Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent Warming and Freshening of the Norwegian Sea Observed by Argo Data

Climate variability in the Norwegian Sea, comprising the Norwegian and Lofoten Basins, was investigated based upon monthly estimates of ocean heat and freshwater contents using data from Argo floats during 2002–18. Both local air–sea exchange and advective processes were examined and quantified for monthly to interannual time scales. In the recent years, 2011–18, the Norwegian Sea experienced a decoupling of the temperature and salinity, with a simultaneous warming and freshening trend. This was mainly explained by two different processes; reduced ocean heat loss to the atmosphere and advection of fresher Atlantic water into the Norwegian Sea. The local air–sea heat fluxes are important in modifying the ocean heat content, although this relationship varied with time scale and basins. On time scales exceeding 4 months in the Lofoten Basin and 6 months in the Norwegian Basin, the air–sea heat flux explained half or even more of the local ocean heat content change. There were both a short-term and long-term response of the wind forcing on the ocean heat content. The monthly to seasonal response of increased southerly wind cooled and freshened the Norwegian Basin, due to eastward surface Ekman transport, and increased the influence of Arctic Water. However, after about a 1-yr delay the ocean warmed and became saltier due to an increased advection of Atlantic Water into the region. Increased westerly winds decreased the ocean heat content in both cases due to increased transport of Arctic Water into the Norwegian Sea.
Survival analysis of endosseous implants in grafted and nongrafted edentulous maxillae.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the survival rates of endosseous implants placed in the edentulous maxillae of patients in whom bone augmentation was undertaken prior to or in conjunction with implant placement with survival rates in patients who did not undergo bone augmentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study included 2 retrospective patient groups: the graft group, which included 64 patients with 437 implants, and the nongraft group, which included 118 patients with 683 implants. The patients were treated consecutively between 1990 and 1996. In addition, the retrospective patient groups were also followed prospectively using a standardized clinical and radiographic study design. RESULTS The implant survival rate was 75.1% for the graft group and 84.0% for the nongraft group after a mean follow-up of 5 to 6 years, a statistically significant difference. However, there was no difference with regard to the prosthesis survival rate, and after reoperation, more grafted patients had a fixed prosthesis at the end of the study (87.5% versus 85.3%). Implant failure appeared to be related to the original jawbone volume in the anterior regions. In the premolar region, where the inlay graft technique was used, the implant survival rate for the graft group was comparable to that of the nongraft group. The graft group had significantly more failures than the nongraft group in the incisor region, but not in the canine, premolar, or molar regions. DISCUSSION The majority of implant failures occurred before loading. Occlusal overload during the healing period may have been a causative factor. CONCLUSIONS The overall implant survival rate was lower in grafted maxillae than in nongrafted maxillae after a mean of 5 to 6 years of follow-up. Analysis revealed that jawbone volume in the anterior regions at the start of treatment was directly related to implant survival rates in both groups: the greater the volume, the higher the survival rate. Moreover, the implant survival rate was similar in grafted posterior edentulous maxillae of classes V and VI and in nongrafted posterior edentulous maxillae of classes III and IV.
Order crossovers in inventory management:qualitative and quantitative insights

i Management Summary . ii Problem . ii Analysis . iii Results . iii Recommendations . iv Preface . v List of Figures . ix List of Tables . x
Autologous Designer Antigen-presenting Cells by Gene Modification of T Lymphocyte Blasts With IL-7 and IL-12

