Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breastfeeding and child cognitive development: new evidence from a large randomized trial.

CONTEXT The evidence that breastfeeding improves cognitive development is based almost entirely on observational studies and is thus prone to confounding by subtle behavioral differences in the breastfeeding mother's behavior or her interaction with the infant. OBJECTIVE To assess whether prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive ability at age 6.5 years. DESIGN Cluster-randomized trial, with enrollment from June 17, 1996, to December 31, 1997, and follow-up from December 21, 2002, to April 27, 2005. SETTING Thirty-one Belarussian maternity hospitals and their affiliated polyclinics. PARTICIPANTS A total of 17,046 healthy breastfeeding infants were enrolled, of whom 13,889 (81.5%) were followed up at age 6.5 years. INTERVENTION Breastfeeding promotion intervention modeled on the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Subtest and IQ scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and teacher evaluations of academic performance in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects. RESULTS The experimental intervention led to a large increase in exclusive breastfeeding at age 3 months (43.3% for the experimental group vs 6.4% for the control group; P < .001) and a significantly higher prevalence of any breastfeeding at all ages up to and including 12 months. The experimental group had higher means on all of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence measures, with cluster-adjusted mean differences (95% confidence intervals) of +7.5 (+0.8 to +14.3) for verbal IQ, +2.9 (-3.3 to +9.1) for performance IQ, and +5.9 (-1.0 to +12.8) for full-scale IQ. Teachers' academic ratings were significantly higher in the experimental group for both reading and writing. CONCLUSION These results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, provide strong evidence that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive development. TRIAL REGISTRATION isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN37687716.
Measurement of nasal potential difference in young children with an equivocal sweat test following newborn screening for cystic fibrosis

Background A challenging problem arising from cystic fibrosis (CF) newborn screening is the significant number of infants with hypertrypsinaemia (HIRT) with sweat chloride levels in the intermediate range and only one or no identified CF-causing mutations. Objectives To investigate the diagnostic value for CF of assessing CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein function by measuring nasal potential difference in children with HIRT. Methods A specially designed protocol was used to assess nasal potential difference (NPD) in 23 young children with HIRT (3 months–4 years) with inconclusive neonatal screening. Results were analysed with a composite score including CFTR-dependent sodium and chloride secretion. Results were correlated with genotype after extensive genetic screening and with clinical phenotype at follow-up 3 years later. Results NPD was interpretable for 21 children with HIRT: 13 had NPD composite scores in the CF range. All 13 were finally found to carry two CFTR mutations. At follow-up, nine had developed a chronic pulmonary disease consistent with a CF diagnosis. The sweat test could be repeated in nine children, and six had sweat chloride values ≥60 mmol/l. Of the eight children with normal NPD scores, only two had two CFTR mutations, both wide-spectrum mutations. None had developed a CF-like lung disease at follow-up. The sweat test could be reassessed in five of these eight children and all had sweat chloride values <60 mmol/l. CF diagnosis was ruled out in six of these eight children. Conclusion Evaluation of CFTR function in the nasal epithelium of young children with inconclusive results at CF newborn screening is a useful diagnostic tool for CF.
An innovative methodology for evaluating multi-chip EMC in advanced 3G mobile platforms

This paper presents an innovative approach which consists in emulating the behavior of a disruptive chip, by means of a specific probe, and analyzing the risks of interference with the victim component. Chip-to-chip interferences may be investigated without requiring any specific EMC test board. Details of this methodology are provided and illustrated in the case of a 3G mobile platform. Valuable information about the sensitive zones, coupling orientation and critical coupling distances are extracted easily using this approach.
Assessing psychiatric disorder with a human interviewer or a computer.

