Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Socio-demographic and behavioural risk factors for cervical cancer and knowledge, attitude and practice in rural and urban areas of North Bengal, India.

BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is common among women worldwide. A multitude of risk factors aggravate the disease. This study was conducted to: (1) determine the prevalence and (2) make a comparative analysis of the socio-demographic and behavioural risk factors of cervical cancer and knowledge, attitude and practice between rural and urban women of North Bengal, India. STUDY DESIGN Community-based cross-sectional study. METHODS A survey (first in North Bengal) was conducted among 133 women in a rural area (Kawakhali) and 88 women in an urban slum (Shaktigarh) using predesigned semi-structured questionnaires. The respondents were informed of the causes (including HPV), signs and symptoms, prevention of cervical cancer and treatment, and the procedure of the PAP test and HPV vaccination. RESULTS The prevalence of risk factors like multiparity, early age of marriage, use of cloth during menstruation, use of condom and OCP, early age of first intercourse was 37.2%, 82%, 83.3%, 5.4%, 15.8% and 65.6% respectively. Awareness about the cause, signs and symptoms, prevention of cervical cancer, PAP test and HPV vaccination was 3.6%, 6.3%, 3.6%, 9.5% and 14.5% respectively. Chi-square testing revealed that in the study population, significant differential at 5% exists between rural and urban residents with respect to number of children, use of cloth/sanitary napkins, family history of cancer and awareness regarding causes of cervical cancer. Regarding KAP, again using chi-square tests, surprisingly, level of education is found to be significant for each element of KAP in urban areas in contrast to complete absence of association between education and elements of KAP in rural areas. CONCLUSIONS A large number of risk factors were present in both areas, the prevalence being higher in the rural areas. The level of awareness and role of education appears to be insignificant determinants in rural compared to urban areas. This pilot study needs to be followed up by large scale programmes to re-orient awareness campaigns, especially in rural areas.
A quadratic kernel for feedback vertex set

We prove that given an undirected graph G on n vertices and an integer k, one can compute in polynomial time in n a graph G' with at most 5k2 + k vertices and an integer k' such that G has a feedback vertex set of size at most k iff G' has a feedback vertex set of size at most k'. This result improves a previous O(k11) kernel of Burrage et al. [6], and a more recent cubic kernel of Bodlaender [3]. This problem was communicated by Fellows in [5].
Improved Hepatoprotective Effect of Liposome-Encapsulated Astaxanthin in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Hepatotoxicity

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute hepatotoxicity is significantly associated with oxidative stress. Astaxanthin (AST), a xanthophyll carotenoid, is well known for its potent antioxidant capacity. However, its drawbacks of poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability have limited its utility. Liposome encapsulation is considered as an effective alternative use for the improvement of bioavailability of the hydrophobic compound. We hypothesized that AST encapsulated within liposomes (LA) apparently shows improved stability and transportability compared to that of free AST. To investigate whether LA administration can efficiently prevent the LPS-induced acute hepatotoxicity, male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = six per group) were orally administered liposome-encapsulated AST at 2, 5 or 10 mg/kg-day (LA-2, LA-5, and LA-10) for seven days and then were LPS-challenged (i.p., 5 mg/kg). The LA-10 administered group, but not the other groups, exhibited a significant amelioration of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CRE), hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), IL-6, and hepatic nuclear NF-κB and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), suggesting that LA at a 10 mg/kg-day dosage renders hepatoprotective effects. Moreover, the protective effects were even superior to that of positive control N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 200 mg/kg-day). Histopathologically, NAC, free AST, LA-2 and LA-5 partially, but LA-10 completely, alleviated the acute inflammatory status. These results indicate that hydrophobic AST after being properly encapsulated by liposomes improves bioavailability and can also function as potential drug delivery system in treating hepatotoxicity.
Biospectroscopic analysis of human breast cancer tissue: probing infrared signatures to comprehend biochemical alterations

