Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields of Different Frequencies on the Gene Expression of RANK and NFATc1 in Rat Osteoclasts Co-Cultured with Osteoblasts

The study investigated the effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) of different frequencies on the gene expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B (RANK) and Nuclear factor of activated T-cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1) in rat osteoblast and osteoclast co-cultured model. Osteoblast-like cells were isolated from calvariae of Newborn Sprague Dawley rats (SD rats), while osteoclast-like cells were obtained from femora and tibiae of five weeks old SD rats. After 1 days of co-culture, the cells were exposed to premarin (E2) and different frequencies of PEMFs (8 Hz and 16 Hz, respectively) for 3 days. The expression of RANK and NFATc1 mRNA was analysed with realtime quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The gene expression of RANK and NFATc1 in the E2, PEMF with 8 Hz and 16 Hz group was significantly lower than that in the control group respectively. The gene expression of NFATc1 in the PEMF with 8 Hz group was significantly lower than that in the control group and PEMF with 16 Hz group. The study indicates that PEMF with 8 Hz could regulate the gene expression of RANK and NFATc1 in co-cultured model.
Improving autism detection: The role of practitioner reported influences and a combined parent-clinician informant screening instrument

Early detection of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can improve prognostic outcomes. This research examines practitioner reported factors that may impact the timing of diagnostic evaluations and progresses the development of a screening instrument. Outcomes show the potential for improvements to both the screening and diagnostic process. Results implicate a number of practitioner and systemic factors in influencing the timing of ASD diagnosis in Australia and show the potential for a combined parent-clinician informant ASD screening instrument to improve early detection. These improvements could contribute toward supporting children with ASD to access intervention and diagnostic evaluations sooner.
The Role of Base Flipping in Damage Recognition and Catalysis by T4 Endonuclease V*

The process of moving a DNA base extrahelical (base flipping) has been shown in the co-crystal structure of a UV-induced pyrimidine dimer-specific glycosylase, T4 endonuclease V, with its substrate DNA. Compared with other enzymes known to use base flipping, endonuclease V is unique in that it moves the base opposite the target site extrahelical, rather than moving the target base itself. Utilizing substrate analogs and catalytically inactive mutants of T4 endonuclease V, this study investigates the discrete steps involved in damage recognition by this DNA repair enzyme. Specifically, fluorescence spectroscopy analysis shows that fluorescence changes attributable to base flipping are specific for only the base directly opposite either abasic site analogs or the 5′-thymine of a pyrimidine dimer, and no changes are detected if the 2-aminopurine is moved opposite the 3′-thymine of the pyrimidine dimer. Interestingly, base flipping is not detectable with every specific binding event suggesting that damage recognition can be achieved without base flipping. Thus, base flipping does not add to the stability of the specific enzyme-DNA complex but rather induces a conformational change to facilitate catalysis at the appropriate target site. When used in conjunction with structural information, these types of analyses can yield detailed mechanistic models and critical amino acid residues for extrahelical base movement as a mode of damage recognition.
Exploring Sexual Well-Being in Older Adulthood: Diversity in Experiences and Associated Factors

Introduction: Sexuality and the desire for affection and intimacy are important human features across the lifespan. Aims: The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate and synthesize the existing literature on factors associated with continued sexual activity in adults 60 years of age and older. Methods: Three databases were used to select articles, 57 of which met selection criteria. Methodological quality was assessed and data were extracted from these studies by two independent reviewers according to standards proposed by The Cochrane Collaboration. Main Outcome Measures: Studies were evaluated in terms of quality, included sexual activities, and identified related factors. Results: Sexual activity was positively associated with past frequency of sexual behaviour and partner’s interest in sexual activity. Decreased sexual activity (and/or cessation) was associated with the presence of erectile dysfunction and partner’s illness. Noteworthy were significant inconsistencies of findings across studies and contrasting findings of generally assumed factors associated with sexual activity in later years (e.g., physical and mental health). However, increasing methodological quality was observed with more recent studies. Probable reasons for disparate findings are discussed and recommendations for methodological improvements are outlined focusing on population diversity, construct definitions, measurement and sampling techniques. Conclusion: The literature on sexual activity in older adults is vastly heterogeneous with methodological caveats and inconsistent results evidenced across studies. Vigilant attention to methodology is essential as sexual activity in later life is multi-determined with amplified individual variability in older versus younger cohorts.
Inter‐biome comparison of factors controlling stream metabolism