An effective immune response to antigen requires professional antigen-presenting cell (APC), which not only present antigen, but also provide costimulation and cytokines (eg, IL-12) that drive T cell differentiation down the appropriate effector pathway (Tc1/TH1). For T cell-based immunotherapy protocols, the availability of large numbers of autologous professional APC is a major limitation because professional APC do not proliferate in vitro. T cells themselves can proliferate exponentially in vitro and have the ability to present antigen. They can also express costimulatory molecules after activation. Therefore, we hypothesized that if activated T cells were genetically modified to express proinflammatory cytokines required to polarize T cells toward a Tc1 response, they could fulfill the requirements for an abundant, autologous APC. To test this potential, T cells were activated by CD3/CD28 antibodies and pulsed with model HLA-A2+ peptides derived from CMVpp65, MAGE-3, and MART-1. Activated T-APC readily reactivated CD8+ pp65 memory T cells from healthy CMV seropositive donors; however, the activation of MAGE-3 and MART-1-specific CD8+ T cells required both IL-7 and IL-12, which could be provided either exogenously or by genetic modification of the T-APC. Responder T cells could be expanded to large numbers with subsequent stimulations using activated, peptide-pulsed T-APC and IL-2. Tumor antigen-specific T cell lines killed both peptide-pulsed target cells and tumor cell lines. Thus, T cells provide a platform for the generation of autologous APC that can be customized to express both antigens and therapeutic molecules for the induction of antigen-specific T cell immunity.
Fournier's Gangrene: A Review and Outcome Comparison from 2009 to 2016.

Objective: The outcome of Fournier's gangrene (FG) may be affected by comorbidities, demographics, and choice of treatment modality. We sought to evaluate our institution's management protocol of FG measured by mortality rate (MR) and length of hospital stay (LHS) in a retrospective cohort study. Approach: A database of 20 FG cases at our institution throughout the 2009-2016 study period was assembled by a retrospective review of medical records. A Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index Score (FGSIS) was calculated for each case. Data were analyzed for statistical significance using logistic regression. Results: The most common presentation of FG at our institution was a hyperglycemic diabetic male in his fifth decade of life with a second risk factor such as recent surgery or active malignancy. The average FGSIS was 9 overall and 14 for the mortalities. An increased FGSIS was predictive of having an increased MR or hospital stay above the median (>25 days) (p = 0.0194). The average LHS was 32 days overall, 22 days for patients treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy and 40 days for patients treated with tangential hydrosurgery. Overall MR was 15%. Innovation: This is the second known study to characterize usage of tangential hydrosurgery in the management of FG. Conclusion: Treatment outcomes at our institution are comparable to those reported in recent literature, a significant decline from the historical MR of 50-60%.
The NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase gene (icd) is nitrogen regulated in cyanobacteria

NADP+-isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP+-IDH) activity and protein levels in crude extracts from the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 and the filamentous, dinitrogen-fixing Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 were determined under different nitrogen conditions. The highest NADP+-IDH activity and protein accumulation were found under dinitrogen-fixing conditions for the Anabaena strain and under nitrogen starvation for Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The icd gene that encodes the NADP+-IDH from Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 was cloned by heterologous hybridization with the previously isolated icd gene from Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. The two cyanobacterial icd genes show 81% sequence identity and share a typical 44-amino-acid region different from all the other icd genes sequenced so far. The icd gene seems to be essential for Synechocystis growth since attempts to generate a completely segregated icd mutant were unsuccessful. Transcripts of 2.0 and 1.6 kb were detected by Northern (RNA) blot analysis, for the Anabaena and Synecho-cystis icd genes, respectively. Maximal icd mRNA accumulation was reached after 5 It of nitrogen starvation in Synechocystis cells and under dinitrogen-fixing conditions in Anabaena cells. Primer extension analysis showed that the structure of the Synechocystis icd gene promoter resembles those of the NtcA-regulated promoters. In addition, mobility shift assays demonstrated that purified Synechocystis NtcA protein binds to the promoter of the icd gene. All these data suggest that the expression of the icd gene from Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 may be subjected to nitrogen control mediated by the positively acting regulatory protein NtcA.
Physical and cognitive function in midlife: reciprocal effects? A 5-year follow-up of the Whitehall II study