Biospectroscopic analysis of human breast cancer tissue: probing infrared signatures to comprehend biochemical alterations Ranjana Mehrotra*, Gunjan Tyagi, Sonika Charak, Bhumika Ray, Geeta Kadayaprath, Harit Chaturvedi, Urmi Mukherjee and Andleeb Abrari CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012, India; Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Press Enclave Road, Saket, New Delhi 110017, India; Department of Histopathology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Press Enclave Road, Saket, New Delhi 110017, India
One-dimensional heat diffusion modelling and random walks on non-uniform grids

A probabilistic model for the diffusion of heat on one-dimensional spaces is developed. Specifically, grid points are arbitrarily placed on the real line and the heat particles are assumed to jump between these grid points in continuous time. This random walk by the heat particles is represented by a continuous-time Markov chain and state-transition intensities depends on the underlying, possibly non-uniform, spacing of the grid points to characterize the Markov chain. Several numerical examples are demonstrated to show the efficacy of the proposed framework for exemplary non-uniform grids.
Evaluation of a combined posterior lateral and anteromedial approach in the treatment of terrible triad of the elbow

Background: This retrospective study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of a combined posterior lateral and anteromedial approach in the treatment of terrible triad of the elbow (TTE). Methods: TTE patients who received a combination of posterior lateral and anteromedial approach or other conservative treatments were included in the present study. The postoperative functions of the elbow and the severity of traumatic arthritis were assessed using the Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) and visual analog scale (VAS). Extension–flexion of elbow joint and rotation of forearm were also measured. Results: A combined posterior lateral and anteromedial approach or other conservative treatments showed significant improvements in the activity of the elbow, MEPS, VAS, the excellent rate, and x-ray results. The postoperative healing time and complication rate of patients who received a combined posterior lateral and anteromedial approach significantly decreased compared to those who received other conservative treatments. Conclusions: Patients with TTE who received a combined posterior lateral and anteromedial treatment had an increased fracture healing rate, showed improved recovery of elbow functions and had fewer complications.
Approximate Inference and Protein-Folding

Side-chain prediction is an important subtask in the protein-folding problem. We show that finding a minimal energy side-chain configuration is equivalent to performing inference in an undirected graphical model. The graphical model is relatively sparse yet has many cycles. We used this equivalence to assess the performance of approximate inference algorithms in a real-world setting. Specifically we compared belief propagation (BP), generalized BP (GBP) and naive mean field (MF). In cases where exact inference was possible, max-product BP always found the global minimum of the energy (except in few cases where it failed to converge), while other approximation algorithms of similar complexity did not. In the full protein data set, max-product BP always found a lower energy configuration than the other algorithms, including a widely used protein-folding software (SCWRL).
Clinical and Muscle Imaging Findings in 14 Mainland Chinese Patients with Oculopharyngodistal Myopathy

Oculopharyngodistal myopathy (OPDM) is an extremely rare, adult-onset hereditary muscular disease characterized by progressive external ocular, pharyngeal, and distal muscle weakness and myopathological rimmed vacuole changes. The causative gene is currently unknown; therefore, diagnosis of OPDM is based on clinical and histopathological features and genetic exclusion of similar conditions. Moreover, variable manifestations of this disorder are reported in terms of muscle involvement and severity. We present the clinical profile and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes of lower limb muscles in 14 mainland Chinese patients with OPDM, emphasizing the role of muscle MRI in disease identification and differential diagnosis. The patients came from 10 unrelated families and presented with progressive external ocular, laryngopharyngeal, facial, distal limb muscle weakness that had been present since early adulthood. Serum creatine kinase was mildly to moderately elevated. Electromyography revealed myogenic changes with inconsistent myotonic discharge. The respiratory function test revealed subclinical respiratory muscle involvement. Myopathological findings showed rimmed vacuoles with varying degrees of muscular dystrophic changes. All known genes responsible for distal and myofibrillar myopathies, vacuolar myopathies, and muscular dystrophies were excluded by PCR or targeted next-generation sequencing. Muscle MRI revealed that the distal lower legs had more severe fatty replacement than the thigh muscles. Serious involvement of the soleus and long head of the biceps femoris was observed in all patients, whereas the popliteus, gracilis and short head of biceps femoris were almost completely spared, even in advanced stages. Not only does our study widen the spectrum of OPDM in China, but it also demonstrates that OPDM has a specific pattern of muscle involvement that may provide valuable information for its differential diagnosis and show further evidence supporting the conclusion that OPDM is a unique disease phenotype.
Efficient distributed event driven simulations of multiple-loop networks