SUMMARY 1. We studied whole-ecosystem metabolism in eight streams from several biomes in North America to identify controls on the rate of stream metabolism over a large geographic range. The streams studied had climates ranging from tropical to cool-temperate and from humid to arid and were all relatively uninfluenced by human disturbances. 2. Rates of gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (R) and net ecosystem production (NEP) were determined using the open-system, two-station diurnal oxygen change method. 3. Three general patterns in metabolism were evident among streams: (1) relatively high GPP with positive NEP (i.e. net oxygen production) in early afternoon, (2) moderate primary production with a distinct peak in GPP during daylight but negative NEP at all times and (3) little or no evidence of GPP during daylight and a relatively constant and negative NEP over the entire day. 4. Gross primary production was most strongly correlated with photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). A multiple regression model that included log PAR and stream water soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) concentration explained 90% of the variation in log GPP. 5. Ecosystem respiration was significantly correlated with SRP concentration and size of the transient storage zone and, together, these factors explained 73% of the variation in R. The rate of R was poorly correlated with the rate of GPP. 6. Net ecosystem production was significantly correlated only with PAR, with 53% of the variation in log NEP explained by log PAR. Only Sycamore Creek, a desert stream in Arizona, had positive NEP (GPP: R > 1), supporting the idea that streams are generally net sinks rather than net sources of organic matter.
Direct evidence of lymphatic function improvement after advanced pneumatic compression device treatment of lymphedema

Lymphedema affects up to 50% of all breast cancer survivors. Management with pneumatic compression devices (PCDs) is controversial, owing to the lack of methods to directly assess benefit. This pilot study employed an investigational, near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging technique to evaluate lymphatic response to PCD therapy in normal control and breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) subjects. Lymphatic propulsion rate, apparent lymph velocity, and lymphatic vessel recruitment were measured before, during, and after advanced PCD therapy. Lymphatic function improved in all control subjects and all asymptomatic arms of BCRL subjects. Lymphatic function improved in 4 of 6 BCRL affected arms, improvement defined as proximal movement of dye after therapy. NIR fluorescence lymphatic imaging may be useful to directly evaluate lymphatic response to therapy. These results suggest that PCDs can stimulate lymphatic function and may be an effective method to manage BCRL, warranting future clinical trials.
Learning approximate preconditions for methods in hierarchical plans

A significant challenge in developing planning systems for practical applications is the difficulty of acquiring the domain knowledge needed by such systems. One method for acquiring this knowledge is to learn it from plan traces, but this method typically requires a huge number of plan traces to converge. In this paper, we show that the problem with slow convergence can be circumvented by having the learner generate solution plans even before the planning domain is completely learned. Our empirical results show that these improvements reduce the size of the training set that is needed to find correct answers to a large percentage of planning problems in the test set.
Building semantic maps for blind people to navigate at home

The traditional environment maps built by robots include both metric ones and topological ones. These maps are navigation-oriented and not adequate for service robots to interact with or serve human users who normally rely on conceptual knowledge or semantic contents of the environment. Therefore, the construction of semantic maps becomes necessary for building an effective human-robot interface for service robots. This paper aims to build a 3D environment map with an RGB-D sensor and extract semantic information from the RGB images to help blind people navigate at home. A novel approach is presented to diagnose and eliminate errors during semantic extraction.
In-situ single cell manipulation via nanorobotic manipulation system inside E-SEM

