Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What would you do? Specialists' perspectives on cancer genetic testing, prophylactic surgery, and insurance discrimination.

PURPOSE To examine what cancer genetics specialists predict they would do personally if they were at 50% risk of carrying a mutation that predisposes to hereditary breast/ovarian cancer (BRCA1/BRCA2) and hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC). METHODS Questionnaire survey of the membership of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Special Interest Group (SIG) in Cancer. RESULTS Of the 296 active members of the NSGC Cancer-SIG surveyed, 163 (55%) responded. Eighty-five percent predicted that if they had a 50% risk of carrying a BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation, they would pursue genetic testing. If they tested positive for a mutation at age 35, 25% predicted they would pursue prophylactic bilateral mastectomies and 68%, prophylactic oophorectomy. Ninety-one percent of respondents believe they would pursue genetic testing for HNPCC, and 17% would elect prophylactic colectomy; 54%, prophylactic hysterectomy; and 52%, prophylactic oophorectomy if they tested positive for a mutation. The majority (68%) would not bill their insurance companies for genetic testing because of fear of discrimination, and 26% would use an alias when undergoing testing. Fifty-seven percent of counselors would seek professional psychologic support to help them cope with the results of testing. CONCLUSION A large percentage of cancer genetic counseling providers predicted they would opt for prophylactic surgery at a young age if they carried a BRCA or HNPCC mutation, and most would seek professional psychologic assistance when undergoing testing. More than half of respondents would not bill their insurance companies for genetic testing, largely because of fear of genetic discrimination. The vast majority of those providers most familiar with cancer genetic testing and its associated medical, psychologic, and legal implications would still pursue genetic testing.
Multi-Source-Driven Asynchronous Diffusion Model for Video-Sharing in Online Social Networks

Characterizing the video diffusion in online social networks (OSNs) is not only instructive for network traffic engineering, but also provides insights into the information diffusion process. A number of continuous-time diffusion models have been proposed to describe video diffusion under the assumption that the activation latency along social links follows a single parametric distribution. However, such assumption has not been empirically verified. Moreover, a user usually has multiple activated neighbors with different activation times, and it is hard to distinguish the different contributions of these multiple potential sources. To fill this gap, we study the multiple-source-driven asynchronous information diffusion problem based on substantial video diffusion traces. Specifically, we first investigate the latency of information propagation along social links and define the single-source (SS) activation latency for an OSN user. We find that the SS activation latency follows the exponential mixture model. Then we develop an analytical framework which incorporates the temporal factor and the influence of multiple sources to describe the influence propagation process. We show that one's activation probability decreases exponentially with time. We also show that the time shift of the exponential function is only determined by the most recent source (MRS) active user, but the total activation probability is the combination of influence exerted by all active neighbors. Based on these discoveries, we develop a multi-source-driven asynchronous diffusion model (MADM). Using maximum likelihood techniques, we develop an algorithm based on expectation maximization (EM) to learn model parameters, and validate our proposed model with real data. The experimental results show that the MADM obtains better prediction accuracy under various evaluation metrics.
Removal of cardiopulmonary resuscitation artifacts from human ECG using an efficient matching pursuit-like algorithm

We present a computationally efficient and numerically robust solution to the problem of removing artifacts due to precordial compressions and ventilations from the human electrocardiogram (ECG) in an emergency medicine setting. Incorporated into automated external defibrillators, this would allow for simultaneous ECG signal analysis and administration of precordial compressions and ventilations, resulting in significant clinical improvement to the treatment of cardiac arrest patients. While we have previously demonstrated the feasibility of such artifact removal using a multichannel Wiener filter, we here focus on an efficient matching pursuit-like approach making practical real-time implementations of such a scheme feasible for a wide variety of sampling rates and filter lengths. Using more realistic data than what have been previously available, we present evidence showing the excellent performance of our approach and quantify its computational complexity.
Assessment of the efficiency of sewage treatment plants: a comparative study between Nagasandra and Mailasandra sewage treatment plants

