Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IGF-I receptor mutations resulting in intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation.

BACKGROUND Approximately 10 percent of infants with intrauterine growth retardation remain small, and the causes of their growth deficits are often unclear. We postulated that mutations in the gene for the insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) might underlie some cases of prenatal and postnatal growth failure. METHODS We screened two groups of children for abnormalities in the IGF-IR gene. In one group of 42 patients with unexplained intrauterine growth retardation and subsequent short stature, we used single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis, followed by direct DNA sequencing of any abnormalities found. A second cohort consisted of 50 children with short stature who had elevated circulating IGF-I concentrations. Complete sequencing of the IGF-IR gene was performed with DNA from nine children. We also studied a control group of 43 children with normal birth weights. RESULTS In the first cohort, we identified one girl who was a compound heterozygote for point mutations in exon 2 of the IGF-IR gene that altered the amino acid sequence to Arg108Gln in one allele and Lys115Asn in the other. Fibroblasts cultured from the patient had decreased IGF-I-receptor function, as compared with that in control fibroblasts. No such mutations were found in the 43 controls. In the second group, we identified one boy with a nonsense mutation (Arg59stop) that reduced the number of IGF-I receptors on fibroblasts. Both children had intrauterine growth retardation and poor postnatal growth. CONCLUSIONS Mutations in the IGF-IR gene that lead to abnormalities in the function or number of IGF-I receptors may also retard intrauterine and subsequent growth in humans.
Empathetic Consultation Skills in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Qualitative Approach.

The practice of medicine involves caring for patients on many levels, which range from the scientific inquiry and administration of treatment, to the interaction and communication that occurs in consultations. The requisite for care in medical practice has been widely documented, and the role of empathy is acknowledged and recognised in this process; however, it is often difficult to express in a communicative framework. Previous research has tended to focus on measuring empathy, with little consideration given to how empathy is realised within interaction. Where attempts have been made to document these communicative acts, deductive approaches have generally been prevalent. This thesis reports on an inductive approach used to explore how empathy is perceived to be expressed in undergraduate medical education. The methodology used consisted of two phases. The first phase is described as a quasi-grounded theory approach, which utilised member coding in the categorisation of empathetic strategies. The second phase adopted tools from the field of sociolinguistics, and examined the categories derived from the first phase to build toward a paradigm of interactional empathy in medical consultations. Three primary findings arose from the data. Two of these were sociolinguistic in nature, and related to the elicitation of patient experiences, and the initiation of empathetic opportunities in the consultation. The other main finding concerned the administrative aspect of empathy, and how this can be vital to the establishment and preservation of an empathetic ethos throughout the healthcare process. The results augment and support the current methods of teaching at the University of East Anglia via the Calgary-Cambridge guide, and reflect empathy as an integrative practice rather than an individual skill in medical communication.
Relations between optimism, stress and health in Chinese and American students

Previous research indicates that optimism may have considerable positive effects on mental and physical health. However, only a few previous studies have explored differential effects of optimism on health and none have examined the effects of different levels of optimism. This study supports the importance of optimism on health in a sample of 238 Chinese college students and 206 American college students. Comparative results indicated that there were significant differences on measures of two levels of optimism, pessimism, and indicators of health. In general, American students were found to express more dispositional optimistic belief, better mental health, and lower state and trait stress levels than Chinese students. However, there was no difference in the level of explanatory optimism. In addition, there was no significant difference between Chinese subjects' scores of overall health and American students' scores. Chinese students demonstrate a "middle optimism" style. In addition, both optimistic styles in this study were found to be significantly related to stressful states measured by State Anxiety (Yl) Scale and Trait Anxiety Scale (Y2) in Chinese students. In contrast, in American samples, only the dispositional optimism, the big optimism, was found significantly but negatively related to the trait stress. In this study, the association between optimism and health either little or big optimism were not different between the two cultures, while the association between optimism and stress was quite different between the two cultures.
The State of the Art in HDR Deghosting: A Survey and Evaluation

Obtaining a high quality high dynamic range (HDR) image in the presence of camera and object movement has been a long‐standing challenge. Many methods, known as HDR deghosting algorithms, have been developed over the past ten years to undertake this challenge. Each of these algorithms approaches the deghosting problem from a different perspective, providing solutions with different degrees of complexity, solutions that range from rudimentary heuristics to advanced computer vision techniques. The proposed solutions generally differ in two ways: (1) how to detect ghost regions and (2) what to do to eliminate ghosts. Some algorithms choose to completely discard moving objects giving rise to HDR images which only contain the static regions. Some other algorithms try to find the best image to use for each dynamic region. Yet others try to register moving objects from different images in the spirit of maximizing dynamic range in dynamic regions. Furthermore, each algorithm may introduce different types of artifacts as they aim to eliminate ghosts. These artifacts may come in the form of noise, broken objects, under‐ and over‐exposed regions, and residual ghosting. Given the high volume of studies conducted in this field over the recent years, a comprehensive survey of the state of the art is required. Thus, the first goal of this paper is to provide this survey. Secondly, the large number of algorithms brings about the need to classify them. Thus the second goal of this paper is to propose a taxonomy of deghosting algorithms which can be used to group existing and future algorithms into meaningful classes. Thirdly, the existence of a large number of algorithms brings about the need to evaluate their effectiveness, as each new algorithm claims to outperform its precedents. Therefore, the last goal of this paper is to share the results of a subjective experiment which aims to evaluate various state‐of‐the‐art deghosting algorithms.
Acute alcohol effects on impulsivity: associations with drinking and driving behavior.

