Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Baseline characteristics of the population enrolled in the Italian Observational Study on Severe Osteoporosis (ISSO).

OBJECTIVES Baseline characteristics of the population enrolled in the ISSO study, designed to evaluate the incidence of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in Italian patients with severe osteoporosis treated according to clinical practice over 24 months observation. METHODS Prospective observational study in 783 post-menopausal women and men entering 18-month treatment with teriparatide in a community setting at 57 centres in Italy. Characterisation included demographics, fracture risk factors, bone mineral density, fracture status, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) measured by the European Quality of Life Questionnaire, EQ-5D, and back pain assessed by VAS. RESULTS Most patients were elderly women (90.5%), mean age±SD was 72.9±8.8 years. Nearly all (91.3%) had experienced ≥ 1 vertebral fracture (mean±SD, 3.6±2.2 per patient), 37.5% had ≥ 1 non-vertebral fracture (mean±SD, 1.4±0.7 per patient). Nearly all patients were suffering from back pain (94.9%), which had significantly restricted their daily activities (51.7%) and had likely or very likely been caused by vertebral fractures (29.2% and 55.8%, respectively). Mean EuroQoL EQ-5D index value was 0.58±0.25 and VAS score 49.2±23.6. Non-vertebral fractures, back pain and multiple vertebral fractures were associated with lower HRQoL (EuroQoL-5D Index both p<0.001, EQ-5D VAS score p=0.025 and p<0.016, respectively). Many patients were physically inactive (81.1%). One third (34.7%) of population had co-morbidities and 60.5% were on chronic concomitant treatments. Few subjects reported a maternal history of osteoporosis (15.5%), regular consumption of alcohol (13.3%) or were current smokers (11.5%). Nearly two-thirds (71.5%) had already been treated for osteoporosis, mainly with bisphosphonates. Calcium and vitamin D supplements were taken by 13% and 15.5% of the total population, respectively. CONCLUSIONS At enrollment, the population of ISSO study mostly consisted in aging women, who had osteoporosis with high fracture risk, poor HRQoL and suffered from significant back pain. Most of them had already been treated by bisphosphonates but without calcium and vitamin D supplements. Back pain, as well as non-vertebral and multiple vertebral fractures, were associated with lower HRQoL.
Dimetrodon: Processor-level preventive thermal management via idle cycle injection

Processor-level dynamic thermal management techniques have long targeted worst-case thermal margins. We examine the thermal-performance trade-offs in average-case, preventive thermal management by actively degrading application performance to achieve long-term thermal control. We propose Dimetrodon, the use of idle cycle injection, a flexible, per-thread technique, as a preventive thermal management mechanism and demonstrate its efficiency compared to hardware techniques in a commodity operating system on real hardware under throughput and latency-sensitive real-world workloads. Compared to inflexible hardware techniques, Dimetrodon achieves favorable trade-offs for temperature reductions up to 30% due to rapid heat dissipation during short idle intervals.
Treatment of acute otitis externa with ciprofloxacin otic 0.2% antibiotic ear solution

Background/objective An inflammation of the cutis and subcutis of the external auditory canal is a primary symptom in cases of acute otitis externa. It is usually treated locally, since this type of therapy ensures a high concentration of the drug and interacts at the site of inflammation with no systemic effects. This systematic review compares the efficacy of treatment using a ciprofloxacin 0.2% solution with other therapeutic options. Methods After compiling a catalog of search terms, medical databases were searched systematically for randomized, controlled studies. This search initially yielded a total of 38 studies which were then evaluated by three independent reviewers. The number of studies was subsequently reduced to 14: six studies using a ciprofloxacin 0.2% solution, and eight studies using both 0.2% and 0.3% solutions. Results The studies included in the review demonstrate the statistical equivalence between the ciprofloxacin solution (0.2%) and the reference products PNH (a combination of polymyxin B, neomycin sulfate and hydrocortisone), auriculum powder, and a ciprofloxacin foam with respect to the cure rate. The research groups consistently observed high in vitro activity of ciprofloxacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Conclusion This systematic review confirms the hypothesis of ciprofloxacin’s noninferiority in the treatment of otitis externa, in terms of the cure rate and microbiological eradication.
Analysis on wiretap lattice codes and probability bounds from Dedekind zeta functions

When employing lattice codes based on algebraic number fields in wiretap channel coding, certain norm sums pop up in the expression of the probability of correct decision for Eve the Eavesdropper. These norm sums closely resemble the Dedekind zeta function. The aim in this paper is to derive bounds for Eve's probability of correct decision in Rayleigh fading channels by using zeta functions and provide some numerical analysis on the behavior of the norm sums. It is then pointed out that, not surprisingly, similar sums occur in e.g. the expression of the pairwise error probability (PEP), when using similar number field lattice codes. Hence, same tools can be — and have been — used to derive bounds for the PEP and diversity-multiplexing gain tradeoff (DMT) as well.
The shape variational autoencoder: A deep generative model of part‐segmented 3D objects

