, based on their intuition, the subjects' translations along with Stewart's renditions in his 1981 translation of Mahfouz's novel. The paper argues that inadequate pragmareligious competence often leads to communication breakdown and/or distortion of the source message. It has been shown that while a few Arabic religious formulas may functionally lend themselves to translating into corresponding English religious formulas, many Arabic formulas fail pragmatically to evoke comparable religious shades of meaning in English. Translators should therefore seek English formulaic expressions regardless of whether or not they have religious bearings.
Quantifying Selection against Synonymous Mutations in HIV-1 env Evolution

ABSTRACT Intrapatient evolution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is driven by the adaptive immune system resulting in rapid change of HIV-1 proteins. When cytotoxic CD8+ T cells or neutralizing antibodies target a new epitope, the virus often escapes via nonsynonymous mutations that impair recognition. Synonymous mutations do not affect this interplay and are often assumed to be neutral. We test this assumption by tracking synonymous mutations in longitudinal intrapatient data from the C2-V5 part of the env gene. We find that most synonymous variants are lost even though they often reach high frequencies in the viral population, suggesting a cost to the virus. Using published data from SHAPE (selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension) assays, we find that synonymous mutations that disrupt base pairs in RNA stems flanking the variable loops of gp120 are more likely to be lost than other synonymous changes: these RNA hairpins might be important for HIV-1. Computational modeling indicates that, to be consistent with the data, a large fraction of synonymous mutations in this genomic region need to be deleterious with a cost on the order of 0.002 per day. This weak selection against synonymous substitutions does not result in a strong pattern of conservation in cross-sectional data but slows down the rate of evolution considerably. Our findings are consistent with the notion that large-scale patterns of RNA structure are functionally relevant, whereas the precise base pairing pattern is not.
Traditional Management Theory as Panoptic Discourse: Language and the Constitution of Somatic Flows

This paper examines the classical management theories of Henri Fayol and Frederick Taylor as examples of "panoptic discourse. " According to Michel Foucault, panopticism has been a principle method of exercising social control during the modern era. When applied to classical organizational theory, it is possible to show how panoptic techniques constituted modern organizational space by fostering the methodical observation and normalization of human behavior. Applying the panoptic model to managerial discourse therefore allows one to understand more precisely the role management discourse has played in articulating the normative order of organizations.
Continuous-time on-policy neural Reinforcement Learning of working memory tasks

As living organisms, one of our primary characteristics is the ability to rapidly process and react to unknown and unexpected events. To this end, we are able to recognize an event or a sequence of events and learn to respond properly. Despite advances in machine learning, current cognitive robotic systems are not able to rapidly and efficiently respond in the real world: the challenge is to learn to recognize both what is important, and also when to act. Reinforcement Learning (RL) is typically used to solve complex tasks: to learn the how. To respond quickly - to learn when - the environment has to be sampled often enough. For “enough”, a programmer has to decide on the step-size as a time-representation, choosing between a fine-grained representation of time (many state-transitions; difficult to learn with RL) or to a coarse temporal resolution (easier to learn with RL but lacking precise timing). Here, we derive a continuous-time version of on-policy SARSA-learning in a working-memory neural network model, AuGMEnT. Using a neural working memory network resolves the what problem, our when solution is built on the notion that in the real world, instantaneous actions of duration dt are actually impossible. We demonstrate how we can decouple action duration from the internal time-steps in the neural RL model using an action selection system. The resultant CT-AuGMEnT successfully learns to react to the events of a continuous-time task, without any pre-imposed specifications about the duration of the events or the delays between them.
Employees with Long Term Illnesses or Disabilities in the UK Social Services Workforce

Between 6% and 16% of the working age population have a long term illness or disability. 'Disability' is not consistently defined, however, and neither the distribution of disabled employees nor the nature of their disabilities is well documented. This paper presents the findings of a study of statutory social services employees in the UK and for the first time provides an estimate of the proportion of workers with long term illnesses or disabilities. Over a fifth had a self-reported long term illness or disability, 8% a condition which affected daily life. The distribution and nature of these, and the effects of gender, age, occupational categories, and work experience such as job satisfaction, stress and sick leave, are examined. Changes in legislation and the profile of the working age population are likely to increase the number of people with disabilities in work. The paper concludes that at a time of difficulties with recruitment and retention, social services and other social care employers must develop a range of responses to support and retain the diversity of people with disabilities in work.
Bicycle Helmet Wearing Is Not Associated with Close Motor Vehicle Passing: A Re-Analysis of Walker, 2007

