Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cesarean section and postnatal sexual health.

BACKGROUND Cesarean delivery avoids perineal trauma and has therefore often been assumed to protect sexual function after childbirth. We sought to examine this assumption by using data from a study of women's sexual health after childbirth to assess whether women who underwent cesarean section experienced better sexual health in the postnatal period than women with vaginal births. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted of 796 primiparous women, employing data from obstetric records and a postal survey 6 months after delivery. RESULTS Any protective effect of cesarean section on sexual function was limited to the early postnatal period (0-3 months), primarily to dyspareunia-related symptoms. At 6 months the differences in dyspareunia-related symptoms, sexual response-related symptoms, and postcoital problems were much reduced or reversed, and none reached statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS Outcomes from this study provide no basis for advocating cesarean section as a way to protect women's sexual function after childbirth.
Comparison of Physical Activity Adult Questionnaire results with accelerometer data.

BACKGROUND Discrepancies between self-reported and objectively measured physical activity are well-known. For the purpose of validation, this study compares a new self-reported physical activity questionnaire with an existing one and with accelerometer data. DATA AND METHODS Data collected at one site of the Canadian Health Measures Survey in 2013 were used for this validation study. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was administered to respondents during the household interview, and the new Physical Activity for Adults Questionnaire (PAAQ) was administered during a subsequent visit to a mobile examination centre (MEC). At the MEC, respondents were given an accelerometer to wear for seven days. The analysis pertains to 112 respondents aged 18 to 79 who wore the accelerometer for 10 or more hours on at least four days. RESULTS Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) measured by accelerometer had higher correlation with data from the PAAQ (r = 0.44) than with data from the IPAQ (r = 0.20). The differences between accelerometer and PAAQ data were greater based on accelerometer-measured physical activity accumulated in 10-minute bouts (30-minute difference in MVPA) than on all minutes (9-minute difference). The percentages of respondents meeting the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines were 90% based on self-reported IPAQ minutes, 70% based on all accelerometer MVPA minutes, 29% based on accelerometer MVPA minutes accumulated in 10-minute bouts, and 61% based on self-reported PAAQ minutes. INTERPRETATION The PAAQ demonstrated reasonable validity against the accelerometer criterion. Based on correlations and absolute differences between daily minutes of MVPA and the percentages of respondents meeting the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines, PAAQ results were closer to accelerometer data than were the IPAQ results for the study sample and previous Statistics Canada self-reported questionnaire findings.
Angiotensin I-converting enzyme gene polymorphism in Chinese patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship of an insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE) gene to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) patients and the control subjects. METHODS Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR primers flanked the polymorphic region in intro 16 of the ACE gene. RESULTS OSAS patients had significantly higher frequencies of I/I genotype and insertion allele of the ACE gene as compared with the control subjects in Chinese population. The OSAS patients with I/I genotype had significantly longer apnea time, lower minimum SaO2 and greater AHI than the OSAS patients with I/D genotype. CONCLUSION These results indicate that the I/I genotype and I allele are a risk factor for OSAS in Chinese.
Sampling Phrase Tables for the Moses Statistical Machine Translation System

Abstract The idea of virtual phrase tables for statistical machine translation (SMT) that construct phrase table entries on demand by sampling a fully indexed bitext was first proposed ten years ago by Callison-Burch et al. (2005). However, until recently (Germann, 2014) no working and practical implementation of this approach was available in the Moses SMT system. We describe and evaluate this implementation in more detail. Sampling phrase tables are much faster to build and are competitive with conventional phrase tables in terms of translation quality and speed.
Antibiotic resistance in the intensive care unit

The use of antibiotics is unique in medical practice in that the treatment given to an individual may have consequence for the wider population. Pathogens may be intrinsically resistant to antibiotics, but the problem of induced or evolving resistance should not to be underestimated. Increasingly, it is recognized that the use of broad-spectrum agents, even when appropriate, is a significant factor in the development of resistance in bacteria and fungi. This has major implications for healthcare in general, and particularly in the ICU where resistant organisms can present major challenges, as patients tend to be debilitated and particularly susceptible to nosocomial infection. Such infections often lead to prolonged ICU and hospital stay, and consequent increased healthcare costs. There is a degree of inevitability to the development of antibiotic resistance. However, strategies have been proposed and evaluated that attempt to limit the development of antimicrobial resistance, maintain the usefulness of existing antimicrobials, and influence the development of novel agents. Much of what follows relates to bacterial resistance and pathogens selected by antibiotic use.
Repeatability and Contingency in the Evolution of a Key Innovation in Phage Lambda