Simulating asynchronous multiple-loop networks is commonly considered a difficult task for parallel programming. This paper presents two examples of asynchronous multiple-loop networks: a stylized queuing system and an Ising model. The network topology in both cases is an nX n grid on a torus. A new distributed simulation algorithm is demonstrated on these two examples. The algorithm combines three elements: 1) the bounded lag restriction, 2) precomputed minimal propagation delays, and 3) the so-called opaque periods. Theoretical performance evaluation suggests that if N processing elements (PEs) execute the algorithm in parallel and the simulated system exhibits sufficient density of events, then, in average, processing one event would require &Ogr;(logN) instructions of one PE. In practice, the algorithm has achieved substantial speed-ups: the speed-up is greater than 16 using 25 PEs on a shared memory MIMD bus computer, and greater than 1900 using 214 PEs on a SIMD computer.
Large gas reservoirs and free–free emission in two lensed star-forming galaxies at z = 2.7

We report the detection of CO(1–0) line emission in the bright, lensed star-forming galaxies SPT-S 233227−5358.5 (z = 2.73) and SPT-S 053816−5030.8 (z = 2.78), using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Both galaxies were discovered in a large-area millimetre survey with the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and found to be gravitationally lensed by intervening structures. The measured CO intensities imply galaxies with molecular gas masses of (3.2 ± 0.5) × 10^10(μ/15)^(−1)(X_CO/0.8) and (1.7 ± 0.3) × 10^10(μ/20)^(−1)(XCO/0.8) M_⊙, and gas depletion time-scales of 4.9 × 107(X_CO/0.8) and 2.6 × 10^7(X_CO/0.8) yr, respectively, where μ corresponds to the lens magnification and X_CO is the CO luminosity to gas mass conversion factor. In the case of SPT-S 053816−5030.8, we also obtained significant detections of the rest-frame 115.7 and 132.4 GHz radio continuum. Based on the radio-to-infrared spectral energy distribution and an assumed synchrotron spectral index, we find that 42 ± 10 and 55 ± 13 per cent of the flux at rest-frame 115.7 and 132.4 GHz arises from free–free emission. We find a radio-derived intrinsic star formation rate of 470 ± 170 M_⊙ yr^(−1), consistent within the uncertainties with the infrared estimate. Based on the morphology of this object in the source plane, the derived gas mass and the possible flattening of the radio spectral index towards low frequencies, we argue that SPT-S 053816−5030.8 exhibits properties compatible with a scaled-up local ultraluminous infrared galaxy.
High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema Is Initially Caused by an Increase in Capillary Pressure

BackgroundHigh-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is characterized by severe pulmonary hypertension and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid changes indicative of inflammation. It is not known, however, whether the primary event is an increase in pressure or an increase in permeability of the pulmonary capillaries. Methods and ResultsWe studied pulmonary hemodynamics, including capillary pressure determined by the occlusion method, and capillary permeability evaluated by the pulmonary transvascular escape of 67Ga-labeled transferrin, in 16 subjects with a previous HAPE and in 14 control subjects, first at low altitude (490 m) and then within the first 48 hours of ascent to a high-altitude laboratory (4559 m). The HAPE-susceptible subjects, compared with the control subjects, had an enhanced pulmonary vasoreactivity to inspiratory hypoxia at low altitude and higher mean pulmonary artery pressures (37±2 versus 26±1 mm Hg, P <0.001) and pulmonary capillary pressures (19±1 versus 13±1 mm Hg, P <0.001) at high altitude. Nine of the susceptible subjects developed HAPE. All of them had a pulmonary capillary pressure >19 mm Hg (range 20 to 26 mm Hg), whereas all 7 susceptible subjects without HAPE had a pulmonary capillary pressure <19 mm Hg (range 14 to 18 mm Hg). The pulmonary transcapillary escape of radiolabeled transferrin increased slightly from low to high altitude in the HAPE-susceptible subjects but remained within the limits of normal and did not differ significantly from the control subjects. ConclusionsHAPE is initially caused by an increase in pulmonary capillary pressure.
Stacked FSMD: a power efficient micro-architecture for high level synthesis