OBJECTIVE--To compare a self administered computerised assessment of neurotic psychiatric disorder (psychiatric morbidity) with an identical assessment administered by a human interviewer. In particular, to discover whether a computerised assessment overestimates or underestimates the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in relation to a human interviewer. SETTING--A health centre in south east London, UK. SUBJECTS--A non-consecutive series of health centre attenders. Complete data were available on 92 subjects. DESIGN--All subjects received both assessments on the same occasion but were randomised to receive either the computerised assessment first or the human interview first. RESULTS--The mean total score on the assessment was the same for both methods of administration; computer 8.77 v human 8.69 (95% confidence interval for difference -0.70, 0.87). The correlation between the human and interviewer assessments was 0.91. CONCLUSION--Self administered computerised assessments are valid, unbiased measures of psychiatric morbidity. In addition to their use as a research tool, they have potential uses in primary care including screening for psychiatric morbidity and in forming the basis for clinical guidelines.
Caenorhabditis elegans: An Emerging Model in Biomedical and Environmental Toxicology

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as an important animal model in various fields including neurobiology, developmental biology, and genetics. Characteristics of this animal model that have contributed to its success include its genetic manipulability, invariant and fully described developmental program, well-characterized genome, ease of maintenance, short and prolific life cycle, and small body size. These same features have led to an increasing use of C. elegans in toxicology, both for mechanistic studies and high-throughput screening approaches. We describe some of the research that has been carried out in the areas of neurotoxicology, genetic toxicology, and environmental toxicology, as well as high-throughput experiments with C. elegans including genome-wide screening for molecular targets of toxicity and rapid toxicity assessment for new chemicals. We argue for an increased role for C. elegans in complementing other model systems in toxicological research.
Knowledge Cartography and Social Network Representation: Application to Collaborative Platforms in Scientific Area

Our research revolves around collaborative platforms entirely dedicated to research activities for several scientific organizations. Here, researchers from different domains interact and exchange information using our platforms as the common ground involving new concepts, methods and services to encourage collaborative work for their research activities. The work is based on the co-operation and collaboration between scientific specialists and engineers building the platform. In our proposal we attempt to capture the individual information and then build social network representations to build a group representation of knowledge, attracting and encouraging people to participate in collaborative tasks.
Perspectives in Pediatric Pathology, Chapter 3. Testicular Development from Birth to Puberty: Systematic Evaluation of the Prepubertal Testis

Perspectives in Pediatric Pathology, Chapter 3. Testicular Development from Birth to Puberty: Systematic Evaluation of the Prepubertal Testis MANUEL NISTAL, RICARDO PANIAGUA, PILAR GONZALEZ-PERAMATO, AND MIGUEL REYES-MUGICA Department of Pathology, Hospital La Paz, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Calle Arzobispo Morcillo #2, Madrid 28029, Spain Department of Cell Biology, Universidad de Alcala, Madrid, Spain Department of Pathology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, One Children’s Hospital Drive, 4401 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA
User authentication through keystroke dynamics

Unlike other access control systems based on biometric features, keystroke analysis has not led to techniques providing an acceptable level of accuracy. The reason is probably the intrinsic variability of typing dynamics, versus other---very stable---biometric characteristics, such as face or fingerprint patterns. In this paper we present an original measure for keystroke dynamics that limits the instability of this biometric feature. We have tested our approach on 154 individuals, achieving a False Alarm Rate of about 4% and an Impostor Pass Rate of less than 0.01%. This performance is reached using the same sampling text for all the individuals, allowing typing errors, without any specific tailoring of the authentication system with respect to the available set of typing samples and users, and collecting the samples over a 28.8-Kbaud remote modem connection.
Non equivalence between time Petri nets and time stream Petri nets

It had been shown that Merlin's Time Petri Nets are a special case of Time Stream Petri Nets. In this paper, we show that there does not exist a time equivalence between both models. We extend first this result to the non equivalence of Timed Automata and Time Petri Nets and second to the non equivalence of Timed Link Petri Net and Timed Transition Petri Net.
Factors That Affect the Feeling of Happiness in Israel