We introduce a generative model of part‐segmented 3D objects: the shape variational auto‐encoder (ShapeVAE). The ShapeVAE describes a joint distribution over the existence of object parts, the locations of a dense set of surface points, and over surface normals associated with these points. Our model makes use of a deep encoder‐decoder architecture that leverages the part‐decomposability of 3D objects to embed high‐dimensional shape representations and sample novel instances. Given an input collection of part‐segmented objects with dense point correspondences the ShapeVAE is capable of synthesizing novel, realistic shapes, and by performing conditional inference enables imputation of missing parts or surface normals. In addition, by generating both points and surface normals, our model allows for the use of powerful surface‐reconstruction methods for mesh synthesis. We provide a quantitative evaluation of the ShapeVAE on shape‐completion and test‐set log‐likelihood tasks and demonstrate that the model performs favourably against strong baselines. We demonstrate qualitatively that the ShapeVAE produces plausible shape samples, and that it captures a semantically meaningful shape‐embedding. In addition we show that the ShapeVAE facilitates mesh reconstruction by sampling consistent surface normals.
Attending to All Mention Pairs for Full Abstract Biological Relation Extraction

Most work in relation extraction forms a prediction by looking at a short span of text within a single sentence containing a single entity pair mention. However, many relation types, particularly in biomedical text, are expressed across sentences or require a large context to disambiguate. We propose a model to consider all mention and entity pairs simultaneously in order to make a prediction. We encode full paper abstracts using an efficient self-attention encoder and form pairwise predictions between all mentions with a bi-affine operation. An entity-pair wise pooling aggregates mention pair scores to make a final prediction while alleviating training noise by performing within document multi-instance learning. We improve our model's performance by jointly training the model to predict named entities and adding an additional corpus of weakly labeled data. We demonstrate our model's effectiveness by achieving the state of the art on the Biocreative V Chemical Disease Relation dataset for models without KB resources, outperforming ensembles of models which use hand-crafted features and additional linguistic resources.
R34D1NG W0RD5 W1TH NUMB3R5.

Letter identities and number identities are usually thought to imply different cortical mechanisms. Specifically, the left fusiform gyrus responds more to letters than to digits (T. A. Polk et al., 2002). However, a widely circulated statement on the internet illustrates that it is possible to use numbers (leet digits) as parts of words, 4ND TH3 R35ULT1NG S3NT3NC3 C4N B3 R34D W1TH0UT GR34T 3FF0RT. Two masked priming lexical decision experiments were conducted to determine whether leet digits produce (automatic) lexical activation. Results showed that words are identified substantially faster when they are preceded by a masked leet word (M4T3R14L-MATERIAL) than when they are preceded by a control condition with other letters or digits. In addition, there was only a negligible advantage of the identity condition over the related leet condition. This leet-priming effect is not specific to numbers: A prime in which leet digits are replaced by letter-like symbols (M(Delta symbol)T(euro symbol)R! (Delta symbol)L - MATERIAL) facilitates word processing to the same degree as an identity prime. Therefore, the cognitive system regularizes the shape of the leet digits and letter-like symbols embedded in words with very little cost.
Etiology and Prognostic Significance of Albuminuria in Diabetes

Persistent clinical proteinuria (i.e., urinary protein excretion >0.5 g/24 h) is an ominous development in a person with diabetes. It eventually leads to a decline in the glomerular filtration rate and ultimately to end-stage renal failure or premature cardiovascular mortality. Progression of renal disease appears to be related to arterial blood pressure and protein intake and is primarily independent of the metabolic state. More s nsitive immunoassays for detecting low concentration of albumin in urine have led to recognition of subclinic l increases in albumin excretion rates in nonclinically proteinuric diabetic patients, a phenomenon named microalbuminuria. Studies have shown that patients with microalbuminuria have a significantly increased risk for clinical proteinuria and cardiovascular mortality. Microalbuminuria is rarely found during the first 5 yr of a patient's diabetes, suggesting that it is a sign of early glomerular damage rather than a marker for susceptibility to it. In patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), an association has been found between microalbuminuria and coronary heart disease, but this relationship needs further investigation. In pat ents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), this subclinical form of proteinuria is associated with poor metabolic control and, more important, with marginal elevation of blood pressure. Correction of hypergly emia by intensified insulin treatment might arrest progression to persistent clinical proteinuria; moreover, restricted protein intake and lowering of blood pressure have been shown to reduce the albumin excretion rate. Recent evidence suggests that the development of nephropathy in IDDM may be linked to a familial, possibly genetically determined, predisposition to hypertension. The identification of genetic components would enable cl nicians to focus therapy on patients at risk for development of diabetic nephropathy.
A Comparative Study of Iron Uptake Mechanisms in Marine Microalgae: Iron Binding at the Cell Surface Is a Critical Step1[W][OA]