In this paper, we argue that the classic micro-architecture model, namely finite state machine with datapath (FSMD), cannot handle procedure abstraction needed by complex applications. This presents one of the major obstacles for the adoption of high-level synthesis technology in practice. We propose a simple extension of FSMD, called stacked FSMD, which mimics the procedure linkage concepts in software. We demonstrate that the new micro-architecture can not only fully support procedure calls, but also be made power efficient by a technique called region-based partitioning, which can be applied directly at the behavioral level with the assistance of simple metric evaluated at the behavioral level. With a rigorous experimental procedure, we show that the controller power saving achieved can range from 12 % to 68 % with modest overhead in area.
Americans misperceive racial economic equality

Significance Race-based economic inequality is both a defining and persistent feature of the United States that is at odds with national narratives regarding progress toward racial equality. This work examines perceptions of Black–White differences in economic outcomes, both in the past and present. We find that Americans, on average, systematically overestimate the extent to which society has progressed toward racial economic equality, driven largely by overestimates of current racial equality. Notably, White Americans generated more accurate estimates of Black–White equality when asked to consider the persistence of race-based discrimination in American society. The findings suggest a profound misperception of and misplaced optimism regarding contemporary societal racial economic equality—a misperception that is likely to have important consequences for public policy. The present research documents the widespread misperception of race-based economic equality in the United States. Across four studies (n = 1,377) sampling White and Black Americans from the top and bottom of the national income distribution, participants overestimated progress toward Black–White economic equality, largely driven by estimates of greater current equality than actually exists according to national statistics. Overestimates of current levels of racial economic equality, on average, outstripped reality by roughly 25% and were predicted by greater belief in a just world and social network racial diversity (among Black participants). Whereas high-income White respondents tended to overestimate racial economic equality in the past, Black respondents, on average, underestimated the degree of past racial economic equality. Two follow-up experiments further revealed that making societal racial discrimination salient increased the accuracy of Whites’ estimates of Black–White economic equality, whereas encouraging Whites to anchor their estimates on their own circumstances increased their tendency to overestimate current racial economic equality. Overall, these findings suggest a profound misperception of and unfounded optimism regarding societal race-based economic equality—a misperception that is likely to have any number of important policy implications.
A Mechanism for the Potential Proarrhythmic Effect of Acidosis, Bradycardia, and Hypokalemia on the Blockade of Human Ether-a-go-go-Related Gene (HERG) Channels

Many drugs are proarrhythmic by inhibiting the cardiac rapid delayed rectifier potassium channel (IKr). In this study, we use quinidine as an example of highly proarrhythmic agent to investigate the risk factors that may facilitate the proarrhythmic effects of drugs. We studied the influence of pacing, extracellular potassium, and pH on quinidine's IKr blocking effect, all potential factors influencing quinidine's cardiac toxicity. Since the HERG gene encodes IKr, we studied quinidine's effect on HERG expressed in Xenopus oocytes by the 2-electrode voltage clamp technique. When extracellular K+ was 5 mmol/L, quinidine blocked the HERG current dose dependently, with an IC50 of 6.3 ± 0.2 μmol/L. The blockade was much more prominent at more positive membrane potentials. The inhibition of HERG by quinidine was not use dependent. There was no significant difference between block with or without pacing. When extracellular K+ was lowered to 2.5 mmol/L, the current inhibition by quinidine was enhanced, and IC50 decreased to 4.6 ± 0.5 μmol/L. At 10 mmol/L extracellular K+, there was less inhibition by quinidine and the IC50 was 11.2 ± 3.1 μmol/L. Extracellular acidification decreased both steady state and tail currents of HERG. We conclude that the inhibitory effect of quinidine on IKr was decreased with extracellular acidification, which may produce heterogeneity in the repolarization between normal and ischemic cardiac tissue. Thus, the use-independent blockade of IKr by QT-prolonging agents such as quinidine may contribute to cardiac toxicity with bradycardia, hypokalemia, and acidosis further exaggerating the proarrhythmic potential of these agents.
An analysis of the evolving comoving number density of galaxies in hydrodynamical simulations