Objectives To re-analyse bicycle overtaking data collected by Walker (2007) with a view to assess factors associated with close passing (<1 m), to adjust for other observed factors in a multivariable analysis, and to assess the extent to which the sample size in the original analysis may have contributed to spurious results. Method A re-analysis of 2,355 motor vehicle passing events recorded by Walker that includes information on cyclist's distance to the kerb, vehicle size and colour, city of observation, time of day, whether the event occurred while in a bikelane and helmet wearing. Each variable was considered for a final, multivariable model using purposeful selection of variables. The analysis was repeated using multiple logistic regression with passing distance dichotomised by the one metre rule. Bootstrap p-values were computed using sample sizes computed from conventional values of power and effect size. Results The previously observed significant association between passing distance and helmet wearing was not found when dichotomised by the one metre rule. Other factors were found to be significantly associated with close passing including cyclists' distance to the kerb, vehicle size and city of observation (Salisbury or Bristol, UK). P-values from bootstrap samples indicate the significance of helmet wearing resulted from an overly large sample size. Conclusions After re-analysis of Walker's data, helmet wearing is not associated with close motor vehicle passing. The results, however, highlight other more important factors that may inform effective bicycle safety strategies.
Relating Probabilistic Grammars and Automata

Both probabilistic context-free grammars (PCFGs) and shift-reduce probabilistic pushdown automata (PPDAs) have been used for language modeling and maximum likelihood parsing. We investigate the precise relationship between these two formalisms, showing that, while they define the same classes of probabilistic languages, they appear to impose different inductive biases.
Effect of academic major on students' use of language learning strategies: a diary study in a Chinese context

The research reported here explored how students' use of language learning strategies (LLS) was affected by their academic major. The data were collected by asking students to keep a four-week diary, and then the findings were examined within the model of learning developed by Biggs. An analysis of diary entries showed that, although there were more similarities than differences in their strategy use, there did exist significant differences between social science students and science students in the use of some learning strategies. These strategic differences in language learning could be interpreted from three perspectives: (1) approaches to learning; (2) career interest; and (3) course structure. Some research implications are also discussed.
Acetate-free biofiltration versus bicarbonate haemodialysis in the treatment of patients with diabetic nephropathy: a cross-over multicentric study.

BACKGROUND Morbidity and mortality rates in diabetic patients on regular dialysis treatment (RDT) are higher than in non-diabetic-subjects on RDT. Moreover, diabetic patients experience an intradialitic morbidity unacceptably higher than in patients with other causes of terminal renal failure. The aim of the present investigation was to compare standard bicarbonate haemodialysis (BHD) with acetate-free biofiltration (AFB) in a group of 41 diabetic patients stable on dialysis treatment for 25 +/- 22 months. METHODS Twenty-four type II and 17 type I diabetic patients, all requiring insulin therapy, were included and were followed for 1 year in a 6-month cross-over randomized study for both methods. The analysis was carried out on dialysis symptoms, interdialysis symptoms, and nutritional status, and the multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures on the same subjects in the two techniques was used. RESULTS AFB significantly reduced dialytic and extradialytic symptoms (P=0.003 and 0.001 respectively). Cardiovascular collapses decreased by 43%, and other dialysis symptoms showed a similar trend (-35%). The interdialysis symptoms decreased by 28% and were accompanied by an increase in subjective wellbeing (39%) when patients were switched from traditional haemodialysis to AFB. Acid base control was better with AFB (P=0.01), both at the beginning and during the session. Slightly significant differences were also obtained for Kt/V (AFB 1.48 +/- 0.29 vs BHD 1.38 +/- 0.30), while no significant difference was noted with respect to sodium mass balance, nutritional status, calorie-protein intake, nPCR, blood glucose profile, and insulin requirements. The number of hospital admissions and the mortality rate, which were much lower during the AFB than the BHD period, were not analysed statistically. CONCLUSIONS AFB allows better control of some metabolic aspects, reduces intra- and extradialysis symptoms, and improves patient quality of life. Whether the long-term prognosis can be improved by AFB remains to be established with further studies.
Incorporating Web Analysis Into Neural Networks: An Example in Hopfield Net Searching