In this paper, we analyzed the answers to questionnaires distributed among 140 people in Israel and identified the main factors that have an affect over feeling of happiness? We estimated an econometric equation with happiness as the dependent variable. Our findings show that feeling of happiness? among women is mainly affected by satisfaction from marital status; a variable that also has a large effect on males? sense of happiness. Among men, the most important factor is satisfaction during time leisure, a factor which also has a positive effect on female happiness. Other factors which have a negative affect only on males are higher age, higher education and higher income, while more hours sleeping increases happiness among males.
Imiquimod 3.75% Cream Applied Daily to Treat Anogenital Warts: Combined Results from Women in Two Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Studies

Objective. To evaluate if new imiquimod formulations using a shorter treatment duration are safe and efficacious to treat anogenital warts. Methods. In two studies 534 women ≥12 years of age (mean 33.4) with 2–30 warts (mean 7.9) and total wart area ≥10 mm2 (mean 166.3) were randomized (1 : 2 : 2) to placebo (106), imiquimod 2.5% (212) or 3.75% (216) creams applied once daily until complete clearance or a maximum of 8 weeks. Results. For placebo, imiquimod 2.5% and 3.75%, respectively, complete clearance of all warts was achieved in 14.2%, 28.3%, and 36.6% of women (intent-to-treat, P = 0.008 imiquimod 2.5%, and P < 0.001 3.75% versus placebo). Mean changes in wart counts were −10.7%, −50.9%, and −63.5% (per-protocol, P < 0.001 each active versus placebo) and safety-related discontinuation rates 0.9%, 1.4%, and 2.3%. Conclusions. Imiquimod 3.75% applied daily for up to 8 weeks was well tolerated and superior to placebo in treating women with external anogenital warts.
Comparative Survival Rates of Human-Derived ProbioticLactobacillus paracasei and L. salivariusStrains during Heat Treatment and Spray Drying

ABSTRACT Spray drying of skim milk was evaluated as a means of preservingLactobacillus paracasei NFBC 338 and Lactobacillus salivarius UCC 118, which are human-derived strains with probiotic potential. Our initial experiments revealed that NFBC 338 is considerably more heat resistant in 20% (wt/vol) skim milk than UCC 118 is; the comparable decimal reduction times were 11.1 and 1.1 min, respectively, at 59°C. An air outlet temperature of 80 to 85°C was optimal for spray drying; these conditions resulted in powders with moisture contents of 4.1 to 4.2% and viable counts of 3.2 × 109 CFU/g for NFBC 338 and 5.2 × 107 CFU/g for UCC 118. Thus, L. paracasei NFBC 338 survived better than L. salivarius UCC 118 during spray drying; similar results were obtained when we used confocal scanning laser microscopy and LIVE/DEAD BacLight viability staining. In addition, confocal scanning laser microscopy revealed that the probiotic lactobacilli were located primarily in the powder particles. Although both spray-dried cultures appeared to be stressed, as shown by increased sensitivity to NaCl, bacteriocin production by UCC 118 was not affected by the process, nor was the activity of the bacteriocin peptide. The level of survival of NFBC 338 remained constant at ∼1 × 109 CFU/g during 2 months of powder storage at 4°C, while a decline in the level of survival of approximately 1 log (from 7.2 × 107 to 9.5 × 106 CFU/g) was observed for UCC 118 stored under the same conditions. However, survival of both Lactobacillus strains during powder storage was inversely related to the storage temperature. Our data demonstrate that spray drying may be a cost-effective way to produce large quantities of some probiotic cultures.
Young consumers online shopping : an empirical study

Young consumers are playing an important role in online shopping. The increasing use of Internet by the younger generation in Malaysia provides an emerging prospect for online retailers. If online retailers know the factors affecting Malaysian young consumers’ buying behaviour, and the associations between these factors and type of online buyers, then they can further develop their marketing strategies to convert potential customers into active ones. In this study four key dimensions of online shopping as perceived by young consumers in Malaysia are identified. Besides that this study also examined whether there are any differences in online shopping by different races in Malaysia. It was discovered that website design, website reliability, customer service and privacy are the four key factors which influence young consumers’ perceptions of online shopping. However, there is no significant difference among the various races in terms of online shopping behaviour in Malaysia. Finally, the recommendations are presented in this research may help foster growth of Malaysian online retailing in future.
A Novel Approach to Model Generation for Heterogeneous Data Classification