Bangalore city hosts two Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants (UWTPs) towards the periphery of Vrishabhavathi valley, located in Nellakedaranahalli village of Nagasandra and Mailasandra Village, Karnataka, India. These plants are designed and constructed with an aim to manage wastewater so as to minimize and/or remove organic matter, solids, nutrients, disease-causing organisms and other pollutants, before it reenters a water body. It was revealed from the performance study that efficiency of the two treatment plants was poor with respect to removal of total dissolved solids in contrast to the removal/reduction in other parameters like total suspended solids, BOD and COD. In Mailasandra STP, TDS, TSS, BOD, and COD removal efficiency was 20.01, 94.51, 94.98 and 76.26 % and respectively, while in Nagasandra STP, TDS, TSS, BOD, and COD removal efficiency was 28.45, 99.0, 97.6 and 91.60 % respectively. The order of reduction efficiency was TDS < COD < TSS < BOD and TDS < COD < BOD < TSS respectively in Mailasandra and Nagasandra STPs. Additionally, the problems associated with the operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment plants is discussed. Keywords: Total dissolved solids; Chemical oxygen demand; Biochemical oxygen demand; Aeration tank; Mixed liquor suspended solids; Sludge volume index DOI: 10.3126/kuset.v6i2. 4020 Kathmandu University Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Vol.6. No II, November, 2010, pp.115-125
A new statistical model for site-specific indoor radio propagation prediction based on geometric optics and geometric probability

The ray-tracing (RT) algorithm has been used for accurately predicting the site-specific radio propagation characteristics, in spite of its computational intensity. Statistical models, on the other hand, offers computational simplicity but low accuracy. In this paper, a new model is proposed for predicting the indoor radio propagation to achieve computational simplicity over the RT method and better accuracy than the statistical models. The new model is based on the statistical derivation of the ray-tracing operation, whose results are a number of paths between the transmitter and receiver, each path comprises a number of rays. The pattern and length of the rays in these paths are related to statistical parameters of the site-specific features of indoor environment, such as the floor plan geometry. A key equation is derived to relate the average path power to the site-specific parameters, which are: 1) mean free distance; 2) transmission coefficient; and 3) reflection coefficient. The equation of the average path power is then used to predict the received power in a typical indoor environment. To evaluate the accuracy of the new model in predicting the received power in a typical indoor environment, a comparison with RT results and with measurement data shows an error bound of less than 5 dB.
Emotion understanding, parent mental state language, and behavior problems in internationally adopted children

Abstract Internationally adopted postinstitutionalized (PI) children are at risk for lower levels of emotion understanding. This study examined how postadoption parenting influences emotion understanding and whether lower levels of emotion understanding are associated with behavior problems. Emotion understanding and parent mental state language were assessed in 3-year-old internationally adopted PI children (N = 25), and comparison groups of children internationally adopted from foster care (N = 25) and nonadopted (NA) children (N = 36). At 5.5-year follow-up, PI children had lower levels of emotion understanding than NA children, a group difference not explained by language. In the total sample, parent mental state language at age 3 years predicted 5.5-year emotion understanding after controlling for child language ability. The association of parent mental state language and 5.5-year emotion understanding was moderated by adoption status, such that parent mental state language predicted 5.5-year emotion understanding for the internationally adopted children, but not for the NA children. While postadoption experience does not erase negative effects of early deprivation on emotion understanding, results suggest that parents can promote emotion understanding development through mental state talk. At 5.5 years, PI children had more internalizing and externalizing problems than NA children, and these behavioral problems related to lower levels of emotion understanding.
An Intervention with Physical Activity and Lifestyle Counseling Improves Health-Related Quality of Life and Shows Small Improvements in Metabolic Risks in Persons with Psychosis

This research studied the effects of a lifestyle intervention on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and metabolic risk factors in persons with psychosis, using a longitudinal intervention design with a matched reference sample. In participants in the intervention group, scores on the EQ-VAS, which measured HRQoL, improved from 57.6 to 63.3 (SD = 17.8) (p = 0.05), and HDL cholesterol concentration increased from 1.03 to 1.11 (0.19) mmol/l. (p = 0.02). There was no significant change in body weight among participants. The results of this study indicate that a lifestyle intervention based on group meetings improves HRQoL in patients with psychosis and provides small improvements in metabolic risk factors.
Bradykinin contribution to renal blood flow effect of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor in the conscious sodium-restricted dog.

We examined the relative contribution of renin-angiotensin system blockade and bradykinin potentiation to the renal hemodynamic effect of the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor enalaprilat in sodium-deprived dogs. Six conscious dogs instrumented for monitoring of blood pressure (BP) and renal blood flow (RBF) were employed in five groups of experiments. In group 1, enalaprilat alone was administered, and it decreased BP by -24 +/- 3 mm Hg and increased RBF by 135 +/- 15 ml/min. During a constant intravenous infusion of saralasin (group 2), enalaprilat decreased BP by -7 +/- 3 mm Hg and increased RBF by 84 +/- 7 ml/min (delta BP and delta RBF, p less than 0.01 vs. group 1 by analysis of variance). During a constant intrarenal arterial infusion of saralasin (group 3), the respective changes in BP and RBF after enalaprilat were -10 +/- 3 mm Hg and 69 +/- 12 ml/min, and these results did not differ from those of group 2. The infusion of saralasin intravenously or intrarenal arterially decreased BP slightly and increased RBF. In the presence of an intravenous infusion of a specific bradykinin antagonist, D-Arg-Arg-Pro-Hyp-Gly-Thi-Ser-D-Phe-Thi-Arg.TFA (B5630) (group 4), enalaprilat decreased BP by -28 +/- 4 mm Hg and increased RBF by 82 +/- 24 ml/min (delta RBF, p less than 0.01 vs. group 1). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Stable Thoracic Hox Code and Epimorphosis Characterize Posterior Regeneration in Capitella teleta