Neural networks have been used in various applications on the World Wide Web, but most of them only rely on the available input-output examples without incorporating Web-specific knowledge, such as Web link analysis, into the network design. In this paper, we propose a new approach in which the Web is modeled as an asymmetric Hopfield Net. Each neuron in the network represents a Web page, and the connections between neurons represent the hyperlinks between Web pages. Web content analysis and Web link analysis are also incorporated into the model by adding a page content score function and a link score function into the weights of the neurons and the synapses, respectively. A simulation study was conducted to compare the proposed model with traditional Web search algorithms, namely, a breadth-first search and a best-first search using PageRank as the heuristic. The results showed that the proposed model performed more efficiently and effectively in searching for domain-specific Web pages. We believe that the model can also be useful in other Web applications such as Web page clustering and search result ranking
Artificial insemination history: hurdles and milestones

Artificial insemination with homologous (AIH) or donor semen (AID) is nowadays a very popular treatment procedure used for many subfertile women worldwide. The rationale behind artificial insemination is to increase gamete density at the site of fertilisation. The sequence of events leading to today’s common use of artificial insemination traces back to scientific studies and experimentation many centuries ago. Modern techniques used in human artificial insemination programmes are mostly adapted from the work on cattle by dairy farmers wishing to improve milk production by using artificial insemination with sperm of selected bulls with well chosen genetic traits. The main reason for the renewed interest in artificial insemination in human was associated with the refinement of techniques for the preparation of washed motile spermatozoa in the early years of IVF. The history of artificial insemination is reviewed with particular interest to the most important hurdles and milestones.
Determinants of initiation and maintenance of physical activity among older adults: a literature review

Abstract Understanding the determinants of changing physical activity among older adults is crucial for effective intervention development. The aim of this study was to review and update the evidence relating to the determinants of physical activity initiation and maintenance among older adults, and to explore the main similarities and dissimilarities in determinants between the two phases. Only longitudinal and experimental studies were used to assess the level of evidence. Fifty-nine longitudinal observational and experimental studies were identified. Recent studies were identified that focused on some recently developed concepts, especially in the field of the post-motivational concepts and several environmental determinants in predicting physical activity initiation and maintenance. Furthermore, dissimilarities were found in determinants between physical activity initiation and maintenance. It can be concluded that determinants are to a large degree phase-specific, which should be taken into account during further investigation, theory development and intervention development. Further investigation is needed to study the importance of promising concepts, such as post-motivational and environmental determinants. Recommendations for further empirical research, theory development and intervention development are outlined in this review.
A Multiscale and Hierarchical Feature Extraction Method for Terrestrial Laser Scanning Point Cloud Classification

The effective extraction of shape features is an important requirement for the accurate and efficient classification of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds. However, the challenge of how to obtain robust and discriminative features from noisy and varying density TLS point clouds remains. This paper introduces a novel multiscale and hierarchical framework, which describes the classification of TLS point clouds of cluttered urban scenes. In this framework, we propose multiscale and hierarchical point clusters (MHPCs). In MHPCs, point clouds are first resampled into different scales. Then, the resampled data set of each scale is aggregated into several hierarchical point clusters, where the point cloud of all scales in each level is termed a point-cluster set. This representation not only accounts for the multiscale properties of point clouds but also well captures their hierarchical structures. Based on the MHPCs, novel features of point clusters are constructed by employing the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). An LDA model is trained according to a training set. The LDA model then extracts a set of latent topics, i.e., a feature of topics, for a point cluster. Finally, to apply the introduced features for point-cluster classification, we train an AdaBoost classifier in each point-cluster set and obtain the corresponding classifiers to separate the TLS point clouds with varying point density and data missing into semantic regions. Compared with other methods, our features achieve the best classification results for buildings, trees, people, and cars from TLS point clouds, particularly for small and moving objects, such as people and cars.
Long-term outcomes of an arthritis self-management programme.