Background: Cognitive and physical functions are closely linked in old age, but less is known about this association in midlife. Whether cognitive function predicts physical function and whether physical function predicts cognitive function were assessed in middle-aged men and women. Methods: Data were from Whitehall II, an ongoing large-scale, prospective occupational cohort study of employees from 20 London-based white-collar Civil Service departments. The participants, 3446 men and 1274 women aged 45–68 years at baseline (1995–1997), had complete data on cognitive performance and physical function at both baseline and follow-up (2002–2004). A composite cognitive score was compiled from the following tests: verbal memory, inductive reasoning (Alice Heim 4-I), verbal meaning (Mill Hill), phonemic and semantic fluency. Physical function was measured using the physical composite score of the short form (SF-36) scale. Average follow-up was 5.4 years. Results: Poor baseline cognitive performance predicted poor physical function at follow-up (β = 0.08, p<0.001), while baseline physical function did not predict cognitive performance (β = 0.01, p = 0.67). After full adjustment for sociodemographic, behavioural and biological risk factors, baseline cognitive performance (β = 0.04 p = 0.009) remained predictive of physical function. Conclusion: Despite previous work indicating that the association between physical and cognitive performance may be bidirectional, these findings suggest that, in middle age, the direction of the association is predominantly from poor cognition to poor physical function.
The chromatin structure of centromeres from fission yeast: differentiation of the central core that correlates with function

We have examined the chromatin structure of centromere regions from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The large and complex centromere regions of the S. pombe chromosomes encompass many kilobase pairs of DNA and contain several classes of tandemly repeated DNA sequences. The repeated sequences are further organized into a large inverted repeat flanking a central core, a conserved structural feature among all three centromeres in S. pombe. The nucleosomal configuration of the centromere regions is nonuniform and highly varied. Most of the centromere-specific repeated DNA sequences are packaged into nucleosomes typical of bulk chromatin. However, the central core and core-associated repeated sequences from the centromere regions of chromosomes I (cen1) and II (cen2), when present in S. pombe, show an altered chromatin structure, with little or no evidence of regular nucleosomal packaging. The atypical chromatin organization of the cen2 central core is not due to transcription, as no transcripts from this region were detected. These same DNA sequences, however, are packaged into nucleosomes typical of bulk chromatin when present in a nonfunctional environment on a minichromosome in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Because the cen2 central core sequences themselves do not preclude regular nucleosomal packaging, we speculate that in S. pombe they constitute a specialized site of kinetochore protein assembly. The atypical nucleosomal pattern of the cen2 central core remains constant during the cell cycle, with only minor differences observed for some sequences. We propose that the unusual chromatin organization of the core region forms the basis of a higher order structural differentiation that distinguishes the centromere from the chromosome arms and specifies the essential structure for centromere function.
Number of islet autoantibodies present in newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes children born to non‐diabetic mothers is affected by islet autoantibodies present at birth

Objective: Cord blood islet autoantibodies in children born to mothers with type 1 diabetes may be associated with a reduced risk of islet autoimmunity and diabetes. The aim of this study was to investigate in children with type 1 diabetes but born to non‐diabetic mothers whether islet autoantibodies at birth affected their presence at diagnosis.
The Importance of Publishing Negative Results

In a previous Editorial (Weintraub 2015), I stated that the Journal of Insect Science would accept well-supported manuscripts with negative data. I feel that the publication of negative results is important, in fact, imperative, as I’ve outlined below. 1. Scientific thinking is not always open minded and without bias; accepted theories can be hard to overthrow—and I am referring here to scientists, not the general public. Publishing only selective information, i.e. positive results, does not allow one to visualize/understand the whole of the situation. However, by publishing negative data or results that contradict the establish way of thinking, we may more quickly come to a new understanding of the situation, whatever it may be. 2. Negative results are important for the broader field where they are relevant, helping to interpret positive results that may have been obtained in related studies. 3. If negative results are not reported, a nonproductive or flawed concept may continue to receive support from agencies, diverting funding from potentially more fruitful endeavors. How much funding has gone into supporting an idea that looks good on paper but does not come to fruition? And, how many times has this been repeated by funding agencies in different countries around the world? If the initial failure had been reported, the granting agencies could channel that money into other projects. 4. The reporting of negative results can help other scientists adjust their research plans and increase their chances of success. Once an idea has been developed and a team has moved to actually performing the research, they will work in the most logical fashion; A to B, B to C, validating each step. At this point there is no reason to “think outside the box”. When …
Low complexity equalization for single carrier transmissions over doubly-selective channels using linear approximation