We investigated iron uptake mechanisms in five marine microalgae from different ecologically important phyla: the diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana, the prasinophyceae Ostreococcus tauri and Micromonas pusilla, and the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi. Among these species, only the two diatoms were clearly able to reduce iron, via an inducible (P. tricornutum) or constitutive (T. pseudonana) ferrireductase system displaying characteristics similar to the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) flavohemoproteins proteins. Iron uptake mechanisms probably involve very different components according to the species, but the species we studied shared common features. Regardless of the presence and/or induction of a ferrireductase system, all the species were able to take up both ferric and ferrous iron, and iron reduction was not a prerequisite for uptake. Iron uptake decreased with increasing the affinity constants of iron-ligand complexes and with increasing ligand-iron ratios. Therefore, at least one step of the iron uptake mechanism involves a thermodynamically controlled process. Another step escapes to simple thermodynamic rules and involves specific and strong binding of ferric as well as ferrous iron at the cell surface before uptake of iron. Binding was paradoxically increased in iron-rich conditions, whereas uptake per se was induced in all species only after prolonged iron deprivation. We sought cell proteins loaded with iron following iron uptake. One such protein in O. tauri may be ferritin, and in P. tricornutum, Isip1 may be involved. We conclude that the species we studied have uptake systems for both ferric and ferrous iron, both involving specific iron binding at the cell surface.
Comparison of antioxidative capacities and inhibitory effects on cholesterol biosynthesis of quercetin and potential metabolites.

The flavonol quercetin is known to be rapidly metabolized after ingestion by enterocytes and bacteria in the intestinal tract which may influence the biological, e.g. antioxidative potency of this compound. Therefore, quercetin and several of its possible metabolites were compared with regard to their antioxidant activity and their capacity to inhibit hepatocellular cholesterol biosynthesis. Using the 2,2,-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl radical scavenger assay, all compounds with an ortho diphenolic structure acted as strong antioxidants. In contrast, in a cellular assay focusing on lipid peroxidation in cultured rat hepatocytes challenged with tert. -butylhydroperoxide only the lipophilic compounds quercetin and 3,4-dihydroxytoluene were active. Concerning the inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis, 3,4-dihydroxytoluene surprisingly mimicked the effect of quercetin in primary rat hepatocytes, but much less so in HepG2 cells. All other metabolites were almost ineffective in both cell types. These results suggest that some of the biological functions of flavonoids detectable by in vitro assays may persist in vivo as long as comparably potent metabolites are systemically present.
Total phenol concentrations in coffee tree leaves during fruit development

Vegetables have a natural defense against external factors synthesizing phenolic compounds, which depends on the maturity stage and on the climate. Total phenol grades were extracted from mature and young coffee leaves and were analyzed in relation to yield, phenology and climate. The climatic conditions were described by air temperature, global radiation and daily insolation. Evaluations were made on height, diameter and length of reproductive branches to determine the respective vegetative growth rates of the plants. The amounts of total phenols in the plants at the production stage was 174.0 mg g-1 and 138.9 mg g-1 for young and mature leaves, respectively, and for plants without fruit formation 186.5 mg g-1 and 127.6 mg g-1 for young and mature leaves, respectively. The total phenol concentrations in young leaves with and without fruit formation were 25% and 46% greater compared to mature leaves. The secondary phenol synthesis in seed (146.8 mg g-1) was 31% lower than during grain maturation (212.4 mg g-1). The total phenol metabolization depends indirectly on the temperature and on the global radiation, presenting an inverse trend in relation to these climatic variables. Crop protection management should take into consideration periods of endanger of this natural defense of the plant.
Extending partial automorphisms and the profinite topology on free groups

A class of structures C is said to have the extension property for partial automorphisms (EPPA) if, whenever C 1 and C 2 are structures in C, C 1 finite, C 1 ⊆ C 2 , and p 1 , p 2 ,. , pn are partial automorphisms of C 1 extending to automorphisms of C 2 , then there exist a finite structure C 3 in C and automorphisms α 1 , α 2 ,. , αn of C 3 extending the p i. We will prove that some classes of structures have the EPPA and show the equivalence of these kinds of results with problems related with the profinite topology on free groups. In particular, we will give a generalisation of the theorem, due to Ribes and Zalesski˘ ı stating that a finite product of finitely generated subgroups is closed for this topology.
Simulating mode transitions during breakdown in liquids