Ensemble methods such as bagging and boosting have been successfully applied to classification problems. Two important issues associated with an ensemble approach are: how to generate models to construct an ensemble, and how to combine them for classification. In this paper, we focus on the problem of model generation for heterogeneous data classification. If we could partition heterogeneous data into a number of homogeneous partitions, we will likely generate reliable and accurate classification models over the homogeneous partitions. We examine different ways of forming homogeneous subsets and propose a novel method that allows a data point to be assigned multiple times in order to generate homogeneous partitions for ensemble learning. We present the details of the new algorithm and empirical studies over the UCI benchmark datasets and datasets of image classification, and show that the proposed approach is effective for heterogeneous data classification.
Identification of high-confidence somatic mutations in whole genome sequence of formalin-fixed breast cancer specimens

The utilization of archived, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor samples for massive parallel sequencing has been challenging due to DNA damage and contamination with normal stroma. Here, we perform whole genome sequencing of DNA isolated from two triple-negative breast cancer tumors archived for >11 years as 5 µm FFPE sections and matched germline DNA. The tumor samples show differing amounts of FFPE damaged DNA sequencing reads revealed as relatively high alignment mismatch rates enriched for C·G > T·A substitutions compared to germline samples. This increase in mismatch rate is observable with as few as one million reads, allowing for an upfront evaluation of the sample integrity before whole genome sequencing. By applying innovative quality filters incorporating global nucleotide mismatch rates and local mismatch rates, we present a method to identify high-confidence somatic mutations even in the presence of FFPE induced DNA damage. This results in a breast cancer mutational profile consistent with previous studies and revealing potentially important functional mutations. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of performing genome-wide deep sequencing analysis of FFPE archived tumors of limited sample size such as residual cancer after treatment or metastatic biopsies.
On the use of order selection rules for accurate parameter estimation in threshold region

Finding the number of signals is crucial to parametric direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation methods such as MUSIC and ESPRIT. In challenging scenarios such as low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and/or presence of closely-spaced sources, only part of the parameters can be accurately estimated while others cannot. The number of former estimates is termed as the effective model order (EMO). We first propose a procedure to determine the EMO via Monte Carlo simulation. Ideally an order selection rule should return a source number estimate equal to EMO, since using an overestimated signal number larger than the EMO in a parameter estimator introduces inaccurate parameter estimates, which is a waste of resources in some applications, while using an underestimate renders some strong signals being treated as noise, which causes an accuracy loss in their parameter estimates. We propose to combine an under-enumerator with an over-enumerator for accurate parameter estimation in the threshold region. Simulations results using the combination of the Baysian information criterion with Akaike information criterion in ESPRIT show that our proposal retains the benefit of the under-enumerators with only accurate estimates while remarkably improves the estimation accuracy.
Mental fatigue induced by prolonged self-regulation does not exacerbate central fatigue during subsequent whole-body endurance exercise