In this paper, a low complexity equalizer for single carrier transmissions over doubly selective channels is developed. The main attribute of the proposed equalizer is its low complexity compared to the existing equalizers, which is attained at the expense of a slight performance loss. Simulation results show that the performance of our proposed low complexity equalizer is as good as that of the conventional equalizers with extensive computation complexity.
MS Environmental Biology Capstone Project

12 Background/Rationale/Significance . 12 Purpose and Specific Aims . 17 Methods . 18 Study Site . 18 Data Collection . 18 Data Analysis . 19 Work Plan . 20 Application to Current Coursework . 20
Sub-carrier Switch Off in OFDM-based wireless local area networks

OFDM based wireless communication systems split the available frequency band into so-called sub-carriers, and data is transmitted on each of these sub-carriers in parallel. With frequency selective fading, sub-carriers may experience different channel qualities. Thus, choosing a different modulation and coding scheme (MCS) per sub-carrier improves performance. However, this comes at an increase in transceiver complexity and no current wireless system adapts the MCS at such a fine granularity. Some OFDMA based systems such as LTE allow to adapt the MCS per user, whereas wireless local area networks as specified by IEEE 802.11 use the same MCS on every sub-carrier. The performance of such wireless systems that use a single MCS in a frequency selective fading channel can be significantly improved through Sub-Carrier Switch Off (SSO), a simple but powerful alternative to adaptive MCS. SSO deactivates weak sub-carriers that excessively raise the error probability to improve the overall throughput. In this paper, we implement and test SSO in a software-defined radio testbed based on the Wireless Open Access Research Platform (WARP). We present a novel light-weight method for selecting the sub-carriers to be switched off based on the per-sub-carrier channel quality. The results we obtain from our measurements indicate that throughput increases of up to 250% are possible and thus SSO is a highly promising and very low complexity mechanism for future wireless local area networks.
Domain organization within repeated DNA sequences: application to the study of a family of transposable elements

MOTIVATION The analysis of repeated elements in genomes is a fascinating domain of research that is lacking relevant tools for transposable elements (TEs), the most complex ones. The dynamics of TEs, which provides the main mechanism of mutation in some genomes, is an essential component of genome evolution. In this study we introduce a new concept of domain, a segmentation unit useful for describing the architecture of different copies of TEs. Our method extracts occurrences of a terminus-defined family of TEs, aligns the sequences, finds the domains in the alignment and searches the distribution of each domain in sequences. After a classification step relative to the presence or the absence of domains, the method results in a graphical view of sequences segmented into domains. RESULTS Analysis of the new non-autonomous TE AtREP21 in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana reveals copies of very different sizes and various combinations of domains which show the potential of our method. AVAILABILITY DomainOrganizer web page is available at www.irisa. fr/symbiose/DomainOrganizer/.
Obesity, the Metabolic Syndrome, and Type 2 Diabetes in Developing Countries: Role of Dietary Fats and Oils