We performed in-situ single cell (W303) manipulation with force measurement inside the Environment-SEM. The mechanical end effector was fabricated from a commercial AFM cantilever by FIB etching. The end effector was assembled to the nanorobotic manipulation system which can realize controlling the position at the nanometer scale. The releasing, sliding and rolling of single cell on a substrate were achieved by controlling the humidity condition inside E-SEM. The influence of humidity to the single cell manipulation inside E-SEM was also discussed for the first time. To our knowledge, it is the first time to manipulate single cell with sliding and rolling movements inside E-SEM.
Associations between Family-Related Factors, Breakfast Consumption and BMI among 10- to 12-Year-Old European Children: The Cross-Sectional ENERGY-Study

Objective To investigate associations of family-related factors with children’s breakfast consumption and BMI-z-score and to examine whether children’s breakfast consumption mediates associations between family-related factors and children’s BMI-z-score. Subjects Ten- to twelve-year-old children (n = 6374; mean age = 11.6±0.7 years, 53.2% girls, mean BMI-z-score = 0.4±1.2) and one of their parents (n = 6374; mean age = 41.4±5.3 years, 82.7% female, mean BMI = 24.5±4.2 kg/m2) were recruited from schools in eight European countries (Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland). The children self-reported their breakfast frequency per week. The body weight and height of the children were objectively measured. The parents responded to items on family factors related to breakfast (automaticity, availability, encouragement, paying attention, permissiveness, negotiating, communicating health beliefs, parental self-efficacy to address children’s nagging, praising, and family breakfast frequency). Mediation analyses were performed using multi-level regression analyses (child-school-country). Results Three of the eleven family-related variables were significantly associated with children’s BMI-z-score. The family breakfast frequency was negatively associated with the BMI-z-score; permissiveness concerning skipping breakfast and negotiating about breakfast were positively associated with the BMI-z-score. Children’s breakfast consumption was found to be a mediator of the two associations. All family-related variables except for negotiating, praising and communicating health beliefs, were significantly associated with children’s breakfast consumption. Conclusions Future breakfast promotion and obesity prevention interventions should focus on family-related factors including the physical home environment and parenting practices. Nevertheless, more longitudinal research and intervention studies to support these findings between family-related factors and both children’s breakfast consumption and BMI-z-score are needed.
Risk Factors of Inconsistent Condom Use among Sexually Active Youths: Implications for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Sexual Risk Behaviours in Malawi

This study examines the risk associated with inconsistent use of condoms as a risk factor for human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infections (HIV/STIs) and sexual risk behaviours. The Malawi Demographic Health Survey 2010 data were used. Out of a sample of 2987 males and 9559 females aged 15–24 years, 511 males and 675 females were filtered in the present study. A Chi square test and logistic regression techniques were performed. About 147(28.7%) males and 240(35.6%) females reported inconsistent condom use. The likelihood of inconsistent condom use was higher among females with secondary/higher education (odds ratio’s (OR)=1.46), with more than one partner (OR=4.27), and married males (OR=8.76), with more than one sex partner (OR=1.78). There is a need to raise condom use awareness and improve sexual education about consistent condom use, especially among females, in order to curb the spread of HIV/STIs and reduce sexual risk behaviours.
Cross-sectional relationship between dietary carbohydrate, glycaemic index, glycaemic load and risk of the metabolic syndrome in a Korean population