AIMS Although drink drivers exhibit higher levels of trait impulsivity, no studies have tested the hypothesis that drink drivers experience increased impulsivity while intoxicated. We tested this hypothesis for two impulsivity constructs: delay discounting and behavioral inhibition. DESIGN A within-subjects study comparing performance of drink drivers and non-drink drivers on behavioral measures of impulsivity in alcohol and no-beverage sessions. SETTING A laboratory setting at the University of Missouri. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-nine young adults who were at least moderate drinkers were recruited from the local community and the University of Missouri. MEASUREMENTS Impulsivity was assessed using the Two Choice Impulsivity Paradigm (TCIP) and the Stop-Signal Task. Participants also completed self-report measures of binge drinking and trait impulsivity. FINDINGS In the no-beverage session, TCIP impulsive choices did not differ between drinking and driving groups (P = 0.93). In the alcohol session, drink drivers made more TCIP impulsive choices on both the ascending (P < 0.01) and descending limb (P < 0.01) of the blood alcohol concentration curve than their peers who did not drink and drive. Drinking and driving groups did not differ on the Stop-Signal Task. Supplementary analyses indicated that effects for the TCIP were not explained by individual differences in trait impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS Individuals who report having three or more drinks before driving show greater impulsivity when under the influence of alcohol than those who do not report heavy drinking before driving.
Changing Behaviors by Changing the Classroom Environment

I What impact does the classroom environment have on overall class behavior and learning? Many teachers face disruptive behavior in their classrooms. How can they target and change problem areas in the classroom environment? By collecting data on students' engagement during instruction, disruptive behavior, and teacher observations, teachers can identify which physical aspects of their classroom need to be improved. Changing the classroom environment can increase academic engagement and decrease disruptive behavior.
Exploring the links between relational bonds and customer loyalty : the case of loyal Arabic guests at five-star hotels

Relationship marketing aims to build and maintain relationships between customers and organizations. While building strong bonds is a key objective of relationship marketing, limited empirical attention has been paid to the role of relational bonds on enhancing loyalty. This study explores the impact of financial, social and structural bonds on consumer loyalty, using a sample of loyal Arabic hotel guests. The results of this study suggest that structural bonds increase loyalty, although financial and social bonds were not found to have a significant impact on loyalty.
Modification of cutoff values for HE4, CA125, the Risk of Malignancy Index, and the Risk of Malignancy Algorithm for ovarian cancer detection in Jakarta, Indonesia.

BACKGROUND CA125 and HE4 are used in calculating Risk of Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA); and Risk of Malignancy Index (RMI). However, studies showed that normal levels of CA125, and HE4 differ among ethnicities such as between Asians and Caucasians, thus affecting the accuracy of the RMI score and ROMA in predicting ovarian malignancy. This study aimed to determine whether new or modified cutoff values for Ca- 125, HE4, the RMI score, and ROMA resulted in a better prediction of malignancy compared with the previous or standard ones. MATERIALS AND METHODS Serum level of CA125 and HE4 from 128 patients with diagnosis of ovarian tumor that had been collected before surgery at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (CMH) in Jakarta from November 2010 until May 2011 were reviewed and analysed. The standard cutoff values of these biomarkers, RMI, and ROMA were modified by using logistic regression model. The modified cutoff values were compared to the standard cutoff values in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. RESULTS The modified cutoff value of CA125, HE4, RMI score and ROMA were 165.2 U/mL, 103.4 pM, 368.7, 28/54. The sensitivity and specificity of the modified cutoff values CA125, HE 4, RMI score and ROMA in differentiating benign from malignant and borderline were 67% and 75,4%; 73.1% and 85.2%; 73.1% and 80.3%; and 77.6% and 86.9%. While the sensitivity and specificity of the standard cutoff value of CA125; HE4; RMI score; and ROMA were 91% and 24.6%; 83.6% and 65%; 80.6% and 65.6%; and 91.0% and 42.6%. The accuracy of modified cutoff values compared with standard cutoff values were: 71.2% vs 59.3%, 78.9% vs 75% vs, 76.5% vs 73.4%, and 82% vs 67.9%. CONCLUSIONS The new or modified cutoff values of Ca125, HE4, RMI score and ROMA resulted in higher accuracy compared to the previous or standard ones, at the cost of reduced sensitivity.
In vitro effects of antimicrobial agents on Mycobacterium leprae in mouse peritoneal macrophages