We present an analysis of the evolving comoving cumulative number density of galaxy populations found in the Illustris simulation. Cumulative number density is commonly used to link galaxy populations across different epochs by assuming that galaxies preserve their number density in time. Our analysis allows us to examine the extent to which this assumption holds in the presence of galaxy mergers or when rank ordering is broken owing to variable stellar growth rates. Our primary results are as follows: (1) the inferred average stellar mass evolution obtained via a constant comoving number density assumption is systematically biased compared to the merger tree results at the factor of ∼2(4) level when tracking galaxies from redshift z = 0 to 2(3); (2) the median number density evolution for galaxy populations tracked forward in time is shallower than for galaxy populations tracked backward; (3) a similar evolution in the median number density of tracked galaxy populations is found regardless of whether number density is assigned via stellar mass, stellar velocity dispersion, or halo mass; (4) explicit tracking reveals a large diversity in the stellar and dark matter assembly histories that cannot be captured by constant number density analyses; (5) the significant scatter in galaxy linking methods is only marginally reduced (∼20 per cent) by considering additional physical galaxy properties. We provide fits for the median evolution in number density for use with observational data and discuss the implications of our analysis for interpreting multi-epoch galaxy property observations.
Worst-case bounds on the quality of max-product fixed-points

We study worst-case bounds on the quality of any fixed point assignment of the max-product algorithm for Markov Random Fields (MRF). We start providing a bound independent of the MRF structure and parameters. Afterwards, we show how this bound can be improved for MRFs with specific structures such as bipartite graphs or grids. Our results provide interesting insight into the behavior of max-product. For example, we prove that max-product provides very good results (at least 90% optimal) on MRFs with large variable-disjoint cycles1.
Singularities on normal varieties

Abstract In this paper we generalize the definitions of singularities of pairs and multiplier ideal sheaves to pairs on arbitrary normal varieties, without any assumption on the variety being ℚ-Gorenstein or the pair being log ℚ-Gorenstein. The main features of the theory extend to this setting in a natural way.
Declines in Physical Performance by Sex and Age Among Nondisabled Community-Dwelling Older Japanese During a 6-Year Period

Background Few studies have examined whether declines over time in hand-grip strength (HGS) and fast walking speed (FWS) differ by sex and age among non-Western community-dwelling older adults. This study aimed to quantify changes in HGS and FWS over the 6-year period from 1994 to 2000 and examine whether these changes differed by sex and baseline age among older individuals in a Japanese community. Methods We conducted a community-based prospective cohort study. The participants were 513 nondisabled men and women aged 67 to 91 years at the 1994 survey. Independent variables regarding time since baseline, in addition to various time-dependent and time-independent covariates, were obtained in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. The outcome variables were HGS and FWS assessed at each survey. All data on independent and dependent variables that were collected at each survey were simultaneously analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model. Results The linear mixed-effects model revealed significant declines in both HGS (−0.70 kg/year, P < 0.001) and FWS (−0.027 m/sec/year, P < 0.001) among nondisabled older participants who had analyzable data in any survey during the 6-year period. Sex was significantly associated with the rate of decline in HGS (P < 0.001), but not FWS (P = 0.211). Conclusions In this analysis of nondisabled older Japanese, a mixed-effects model confirmed a significant effect of aging on declines in HGS and FWS and showed that men had a significantly steeper decline in HGS than did women during a 6-year period.