Natural Selection Caught in the Act Understanding how new functions evolve has been of long-standing interest. However, the number of mutations needed to evolve a key innovation is rarely known, or whether other sets of mutations would also suffice, whether the intermediate steps are driven by natural selection, or how contingent the outcome is on steps along the way. Meyer et al. (p. 428; see the Perspective by Thompson) answer these questions for a case in which phage lambda evolved the ability to infect its host Escherichia coli through a novel receptor. This shift required four mutations, which accumulated under natural selection in concert with coevolution of the host. However, when Tenaillon et al. (p. 457) exposed 115 lines of E. coli to high temperature and sequenced them, adaptation occurred through many different genetic paths, showing parallelism at the level of genes and interacting protein complexes, but only rarely at the nucleotide level. Thus, epistasis—nonadditive genetic interaction—is likely to play an important part in the process of adaptation to this environment. A receptor shift required four mutations that accumulated by natural selection and with the host’s coevolution. The processes responsible for the evolution of key innovations, whereby lineages acquire qualitatively new functions that expand their ecological opportunities, remain poorly understood. We examined how a virus, bacteriophage λ, evolved to infect its host, Escherichia coli, through a novel pathway. Natural selection promoted the fixation of mutations in the virus’s host-recognition protein, J, that improved fitness on the original receptor, LamB, and set the stage for other mutations that allowed infection through a new receptor, OmpF. These viral mutations arose after the host evolved reduced expression of LamB, whereas certain other host mutations prevented the phage from evolving the new function. This study shows the complex interplay between genomic processes and ecological conditions that favor the emergence of evolutionary innovations.
Neural Random Access Machines

Abstract: In this paper, we propose and investigate a new neural network architecture called Neural Random Access Machine. It can manipulate and dereference pointers to an external variable-size random-access memory. The model is trained from pure input-output examples using backpropagation. We evaluate the new model on a number of simple algorithmic tasks whose solutions require pointer manipulation and dereferencing. Our results show that the proposed model can learn to solve algorithmic tasks of such type and is capable of operating on simple data structures like linked-lists and binary trees. For easier tasks, the learned solutions generalize to sequences of arbitrary length. Moreover, memory access during inference can be done in a constant time under some assumptions.
A hybrid finite automaton for practical deep packet inspection

Deterministic finite automata (DFAs) are widely used to perform regular expression matching in linear time. Several techniques have been proposed to compress DFAs in order to reduce memory requirements. Unfortunately, many real-world IDS regular expressions include complex terms that result in an exponential increase in number of DFA states. Since all recent proposals use an initial DFA as a starting-point, they cannot be used as comprehensive regular expression representations in an IDS. In this work we propose a hybrid automaton which addresses this issue by combining the benefits of deterministic and non-deterministic finite automata. We test our proposal on Snort rule-sets and we validate it on real traffic traces. Finally, we address and analyze the worst case behavior of our scheme and compare it to traditional ones.
Arterial intima-media thickness: site-specific associations with HRT and habitual exercise.

We determined the site-specific relations of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and habitual exercise status with intima-media thickness (IMT) in both elastic (carotid) and muscular (femoral) arteries in 77 healthy postmenopausal women: 43 women were sedentary (20 no-HRT and 23 HRT users) and 34 women were endurance trained (14 no-HRT and 20 HRT users). Femoral IMT was not different among the sedentary HRT and endurance-trained no-HRT and HRT groups, but was lower (P < 0.005) in these three groups than in the sedentary no-HRT women. There were no significant group differences in carotid IMT. However, in older women (> or =65 yrs) carotid IMT was smaller (P < 0.05) in HRT compared with no-HRT women. We conclude that both endurance training and HRT status are independently associated with a smaller IMT and these effects are evident primarily in muscular arteries. These results suggest that HRT and habitual exercise may protect postmenopausal women against cardiovascular disease through influences on IMT. The site-specific relations may be due to a greater number of smooth muscle cells and plasticity of muscular arteries compared with elastic arteries and/or differences in heterogeneous influences such as metabolic requirements and hydrostatic pressures.
Trajectory-based view-invariant hand gesture recognition by fusing shape and orientation

Traditional studies in vision-based hand gesture recognition remain rooted in view-dependent representations, and hence users are forced to be fronto-parallel to the camera. To solve this problem, view-invariant gesture recognition aims to make the recognition result independent of viewpoint changes. However, in current works the view-invariance is achieved at the price of mixing different gesture patterns that have similar trajectory curve shape but different semantic meanings. For example, the gesture ‘push’ can be mistaken as ‘drag’ from another viewpoint. To address this shortcoming, in this study, the authors use a shape descriptor to extract the view-invariant features of a three-dimensional (3D) trajectory. As the shape features are invariant to omnidirectional viewpoint changes, the orientation features are then added into weight different rotation angles so that similar trajectory shapes are better separated. The proposed method was conducted on two different databases, including a popular Australian Sign Language database and a challenging Kinect Hand Trajectory database. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a higher average recognition rate than the state-of-the-art approaches, and can better distinguish confusing gestures while meeting the view-invariant condition.
The youngest occurrence of ichthyosaur embryos in the UK: A new specimen from the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) of Yorkshire.