Regeneration, the ability to replace lost tissues and body parts following traumatic injury, occurs widely throughout the animal tree of life. Regeneration occurs either by remodeling of pre-existing tissues, through addition of new cells by cell division, or a combination of both. We describe a staging system for posterior regeneration in the annelid, Capitella teleta, and use the C. teleta Hox gene code as markers of regional identity for regenerating tissue along the anterior-posterior axis. Following amputation of different posterior regions of the animal, a blastema forms and by two days, proliferating cells are detected by EdU incorporation, demonstrating that epimorphosis occurs during posterior regeneration of C. teleta. Neurites rapidly extend into the blastema, and gradually become organized into discrete nerves before new ganglia appear approximately seven days after amputation. In situ hybridization shows that seven of the ten Hox genes examined are expressed in the blastema, suggesting roles in patterning the newly forming tissue, although neither spatial nor temporal co-linearity was detected. We hypothesized that following amputation, Hox gene expression in pre-existing segments would be re-organized to scale, and the remaining fragment would express the complete suite of Hox genes. Surprisingly, most Hox genes display stable expression patterns in the ganglia of pre-existing tissue following amputation at multiple axial positions, indicating general stability of segmental identity. However, the three Hox genes, CapI-lox4, CapI-lox2 and CapI-Post2, each shift its anterior expression boundary by one segment, and each shift includes a subset of cells in the ganglia. This expression shift depends upon the axial position of the amputation. In C. teleta, thoracic segments exhibit stable positional identity with limited morphallaxis, in contrast with the extensive body remodeling that occurs during regeneration of some other annelids, planarians and acoel flatworms.
Oligomerization of Family B GPCRs: Exploration in Inter-Family Oligomer Formation

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are classified into A to F subfamilies in which only families A, B, and C are present in mammals. Some of these GPCRs were found to form higher ordered structures such as oligomers with the discovery of interacting receptors in the form of homomers or heteromers. The importance of these oligomers on regulating receptor functions has recently been an intense research focus. It has been proposed that receptor oligomer formation has impact on its physiological importance on receptor trafficking, signaling, ligand-related regulation, and also is related to certain diseases. The present body of knowledge, however, comprises mainly intra-family oligomers formation and their consequences. Inter-family oligomers are recognized but there is limited information. This article aims to provide a current view regarding inter-family GPCR oligomerization in the subfamilies A, B, and C found in mammals.
Efficient Algorithms for Distributed Snapshots and Global Virtual Time Approximation

This paper presents snapshot algorithms for determining a consistent global state of a distributed system without significantly affecting the underlying computation. These algorithms do not require channels to be FIFO or messages to be acknowledged. Only a small amount of storage is needed. An important application of a snapshot algorithm is Global Virtual Time determination for distributed simulations. The paper proposes new and efficient Global Virtual Time approximation schemes based on snapshot algorithms and distributed termination detection principles.
On the Power of Arrays with Recon gurable Optical Buses

This paper examines some computational aspects of di erent arrays enhanced with optical pipelined buses. The array processors with optical pipelined buses (APPB) are shown to be extremely exible, as demonstrated by their ability to e ciently simulate di erent variants of PRAMs and bounded degree networks. A model of computation is introduced, the array with recon gurable optical buses (AROB), which combines some of the advantages and characteristics of the classical recon gurable networks (RN) and the APPB. A number of applications of the APPB and AROB are presented, and their power is investigated. It is shown that beside AROB's capability of simulating classical recon gurable networks, the enhanced communication mechanisms allow for an important system reduction when compared with the classical RNs.
Inhibin alpha-subunit and the inhibin coreceptor betaglycan are downregulated in endometrial carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE In the present study we evaluated the protein distribution and mRNA levels of inhibin alpha-subunit and its coreceptor betaglycan in endometrial adenocarcinoma. DESIGN Two groups of postmenopausal women were studied: the first group had recently diagnosed endometrial adenocarcinoma (n = 16; age range 61-79 years), and the second group (n = 12; age range 64-78 years) had undergone hysterectomy for uterine prolapse and served as control. METHODS Inhibin alpha-subunit and betaglycan gene expression and tissue distribution were evaluated by semiquantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry respectively. RESULTS Inhibin alpha-subunit and betaglycan mRNAs were expressed by both healthy and tumoral endometria, but their expression was significantly lower in endometrial carcinoma (P < 0.001, based on Student's t test). Inhibin alpha-subunit expression was much weaker in the glands of tumours than in non-neoplastic specimens. Betaglycan protein was identified in the epithelial cells lining non-tumoral endometrium, and in endothelial cells of both normal and tumoral endometria. Well-differentiated neoplastic cells had a faint and scarce betaglycan staining, and poorly differentiated cells did not express betaglycan at all. CONCLUSIONS The lower inhibin alpha and betaglycan expression in endometrial adenocarcinoma suggests that the inhibin action may be disrupted. However, the expression of betaglycan in the endothelia of the tumour vasculature suggests that a selective vascular response to inhibin may be possible in these tumours.
Some remarks on Euler's $\phi$ function and some related problems