Little is known about the effect of dietary carbohydrate, glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) on the risk of the metabolic syndrome, especially in populations with white rice as the staple food. The study examined the cross-sectional relationship between carbohydrate, GI, GL and risk of the metabolic syndrome. There were a total of 910 middle-aged Korean adults. Dietary carbohydrate, GI and GL were determined by an interview-administered FFQ. The metabolic syndrome was defined using the modified criteria published in the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. The risk of developing the metabolic syndrome was positively related to dietary carbohydrate (P for trend = 0·03), GI (P for trend = 0·03) and GL intakes (P for trend = 0·02) in women after adjusting for potential confounding variables. Among the components of developing the metabolic syndrome, the risk of high TAG and low HDL-cholesterol were positively related to high GI and GL intakes in women. The risk of developing the metabolic syndrome was considerably higher in the highest quintiles of carbohydrate (OR 6·44; 95 % CI 2·16, 19·2), GI (OR 10·4; 95 % CI 3·24, 33·3) and GL intakes (OR 6·68; 95 % CI 2·30, 19·4) than in the lowest quintiles among women with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2. However, there was no difference in risk across quintiles of carbohydrate, GI and GL among women with a BMI < 25 kg/m2. In conclusion, both the quantity and quality of carbohydrate intake has a positive relationship with the risk of the metabolic syndrome in women but this relationship was dependent on the BMI level.
Reduced prevalence of vulvar HPV16/18 infection among women who received the HPV16/18 bivalent vaccine: a nested analysis within the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial.

BACKGROUND Vaccine efficacy (VE) against vulvar human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has not been reported and data regarding its epidemiology are sparse. METHODS Women (n = 5404) age 22-29 present at the 4-year study visit of the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial provided vulvar and cervical samples. A subset (n = 1044) was tested for HPV DNA (SPF10/LiPA25 version 1). VE against 1-time detection of vulvar HPV16/18 among HPV vaccinated versus unvaccinated women was calculated and compared to the cervix. Prevalence of and risk factors for HPV were evaluated in the control arm (n = 536). RESULTS Vulvar HPV16/18 VE (54.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.9%-79.1%) was comparable to cervix (45.8%; 95% CI, 6.4%-69.4%). Vulvar and cervical HPV16 prevalence within the control arm was 3.0% and 4.7%, respectively. Independent risk factors for vulvar HPV were similar to cervix and included: age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.5 [95% CI, .3-.9] ≥28 vs 22-23]); marital status (aOR 2.3 [95% CI, 1.5-3.5] single vs married/living-as-married); and number of sexual partners (aOR 3.6 [95% CI, 1.9-7.0] ≥6 vs 1). CONCLUSIONS In this intention-to-treat analysis, VE against vulvar and cervical HPV16/18 were comparable 4 years following vaccination. Risk factors for HPV were similar by anatomic site. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION NCT00128661.
Investigating human perceptions of robot capabilities in remote human-robot team tasks based on first-person robot video feeds

It is well-known that a robot's appearance and its observable behavior can affect a human interactant's perceptions of the robot's capabilities and propensities in settings where humans and robots are co-located; for remote interactions the specific effects are less clear. Here, we use a remote interaction setting to investigate possible effects of simulated versus real first-person robot video feeds. The first experiment uses subject-level comparisons of the two video conditions in a multi-robot setting while the second and third experiments focus on a single robot, single video condition using a larger population (via Amazon Mechanical Turk) to study between-subjects effects. The latter experiments also probe the effects of robot appearance, video feed type, and stake humans have in the task. We observe a complex interplay between interaction, robot appearance, and video feed type as they affect perceived collaboration, utility, competence, and warmth of the robot.
A Cooperative MIMO Radar Network Using Highly Integrated FMCW Radar Sensors

In this paper, an incoherent radar network based on integrated radar sensors is presented. It consists of radar sensor nodes with independently generated frequency-modulated continuous wave-modulated transmit signals, performing both monostatic and bistatic distance measurements. An architecture to operate such a cooperative bistatic network is introduced and an optimal parameterization of the system is presented. Several nonidealities of frequency synthesizers, that are important for such cooperative radar networks, are discussed and their influence on system performance is evaluated. A prototype of the cooperative bistatic network has been realized using highly integrated radar sensors at 122 GHz. Radar measurements using the prototype prove the feasibility and potential of the network approach. The complete signal processing chain is presented, including an adapted multilateration algorithm for target position estimation using all measured distances.
A Study in Market-Driven Requirements Engineering