The remains of between six and eight ichthyosaur embryos, still situated within a fragment of the rib-cage of the parent animal, are described. Each is represented by a string of vertebral centra, some with associated ribs. Other skeletal elements, including possible skull material, are represented only by isolated bones, none identifiable with certainty. The small limestone boulder in which the ichthyosaur specimens are preserved was collected from the beach at Sandsend, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, and derives from the Whitby Mudstone Formation (Hildoceras bifrons Ammonite Biozone) of the Toarcian Stage of the Lower Jurassic. The specimen cannot be identified beyond Ichthyosauria indet. However, it represents the geologically-youngest occurrence of ichthyosaur embryos thus far recorded from the UK and the first such occurrence to be reported from Yorkshire.
A multi-phase structural constitutive model for insights into soft tissue remodeling mechanisms

All tissues in the human body continuously grow, remodel, and adapt to changes in their physiological environment, in order to maintain homeostasis or to retain it in case of pathologies. The growth and remodeling (G&R) process results in changes in structure and composition. To elucidate how observed changes in tissue components are related to altered tissue level mechanical behavior, structural constitutive models are required with physiologically relevant model parameters. Specifically what is required is a finite deformation constitutive model describing the tissue mechanical behavior, in combination with the appropriate kinematics for the multiple tissue components, and experimental data of a relevant tissue application. An excellent example is the urinary bladder wall (UBW), which undergoes profound remodeling in response to different pathologies, such as spinal cord injury (SCI). The overall objective of this dissertation was to develop a morphologically-driven, multi-phase constitutive model that would allow for separate investigation of the contribution of individual tissue components to the tissue-level remodeling process. As a first step, a constitutive model was developed of UBW extracellular matrix (ECM). Removing the smooth muscle cells from UBW tissue via decellularization allowed for the separate mechanical and structural investigation of UBW ECM. It was shown that the presence of de novo produced elastin in the UBW ECM post-SCI induced, indirectly, a distinct mechanical behavior with higher compliance, allowing for a higher overall extensibility of the post-SCI UBW and increased bladder storage capacity. The ECM constitutive model was extended and modified to be able to apply it to a multi-component tissue with individual model components existing in different reference states. Parameters were determined from biaxial mechanical data of decellularized and intact UBW tissue using a step-wise fitting approach implemented in MATLAB. As an initial step towards a theoretical G&R framework, a parametric analysis was performed to investigate if observed mechanical changes in post-SCI UBW were due to changes in morphology or intrinsic constituent properties. The developed model has the potential to explain underlying remodeling mechanisms of individual constituents in muscular tissues in several pathologies (e.g. UBW post-SCI), and predict remodeling events in a tissue engineering setting of muscular tissues.
In Vitro Evidence for a Direct Antifibrotic Role of the Immunosuppressive Drug Mycophenolate Mofetil

The immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is used to prevent organ rejection after transplantation and has shown some efficacy to prevent the fibrotic complications that occur during autoimmune diseases such as systemic sclerosis or during graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). We tested the hypothesis that MMF may exert direct effects on fibroblast extracellular matrix remodeling. Incubation of human lung fibroblast cultures with MMF led to dose- and time-dependent reduction in the synthesis and expression of type I collagen. Inhibition of COL1A1 and COL1A2 mRNA steady-state levels occurred at the level of transcription via repression of their promoters. In contrast, MMF significantly enhanced the expression and the synthesis of interstitial collagenase (matrix metalloproteinase-1). MMF was also found to diminish the capacity of fibroblast to contract mechanically unloaded collagen lattices and to reduce the synthesis of α-smooth muscle actin, a marker of the contractile myofibroblast phenotype. In addition, MMF diminished the fibroblasts motility. In conclusion, we provide novel mechanism by which MMF alters fibroblast functions important for wound healing and implicated in the development of tissue fibrosis, e.g., collagen production, extracellular matrix contraction, and cell migration. Such properties may contribute to the beneficial therapeutic effects of MMF against fibrotic lesions developing in systemic sclerosis or during GVHD.
Stability of Connected Vehicle Platoons With Delayed Acceleration Feedback

Wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies such as the dedicated short range communication (DSRC) may be used to assist drivers in sensing and responding to impalpable information such as the precise acceleration of vehicles ahead. In this paper, we investigate the impact of delayed acceleration feedback on traffic flow using a nonlinear car-following model. It is shown that acceleration feedback can improve the stability of uniform traffic flow, though excessive acceleration feedback leads to undesired high frequency oscillations. Additionally, time delays in the communication channel may shrink the stable domain by introducing mid-frequency oscillations. Finally, we show that one may stabilize vehicle platoons using delayed acceleration feedback even in cases when finite driver reaction time would destabilize the system. Our results may lead to more robust cruise control systems with increased driver comfort in connected vehicle environment. © 2013 ASME
Life Depends upon Two Kinds of Water

Background Many well-documented biochemical processes lack a molecular mechanism. Examples are: how ATP hydrolysis and an enzyme contrive to perform work, such as active transport; how peptides are formed from amino acids and DNA from nucleotides; how proteases cleave peptide bonds, how bone mineralises; how enzymes distinguish between sodium and potassium; how chirality of biopolymers was established prebiotically. Methodology/Principal Findings It is shown that involvement of water in all these processes is mandatory, but the water must be of the simplified configuration in which there are only two strengths of water-water hydrogen bonds, and in which these two types of water coexist as microdomains throughout the liquid temperature range. Since they have different strengths of hydrogen bonds, the microdomains differ in all their physical and chemical properties. Solutes partition asymmetrically, generating osmotic pressure gradients which must be compensated for or abolished. Displacement of the equilibrium between high and low density waters incurs a thermodynamic cost which limits solubility, depresses ionisation of water, drives protein folding and prevents high density water from boiling at its intrinsic boiling point which appears to be below 0°C. Active processes in biochemistry take place in sequential partial reactions, most of which release small amounts of free energy as heat. This ensures that the system is never far from equilibrium so that efficiency is extremely high. Energy transduction is neither possible and nor necessary. Chirality was probably established in prebiotic clays which must have carried stable populations of high density and low density water domains. Bioactive enantiomorphs partition into low density water in which they polymerise spontaneously. Conclusions/Significance The simplified model of water has great explanatory power.
An Unstructured Phylogeographic Pattern with Extensive Gene Flow in an Endemic Bird of South China: Collared Finchbill (Spizixos semitorques)

Recent phylogeographical studies indicated that glacial oscillations played a key role on the phylogeographic pattern of extant species. As most studies have previously been carried out on heavily ice-covered regions, such as in European and North American regions, potential effects of climatic oscillations on species that are distributed on ice-free regions are less known. To address this, we investigated the phylogeographic pattern of an avian species endemic to South China, which was not glaciated during the Pleistocene glaciations. By using 2142 bp mitochondrial DNA, we identified 89 haplotypes defined by 39 polymorphic sites. A combination of high haplotype diversity (0.786–1.00) and low nucleotide diversity (0.00132–0.00252) was detected among geographic populations. Explicit genetic divergence was observed between S. s. semitorques and S. s. cinereicapillus but not detected among geographic populations of S. s. semitorques. Divergence time of the two subspecies was dated back to 87 Kyr which is congruent with the interglacial MIS 5. A weak phylogeographic structure due to strong gene flow among geographic populations was identified in this species, suggesting complex topography of South China has not formed barriers for this species.
Practical Routing in Delay-Tolerant Networks

Delay-tolerant networks (DTNs) have the potential to interconnect devices in regions that current networking technology cannot reach. To realize the DTN vision, routes must be found over multiple unreliable, intermittently-connected hops. In this paper we present a practical routing protocol that uses only observed information about the network. We designed a metric that estimates the average waiting time for each potential next hop. This learned topology information is distributed using a link-state routing protocol, where the link-state packets are "flooded" using epidemic routing. The routing is recomputed each time connections are established, allowing messages to take advantage of unpredictable contacts. A message is forwarded if the topology suggests that the connected node is "closer" to the destination than the current node. We demonstrate through simulation that our protocol provides performance similar to that of schemes that have global knowledge of the network topology, yet without requiring that knowledge. Further, it requires significantly less resources than the alternative, epidemic routing, suggesting that our approach scales better with the number of messages in the network. This performance is achieved with minimal protocol overhead for networks of approximately 100 nodes.