OBJECTIVE A previous UK evaluation of the Arthritis Self-Management Programme (ASMP) demonstrated 4 month improvements in physical and psychological well-being including increased arthritis self-efficacy and increased use of self-management behaviours such as cognitive symptom management, and reductions in pain, fatigue and anxiety. The purpose of this study was to determine whether these effects were maintained at 12 month follow-up. METHODS Twelve month data were collected via self-administered questionnaires mailed to participants who had previously responded prior to attending the ASMP and at 4 months follow-up. RESULTS The sample (n = 112) comprised 82% women with a mean age of 59.6 (S.D. 12.4) yr and a mean disease duration of 14.9 (S.D. 11.1) yr. The majority of participants had a general practitioner-recorded diagnosis of either rheumatoid arthritis (46%) or osteoarthritis (44%). Many of the changes noted at 4 months were sustained at the 12 month follow-up. CONCLUSION This first long-term evaluation of a community-based patient education intervention delivered in the UK suggests that after participation in the ASMP, persons with arthritis derive substantial and prolonged benefits in terms of perceived ability to manage arthritis, reduction in pain and improved psychological well-being.
Principals’ and teachers’ attitudes and knowledge of inclusive education as predictors of effective teaching practices in Ghana

Surveys and observations were undertaken in selected primary schools in Ghana to determine whether principals’ and teachers’ attitudes towards and knowledge of inclusive education, as well as principals’ expectations of teachers in implementing inclusion, were predictors of effective teaching practices in their classrooms. The sample of 128 educators (20 principals and 108 teachers) drawn from 20 primary schools in two districts, were required to respond to questionnaire measures of Attitude Towards Inclusive Education Scale (ATIES), Knowledge of Inclusive Education Scale (KIES) and Principals’ Expectations Scale (PES). Of the total number of teachers (N = 108), 37 were observed during instructional delivery in their classrooms. The data were analysed by a variety of statistical procedures including Regression Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. In the context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985), the results showed that whilst attitudes towards inclusion (attitude element) and knowledge of inclusion (perceived behavioural control element) predicted effective teaching practices, principals’ expectations (subjective norm) did not. Implications for the implementation of effective inclusive practices in Ghanaian schools and the need for future research are discussed.
Mortality in burned children with acute renal failure.

BACKGROUND During the past 13 years, mortality from acute renal failure in burned children has been on the decline. OBJECTIVE To determine which new burn therapies contributed to the decrease in mortality. DESIGN The medical records of burned children admitted from February 1966 to January 1997 were reviewed, and the outcome of changes in the treatment of burned children were compared. PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty children with acute renal failure were identified. These children were divided into those admitted from 1966 to 1983 (n=24) and those admitted from 1984 to 1997 (n=36). They were compared with matched control subjects from the same period without renal failure. Values are presented as means+/-SEMs. Statistical analysis was by the Student t test or chi2 analysis. RESULTS Mortality rates in burned children with acute renal failure decreased from 100% before 1983 to 56% after 1984 (P<.001). The time between a burn injury and the initiation of intravenous fluid resuscitation was 8.6+/-1.7 hours before 1983 compared with 3.0+/-0.5 hours after 1984 (P<.005). The time between a burn injury and complete early wound excision decreased from 228+/-37 hours before 1983 to 40+/-7 hours after 1984 (P<.001). The incidence of sepsis decreased from 71% to 44% in these periods (P<.05). After 1984, survivors had a shorter time delay for fluid resuscitation than nonsurvivors (1.7+/-0.5 hours vs 4.8+/-0.9 hours; P<.005) and a lower incidence of sepsis (19% vs 60%; P<.05). From 1984 to 1997, burned children with acute renal failure who did not require dialysis had significantly shorter delays for fluid resuscitation (2.2+/-0.5 hours vs 4.4+/-0.9 hours) and complete wound excision (29+/-6 hours vs 49+/-7 hours) compared with those requiring dialysis (P<.05 for both). CONCLUSION Early adequate fluid resuscitation, early wound excision, and better infection control may reduce mortality in burned children with acute renal failure.
Source-filter separation for articulation-to-speech synthesis

In this paper we examine a method for separating out the vocal-tract (cid:2)lter response from the voice source characteristic using a large articulatory database. The method realises such separation for voiced speech using an iterative approximation procedure under the assumption that the speech production process is a linear system composed of a voice source and a vocal-tract (cid:2)lter, and that each of the components is controlled independently by different sets of factors. Experimental results show that the spectral variation is evidently in-(cid:3)uenced by the fundamental frequency or the power of speech, and that the tendency of the variation may be related closely to speaker identity. The method enables independent control over the voice source characteristic in our articulation-to-speech synthesis.