Developing countries are undergoing rapid nutrition transition concurrent with increases in obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). From a healthy traditional high-fiber, low-fat, low-calorie diet, a shift is occurring toward increasing consumption of calorie-dense foods containing refined carbohydrates, fats, red meats, and low fiber. Data show an increase in the supply of animal fats and increased intake of saturated fatty acid (SFAs) (obtained from coconut oil, palm oil, and ghee [clarified butter]) in many developing countries, particularly in South Asia and South-East Asia. In some South Asian populations, particularly among vegetarians, intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (obtained from flaxseed, mustard, and canola oils) and long-chain (LC) n-3 PUFAs (obtained from fish and fish oils) is low. Further, the effect of supplementation of n-3 PUFAs on metabolic risk factors and insulin resistance, except for demonstrated benefit in terms of decreased triglycerides, needs further investigation among South Asians. Data also show that intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) ranged from 4.7% to 16.4%en in developing countries, and supplementing it from olive, canola, mustard, groundnut, and rice bran oils may reduce metabolic risk. In addition, in some developing countries, intake of n-6 PUFAs (obtained from sunflower, safflower, corn, soybean, and sesame oils) and trans-fatty acids (TFAs) is increasing. These data show imbalanced consumption of fats and oils in developing countries, which may have potentially deleterious metabolic and glycemic consequences, although more research is needed. In view of the rapid rise of T2DM in developing countries, more aggressive public health awareness programs coupled with governmental action and clear country-specific guidelines are required, so as to promote widespread use of healthy oils, thus curbing intake of SFAs and TFAs, and increasing intake of n-3 PUFAs and MUFAs. Such actions would contribute to decelerating further escalation of “epidemics” of obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and T2DM in developing countries.
Early cerebral perfusion pressure augmentation with phenylephrine after traumatic brain injury may be neuroprotective in a pediatric swine model*

Objective: Cerebral perfusion pressure <40 mm Hg following pediatric traumatic brain injury has been associated with increased mortality independent of age, and current guidelines recommend maintaining cerebral perfusion pressure between 40 mm Hg–60 mm Hg. Although adult traumatic brain injury studies have observed an increased risk of complications associated with targeting a cerebral perfusion pressure >70, we hypothesize that targeting a cerebral perfusion pressure of 70 mm Hg with the use of phenylephrine early after injury in the immature brain will be neuroprotective. Design: Animals were randomly assigned to injury with a cerebral perfusion pressure of 70 mm Hg or 40 mm Hg. Diffuse traumatic brain injury was produced by a single rapid rotation of the head in the axial plane. Cerebral microdialysis, brain tissue oxygen, intracranial pressure, and cerebral blood flow were measured 30 min–6 hrs postinjury. One hour after injury, cerebral perfusion pressure was manipulated with the vasoconstrictor phenylephrine. Animals were euthanized 6 hrs posttraumatic brain injury, brains fixed, and stained to assess regions of cell injury and axonal dysfunction. Setting: University center. Subject: Twenty-one 4-wk-old female swine. Measurements and Main Results: Augmentation of cerebral perfusion pressure to 70 mm Hg resulted in no change in axonal dysfunction, but significantly smaller cell injury volumes at 6 hrs postinjury compared to cerebral perfusion pressure 40 (1.1% vs. 7.4%, p < .05). Microdialysis lactate/pyruvate ratios were improved at cerebral perfusion pressure 70 compared to cerebral perfusion pressure 40. Cerebral blood flow was higher in the cerebral perfusion pressure 70 group but did not reach statistical significance. Phenylephrine was well tolerated and there were no observed increases in serum lactate or intracranial pressure in either group. Conclusions: Targeting a cerebral perfusion pressure of 70 mm Hg resulted in a greater reduction in metabolic crisis and cell injury volumes compared to a cerebral perfusion pressure of 40 mm Hg in an immature swine model. Early aggressive cerebral perfusion pressure augmentation to a cerebral perfusion pressure of 70 mm Hg in pediatric traumatic brain injury before severe intracranial hypertension has the potential to be neuroprotective, and further investigations are needed.
Decoding of differential AG codes

The interpolation-based decoding that was developed for general evaluation AG codes is shown to be equally applicable to general differential AG codes. A performance analysis of the decoding algorithm, which is parallel to that of its companion algorithm, is reported. In particular, the decoding capacities of evaluation AG codes and differential AG codes are seen to be nicely interrelated. As an interesting special case, a decoding algorithm for classical Goppa codes is presented.