Packaged software is recognised as an important segment of software market. Market-driven software development consists of developing packaged software to a market rather than to a specific client. It has been argued that the requirements engineering process for market-driven software differs from customer specific software. This paper presents a study on market-driven requirements engineering. We present ten hypotheses we have collected from the literature in this field. We discuss the implications of these hypotheses and identify areas to conduct further research.
Mortality Trends in Patients Hospitalized with the Initial Acute Myocardial Infarction in a Middle Eastern Country over 20 Years

We aimed to define the temporal trend in the initial Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) management and outcome during the last two decades in a Middle Eastern country. A total of 10,915 patients were admitted with initial AMI with mean age of 53 ± 11.8 years. Comparing the two decades (1991–2000) to (2001–2010), the use of antiplatelet drugs increased from 84% to 95%, β-blockers increased from 38% to 56%, and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) increased from 12% to 36% (P < 0.001 for all). The rates of PCI increased from 2.5% to 14.6% and thrombolytic therapy decreased from 71% to 65% (P < 0.001 for all). While the rate of hospitalization with Initial MI increased from 34% to 66%, and the average length of hospital stay decreased from 6.4 ± 3 to 4.6 ± 3, all hospital outcomes parameters improved significantly including a 39% reduction in in-hospital Mortality. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher utilization of antiplatelet drugs, β-blockers, and ACEI were the main contributors to better hospital outcomes. Over the study period, there was a significant increase in the hospitalization rate in patients presenting with initial AMI. Evidence-based medical therapies appear to be associated with a substantial improvement in outcome and in-hospital mortality.
Communication-aware CPU Management for Consolidated Virtualization-based Hosting Platforms

Recent advances in software and architectural support for se rver virtualization have created interest in using this technology in the design of consolidate hosting platforms. Since virtualization enables easier and faster application migration as well as se cure co-location of antagonistic applications, higher degrees of server consolidation are likely to result in suchvirtualization-based hosting platforms (VHPs) . We identify two shortcomings in existing virtual machine mo nitors (VMMs) that prove to be obstacles in operating hosting platforms, s uch as Internet data centers, under conditions of such high consolidation: (i) CPU schedulers th at are agnostic to the communication behavior of modern, multi-tier applications and (ii) inade quate or inaccurate mechanisms for accounting the CPU overheads of I/O virtualization. We develop a new communication-aware CPU scheduling algorithm and a CPU usage accounting mechanism. W e implement our algorithms in the Xen VMM and build a prototype VHP on a cluster of 36 servers . Our experimental evaluation with realistic Internet server applications and benchmarks demonstrates the performance/cost benefits and the wide applicability of our algorithms. For exampl e, the TPC-W benchmark exhibited improvements in average response times between 20%-35% for a variety of consolidation scenarios. A streaming media server hosted on our prototype VHP was a ble to satisfactorily service up to 3.5 times as many clients as one running on the default Xen.
Formation of optical images by X-rays.

Several conceivable methods for the formation of optical images by x-rays are considered, and a method employing concave mirrors is adopted as the most promising. A concave spherical mirror receiving radiation at grazing incidence (a necessary arrangement with x-rays) images a point into a line in accordance with a focal length f=Ri/2 where R is the radius of curvature and i the grazing angle. The image is subject to an aberration such that a ray reflected at the periphery of the mirror misses the focal point of central rays by a distance given approximately by S=1.5Mr2/R, where M is the magnification of the image and r is the radius of the mirror face. The theoretically possible resolving power is such as to resolve point objects separated by about 70A, a limit which is independent of the wave-length used. Point images of points and therefore extended images of extended objects may be produced by causing the radiation to reflect from two concave mirrors in series. Sample results are presented.