The primary new information from this investigation is the simulation of a transition from one streamer mode to another during propagation. The transition is characteristic of experimental data, but has not heretofore been described in a model. This demonstrates that the conceptual framework describing prebreakdown streamers in liquids as stochastic growth of a branching fractal tree in point-plane geometry is capable of simulating a wide range of streamer propagation behaviors in insulating liquids. The work also improved the approach in the model for scaling the potential at nearby grid points and explored some of the influences of computational choices, specifically needle length and grid size, on the predicted results.
IS900 PCR to detect Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in retail supplies of whole pasteurized cows' milk in England and Wales

IS900 PCR for Mycobacterium paratuberculosis was applied to cream, whey, and pellet fractions of centrifuged whole cows' milk. The test and simultaneous control reactions gave correct results for spiked milk and for native milk samples obtained directly from M. paratuberculosis-free, subclinically infected, and clinically infected cows. The test was then applied to units of whole pasteurized cows' milk widely obtained from retail outlets throughout central and southern England from September 1991 to March 1993. With peak periods in January to March and in September to November, when up to 25% of units were affected, an overall 22 of 312 samples (7%) tested positive for M. paratuberculosis. In 18 of the 22 positive samples (81%), the PCR signal segregated to the cream or pellet fractions or both, consistent with the presence of intact mycobacteria. Nine of 18 PCR-positive milk samples (50%) and 6 of 36 PCR-negative milk samples (16%) yielded long-term liquid cultures which tested positive for M. paratuberculosis after 13 to 40 months of incubation, despite overgrowth by other organisms. Taken together with data on the prevalence of M. paratuberculosis infection in herds in the United Kingdom, the known secretion of M. paratuberculosis in milk from subclinically infected animals, and the inability of laboratory conditions simulating pasteurization to ensure the killing of all these slowly growing or unculturable organisms, there is a high risk, particularly at peak times, that residual M. paratuberculosis will be present in retail pasteurized cows' milk in England.
Under Consideration for Publication in J. Functional Programming Finally Tagless, Partially Evaluated Tagless Staged Interpreters for Simpler Typed Languages

We have built the first family of tagless interpretations for a higher-order typed object language in a typed metalanguage (Haskell or ML) that require no dependent types, generalized algebraic data types, or postprocessing to eliminate tags. The statically type-preserving interpretations include an evaluator, a compiler (or staged evaluator), a partial evaluator, and call-by-name and call-by-value CPS transformers. Our principal technique is to encode de Bruijn or higher-order abstract syntax using combinator functions rather than data constructors. In other words, we represent object terms not in an initial algebra but using the coalgebraic structure of the λ-calculus. Our representation also simulates induc-tive maps from types to types, which are required for typed partial evaluation and CPS transformations. Our encoding of an object term abstracts uniformly over the family of ways to interpret it, yet statically assures that the interpreters never get stuck. This family of interpreters thus demonstrates again that it is useful to abstract over higher-kinded types. It should also be possible to define languages with a highly refined syntactic type structure. Ideally, such a treatment should be metacircular, in the sense that the type structure used in the defined language should be adequate for the defining language.
An Analysis of Stochastic Game Theory for Multiagent Reinforcement Learning

Abstract : Learning behaviors in a multiagent environment are crucial for developing and adapting multiagent systems. Reinforcement learning techniques have addressed this problem for a single agent acting in a stationary environment, which is modeled as a Markov decision process (MDP). But, multiagent environments are inherently non-stationary since the other agents are free to change their behavior as they also learn and adapt. Stochastic games, first studied in the game theory community, are a natural extension of MDPs to include multiple agents. In this paper we contribute a comprehensive presentation of the relevant techniques for solving stochastic games from both the game theory community and reinforcement learning communities. We examine the assumptions and limitations of these algorithms, and identify similarities between these algorithms, single agent reinforcement learners, and basic game theory techniques.
Robots, recruitment, and retention: Broadening participation through CS0

Despite increasing demands for computing professionals in the global economy, interest in computing careers and their related university majors has declined steadily over the past decade, leading to challenges in recruiting undergraduate majors in computing programs. These problems are exacerbated when the university serves traditionally underrepresented groups and students who come from economically depressed communities. We present an innovative approach for a “CS0” course, designed to recruit and retain computer science and computer engineering majors at a Hispanic-serving university in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We use Lego® Mindstorms® NXT robots as the primary tool for learning algorithmic problem solving and fundamental programming concepts, in a supportive, social learning environment. We delivered the course during two semesters. One semester focused on increasing awareness about career possibilities in computing fields among female students, while the second semester's class targeted retaining early computer science and computer engineering majors. Early assessments indicate that our approach is successful for our student population. Student interest in the course increased dramatically from the first semester to the next, and student engagement remained high during the semester. To date, the retention rate of the computer science and engineering majors who completed the course is 100%.