The function <i>(n) is defined to be the number of integers relatively prime to n, and <t>(n)~n'JjLp\n(l—p~~)In a previous paper I proved the following results : (1) The number of integers w i « for which <£(#) = m has a solution is 0(w[log n]'"") for every e > 0 . (2) There exist infinitely many integers m g n such that the equation <f>(x) ~m has more than m solutions for some c > 0 . In the present note we are going to prove that the number of integers m g n for which <j>{x)~m has a solution is greater than en (log n)log log n. By the same method we could prove that the number of integers mSn for which <t>(x)~tn has a solution is greater than n(log n^ilog log n) for every k. The proof of the sharper result follows the same lines, but is much more complicated. If we denote by f(n) the number of integers m^n for which <j>(x)~m has a solution we have the inequalities
The ATR-mediated S phase checkpoint prevents rereplication in mammalian cells when licensing control is disrupted

DNA replication in eukaryotic cells is tightly controlled by a licensing mechanism, ensuring that each origin fires once and only once per cell cycle. We demonstrate that the ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related (ATR)–mediated S phase checkpoint acts as a surveillance mechanism to prevent rereplication. Thus, disruption of licensing control will not induce significant rereplication in mammalian cells when the ATR checkpoint is intact. We also demonstrate that single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) is the initial signal that activates the checkpoint when licensing control is compromised in mammalian cells. We demonstrate that uncontrolled DNA unwinding by minichromosome maintenance proteins upon Cdt1 overexpression is an important mechanism that leads to ssDNA accumulation and checkpoint activation. Furthermore, we show that replication protein A 2 and retinoblastoma protein are both downstream targets for ATR that are important for the inhibition of DNA rereplication. We reveal the molecular mechanisms by which the ATR-mediated S phase checkpoint pathway prevents DNA rereplication and thus significantly improve our understanding of how rereplication is prevented in mammalian cells.
BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE BRIDGE DECKS AND SLABS REINFORCED WITH EPOXY COATED STEEL. FINAL REPORT

Thirty-four slab specimens with splices and transverse steel were tested in the laboratory to evaluate the structural performance of concrete bridge decks reinforced epoxy-coated steel subjected to fatigue loading. Thirty specimens were tested under fatigue loading, and four were tested monotonically. Evaluations were made by comparing the performance of uncoated specimens with epoxy-coated specimens under service and ultimate load conditions. In addition, a field evaluation of six bridges was conducted to assess the in-service condition of concrete bridge decks reinforced with epoxy-coated steel in Indiana. The laboratory results indicated fewer but wider cracks in specimens with epoxy-coated reinforcement. No significant differences in the first cracking load were found between uncoated specimens and epoxy-coated specimens. The splitting crack load and failure load were lower for epoxy coated specimens. Deflections of epoxy-coated specimens were larger. The differences in crack width and deflection were reduced with repeated loading. The average bond ratios were 0.78 and 0.75 for repeated loading test. No sign of corrosion was found for the steel extracted from coring samples in the six bridges evaluated. Evaluation of the field data and samples revealed that the combination of adequate concrete cover and epoxy coating has provided a good corrosion protection. This evaluation included the first bridge in Indiana where epoxy coated reinforcement had been placed (circa 1976).
Molecular characterization of new archaeal viruses from high salinity environments

DIVISION OF GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF BIOSCIENCES FACULTY OF BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES DOCTORAL PROGRAMME IN MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Molecular Characterization of New Archaeal Viruses from High Salinity Environments TATIANA DEMINA dissertationes schola doctoralis scientiae circumiectalis, alimentariae, biologicae. universitatis helsinkiensis 26/2016