Mycobacterium leprae synthesizes large quantities of a specific phthiocerol-containing phenolic glycolipid in vivo. We have shown earlier that viable M. leprae readily incorporates radiolabeled palmitic acid into phenolic glycolipid I when residing in cultured macrophages in vitro and that this process is inhibited by the antileprosy drug rifampin. In the present paper we report that application of this observation to the rapid evaluation of over 25 antimicrobial agents for potential antileprosy activity in vitro. All the known antileprosy drugs rifampin, dapsone, clofazimine, and ethionamide inhibited phenolic glycolipid I synthesis. Rifabutin, a spiropiperidyl derivative of rifamycin, also reported to be active in the mouse model, was very effective. Interestingly, the macrolides erythromycin, clarithromycin, and roxithromycin were also found to be active in this system, while D-cycloserine and other cell wall synthesis inhibitors showed no effect. Many of the compounds found to be active in this system have been reported to be effective in vivo in mice. This correlation lends support to the feasibility of using phenolic glycolipid I synthesis for the rapid evaluation of new drugs against leprosy.
Activated clotting time during percutaneous coronary intervention: a test for all seasons or a mind tranquilizer?

Unfractionated heparin (UFH) has been used clinically as an anticoagulant since 1935.1,2 Thirty-one years later, the activated clotting time (ACT) was developed as a test for the diagnosis and management of patients with inherited coagulation disorders.3 Later, the ACT test was extensively used to monitor UFH therapy in patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery or percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). Although ACT is often seen as a crude and imprecise test that does not correlate with other coagulation tests,4 it remains the most commonly used point-of-care test to monitor UFH during PCI procedures. Guidelines recommend target ACT values within 200 to 250 s with planned use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors and 250 to 300 s (Hemotech device) or 300 to 350 s (Hemochron device) without planned use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors for the guidance of UFH therapy during primary PCI procedures.5 The reference range for the target ACT is mostly empiric6 or based on small-scale studies.7–9 With regard to the association between ACT values and thrombotic or bleeding complications after PCI, studies remain markedly divided. A meta-analysis of 6 randomized trials of patients undergoing PCI by Chew et al10 showed that the risk of ischemic events reduced progressively with increasing ACT levels. The lowest rate of bleeding (8.6%) was observed in the ACT range between 325 and 350 s and it increased to 12.4% at ACT 350 to 375 s. However, this study included a heterogeneous population of the patients with a broad range of indications for PCI and only a small minority of patients received coronary stents or antithrombotic therapy (ticlopidine or clopidogrel). As a consequence, the study does not reflect the current practice of PCI. Another meta-analysis of 4 randomized trials, more contemporary in terms of the use of …
The Interaction of CRM1 and the Nuclear Pore Protein Tpr

While much has been devoted to the study of transport mechanisms through the nuclear pore complex (NPC), the specifics of interactions and binding between export transport receptors and the NPC periphery have remained elusive. Recent work has demonstrated a binding interaction between the exportin CRM1 and the unstructured carboxylic tail of Tpr, on the nuclear basket. Strong evidence suggests that this interaction is vital to the functions of CRM1. Using molecular dynamics simulations and a newly refined method for determining binding regions, we have identified nine candidate binding sites on CRM1 for C-Tpr. These include two adjacent to RanGTP – from which one is blocked in the absence of RanGTP – and three next to the binding region of the cargo Snurportin. We report two additional interaction sites between C-Tpr and Snurportin, suggesting a possible role for Tpr import into the nucleus. Using bioinformatics tools we have conducted conservation analysis and functional residue prediction investigations to identify which parts of the obtained binding sites are inherently more important and should be highlighted. Also, a novel measure based on the ratio of available solvent accessible surface (RASAS) is proposed for monitoring the ligand/receptor binding process.
Constraining Ω with Cluster Evolution

We show that the evolution of the number density of rich clusters of galaxies breaks the degeneracy between Ω (the mass density ratio of the universe) and σ8 (the normalization of the power spectrum), σ8Ω0.5 ≃ 0.5, that follows from the observed present-day abundance of rich clusters. The evolution of high-mass (Coma-like) clusters is strong in Ω = 1, low-σ8 models (such as the standard biased cold dark matter model with σ8 ≃ 0.5), where the number density of clusters decreases by a factor of about 103 from z = 0 to z ≃ 0.5; the same clusters show only mild evolution in low-Ω, high-σ8 models, where the decrease is a factor of about 10. This diagnostic provides a most powerful constraint on Ω. Using observations of clusters to z ≃ 0.5-1, we find only mild evolution in the observed cluster abundance. We find Ω = 0.3 ± 0.1 and σ8 = 0.85 ± 0.15 (for Λ = 0 models; for Ω + Λ = 1 models, Ω = 0.34 ± 0.13). These results imply, if confirmed by future surveys, that we live in a low-density, low-bias universe.
How Much to Coordinate? Optimizing In-Network Caching in Content-Centric Networks