It has been shown that the mental fatigue induced by prolonged self-regulation increases perception of effort and reduces performance during subsequent endurance exercise. However, the physiological mechanisms underlying these negative effects of mental fatigue are unclear. The primary aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that mental fatigue exacerbates central fatigue induced by whole-body endurance exercise. Twelve subjects performed 30 min of either an incongruent Stroop task to induce a condition of mental fatigue or a congruent Stroop task (control condition) in a random and counterbalanced order. Both cognitive tasks (CTs) were followed by a whole-body endurance task (ET) consisting of 6 min of cycling exercise at 80% of peak power output measured during a preliminary incremental test. Neuromuscular function of the knee extensors was assessed before and after CT, and after ET. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was measured during ET. Both CTs did not induce any decrease in maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque (p = 0.194). During ET, mentally fatigued subjects reported higher RPE (mental fatigue 13.9 ± 3.0, control 13.3 ± 3.2, p = 0.044). ET induced a similar decrease in MVC torque (mental fatigue –17 ± 15%, control –15 ± 11%, p = 0.001), maximal voluntary activation level (mental fatigue –6 ± 9%, control –6 ± 7%, p = 0.013) and resting twitch (mental fatigue –30 ± 14%, control –32 ± 10%, p < 0.001) in both conditions. These findings reject our hypothesis and confirm previous findings that mental fatigue does not reduce the capacity of the central nervous system to recruit the working muscles. The negative effect of mental fatigue on perception of effort does not reflect a greater development of either central or peripheral fatigue. Consequently, mentally fatigued subjects are still able to perform maximal exercise, but they are experiencing an altered performance during submaximal exercise due to higher-than-normal perception of effort.
The Architect Syphilis assay for antibodies to Treponema pallidum: an automated screening assay with high sensitivity in primary syphilis

Objectives: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the Architect Syphilis Chemiluminescence Assay (CLIA): a new highly automated screening test for syphilis. Methods: To establish the sensitivity of the Architect Syphilis assay we tested 129 stored sera from serologically characterised cases of untreated syphilis. The sera were selected to contain a disproportionately high number of primary infections. There were 79 primary infections, 29 secondary infections, 9 early latent infections and 12 latent syphilis of unknown duration. To establish the specificity of the assay we tested 1107 sera that had been submitted for routine syphilis serology. Results: The Architect CLIA and the Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test (TPPA) were in total agreement for all untreated infection with sensitivity of 98.4%. This was significantly higher than the sensitivity of the Murex immune capture enzyme (ICE) immunoassay (86%, p<0.001), the IgM enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (86.8%, p<0.001) and the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test (VDRL) (83.7%, p<0.001). The difference in the sensitivity of the Architect and ICE assays was entirely due to primary stage syphilis (97.5% vs 77.2%, p<0.001). Although the specificity of Architect CLIA was very high (99.1%, 1049/1059) it was significantly lower (p = 0.016) than that of the Murex ICE assay (99.9%). Conclusions: The Architect CLIA is significantly more sensitive than the Murex ICE screening assay in detecting primary syphilis but it is significantly less specific. Given the relatively high levels of early syphilis, we consider a small increase in the number of confirmatory tests required to exclude false-positive results is worthwhile to increase the detection of primary syphilis by 20%.
Occurrence and Intensity of Anisakid Nematode Larvae in Some Commercially Important Fish Species in Persian Gulf

Background: Anisakid nematodes are common parasites of fish, mammals, fish-eating birds, and reptiles with a worldwide distribution, causing diseases in human, fish and important economic losses. Methods: A preliminary epidemiological study was carried out on Anisakid nematodes larvae in some commercially important fish species to evaluate the anisakid nematode larvae from greater lizardfish, (Saurida tumbil), Japanese thread fin bream (Nemipterus japonicus), crocodile longtom (Tylosurus crocodilus crocodiles) and longfin trevally (Carangoides armatus) from the Persian Gulf of Iran. Results: The collected larvae were identified mainly as the third larval stage (L3) of Hysterothylacium larval type A, B and C, Anisakis sp. , Raphidascaris sp. , Pseudoterranova sp. and Philometra sp. (Nematoda: Philometridae). The prevalence of Anisakid larvae infection of examined fishes was 97.2% in N. japonicus, 90.3% in S. tumbil, 20.5% in crocodile longtom and 5.5% in longfin trevally. Anisakis type III for the first time was different from Anisakis type I and Anisakis type II. Discussion: Zoonotic anisakids by high prevalence in edible fish could be a health hazard for people. So health practices should be considered in these areas.