In content-centric networks, it is challenging how to optimally provision in-network storage to cache contents, to balance the tradeoffs between the network performance and the provisioning cost. To address this problem, we first propose a holistic model for intradomain networks to characterize the network performance of routing contents to clients and the network cost incurred by globally coordinating the in-network storage capability. We then derive the optimal strategy for provisioning the storage capability that optimizes the overall network performance and cost, and analyze the performance gains via numerical evaluations on real network topologies. Our results reveal interesting phenomena; for instance, different ranges of the Zipf exponent can lead to opposite optimal strategies, and the tradeoffs between the network performance and the provisioning cost have great impacts on the stability of the optimal strategy. We also demonstrate that the optimal strategy can achieve significant gain on both the load reduction at origin servers and the improvement on the routing performance. Moreover, given an optimal coordination level ℓ*, we design a routing-aware content placement (RACP) algorithm that runs on a centralized server. The algorithm computes and assigns contents to each CCN router to store, which can minimize the overall routing cost, e.g., transmission delay or hop counts, to deliver contents to clients. By conducting extensive simulations using a large-scale trace dataset collected from a commercial 3G network in China, our results demonstrate that our caching scheme can achieve 4% to 22% latency reduction on average over the state-of-the-art caching mechanisms.
On the capacity of picocellular networks

The orders of magnitude increase in projected demand for wireless cellular data require drastic increases in spatial reuse, with picocells with diameters of the order of 100-200 m supplementing existing macrocells whose diameters are of the order of kilometers. In this paper, we observe that the nature of interference changes fundamentally as we shrink cell size, with near line of sight interference from neighboring picocells seeing significantly smaller path loss exponents than interference in macrocellular environments. Using a propagation model proposed by Franceschetti, which compactly models increased interference in small cells, we show that the network capacity does not scale linearly with the reduction in cell size with standard frequency reuse strategies. Rather, more sophisticated resource sharing strategies based on beamforming and base station cooperation are required to realize the potential of small cells in providing high spectral efficiencies and quasi-deterministic guarantees on availability. Numerical results justifying these conclusions include Chernoff bounds on outage probability for random base station deployment (according to a spatial Poisson process), and simulations for deployment in a regular grid.
Remote powering platform for implantable sensor systems at 2.45 GHz

Far-field remotely powered sensor systems enable long distance operation for low-power sensor systems. In this work, we demonstrate a remote powering platform with a miniaturized antenna and remote powering base station operating at 2.45 GHz. The rectenna, which is the energy receiving and conversion element of the sensor system, is designed and measured. The measurements for the tag are performed within 15 cm distance from the remote powering base station. The realized gain of the tag antenna is measured as -3.3 dB, which is 0.5 dB close to the simulations, where simulated realized gain is -2.8 dB.
Risk of cardiovascular events in mothers of women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of cardiovascular events in an older population of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). METHODS We took advantage of the high heritability of PCOS and determined the probable PCOS status of mothers of women with PCOS. The prevalence of cardiovascular events was then determined in these mothers with and without PCOS. In a single endocrine clinic, 308 women with PCOS were interviewed about their mothers' medical history, and the mothers themselves were interviewed if available. The interview addressed menstrual history, fertility, clinical signs of hyperandrogenism, age at incident cardiovascular event, and age at death as reported by daughters. Presence of PCOS in the mothers was defined as a history of infertility, irregular menses, or clinical signs of hyperandrogenism. A cardiovascular event was defined as fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, any coronary intervention, angina necessitating emergency department visits, or a cerebrovascular event. RESULTS The mothers were predominantly post-menopausal. Among 182 interviewed (n = 157) or deceased (n = 25) mothers, 59 had probable PCOS. Cardiovascular events were more common (P = .011) among mothers with PCOS (11 of 59 or 18.6%) than among non-PCOS mothers (5 of 123 or 4.1%). After adjustments were made for age and race, probable PCOS was an independent predictor of cardiovascular events (odds ratio, 5.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.78 to 16.40). Cardiovascular events occurred at an early age in mothers of women with PCOS, particularly mothers with probable PCOS themselves. CONCLUSION PCOS-affected mothers of women with PCOS have a higher risk for cardiovascular events in comparison with non-PCOS mothers, and cardiovascular events appear to occur at an earlier than expected age in mothers with PCOS.