Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with depletion of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and endothelial dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes.

CONTEXT Vitamin D (Vit-D) deficiency is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and endothelial dysfunction. The relationship of Vit-D deficiency with circulating endothelial progenitor cells and endothelial dysfunction in type 2 DM patients nonetheless remains unclear. OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the cross-sectional association of Vit-D status with brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and circulating endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) numbers in type 2 DM patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We conducted a cross-sectional study of 280 patients (59% male, aged 68 ± 10 yr) with type 2 DM recruited in outpatient clinics during the winter period. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE We measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] by an ELISA kit, circulating CD34+/kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR)+ and CD133+/KDR+ EPCs by flow cytometry and brachial artery FMD by vascular ultrasound, respectively. RESULTS The mean serum 25(OH)D concentration was 25.00 ± 9.17 ng/ml, and 34.3% of patients had Vit-D deficiency [25(OH)D < 20 ng/ml]. Serum 25(OH)D concentration had a significant correlation with hemoglobin A1c level [B = -0.018, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.035 to -0.002, P = 0.032]. Patients with Vit-D deficiency status had significantly lower brachial FMD (mean difference -1.43%, 95% CI -2.31 to -0.55, P = 0.001) and CD133+/KDR+EPC counts (mean difference -0.12%, 95% CI -0.21 to -0.019, P = 0.022) than those with sufficient Vit-D status after adjustment for age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors, including hemoglobin A1c levels. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that serum 25(OH)D status was significantly associated with brachial artery FMD and circulating CD133+/KDR+EPCs. This suggests that Vit-D deficiency might contribute to depletion of EPCs and endothelial dysfunction in patients with type 2 DM.
Functional Status Score for the ICU: An International Clinimetric Analysis of Validity, Responsiveness, and Minimal Important Difference

Objectives:To evaluate the internal consistency, validity, responsiveness, and minimal important difference of the Functional Status Score for the ICU, a physical function measure designed for the ICU. Design:Clinimetric analysis. Settings:Five international datasets from the United States, Australia, and Brazil. Patients:Eight hundred nineteen ICU patients. Intervention:None. Measurements and Main Results:Clinimetric analyses were initially conducted separately for each data source and time point to examine generalizability of findings, with pooled analyses performed thereafter to increase power of analyses. The Functional Status Score for the ICU demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency. There was good convergent and discriminant validity, with significant and positive correlations (r = 0.30–0.95) between Functional Status Score for the ICU and other physical function measures, and generally weaker correlations with nonphysical measures (|r| = 0.01–0.70). Known group validity was demonstrated by significantly higher Functional Status Score for the ICU scores among patients without ICU-acquired weakness (Medical Research Council sum score, ≥ 48 vs < 48) and with hospital discharge to home (vs healthcare facility). Functional Status Score for the ICU at ICU discharge predicted post-ICU hospital length of stay and discharge location. Responsiveness was supported via increased Functional Status Score for the ICU scores with improvements in muscle strength. Distribution-based methods indicated a minimal important difference of 2.0–5.0. Conclusions:The Functional Status Score for the ICU has good internal consistency and is a valid and responsive measure of physical function for ICU patients. The estimated minimal important difference can be used in sample size calculations and in interpreting studies comparing the physical function of groups of ICU patients.
Spatio-Temporal Decomposition of Satellite-Derived SST–SSH Fields: Links Between Surface Data and Ocean Interior Dynamics in the Agulhas Region

In this paper, we develop a novel observation-driven methodology to explore spatio-temporal dependencies between satellite-derived sea surface height (SSH) and sea surface temperature (SST) fields. Level-set-based and registration-based criteria are defined to evaluate and detect spatial links between SSH and SST anomaly fields. The method is applied to one-year SST and SSH time series in the highly dynamical Aghulas return current region. The analysis evidences a seasonal variation of the overall correlation between SST and SSH fields. As further revealed, the coldest SST anomalies are reported to efficiently trace the lowest SSH anomalies for all seasons, while the warmest SST anomalies solely match the largest SSH anomalies during winter. The second criterion relies on the registration of SSH and SST anomaly fields. The registration energy is shown to corresponds to the seasonal influence of the mixed-layer depth revealed here by atmospheric forcing. These results show us that the SST-derived SSH reconstruction using the surface quasigeostrophic approximation should take into account stratification effects, especially during summer. As discussed, the proposed methodology can enforce the reconstruction of sea surface current from a joint analysis of satellite altimetry data and high-resolution satellite-derived SST data.
Lower Salaries and No Options : The Optimal Structure of Executive Pay 1

We estimate a standard principal agent model with constant relative risk aversion and lognormal prices for a sample of 598 US CEOs. The model is widely used in the compensation literature, but it predicts that almost all of the CEOs in our sample should hold no stock options. Instead, CEOs should have lower base salaries and receive additional shares in their companies. For a typical value of relative risk aversion, almost half of the CEOs in our sample would be required to purchase additional stock in their companies from their private savings, investing on average one tenth of their wealth. The model predicts contracts that would reduce average compensation costs by 20% while providing the same incentives and the same utility to CEOs. We investigate a number of extensions and modifications of the standard model (taxes, liquidity constraints, incentives for risk taking, dynamic investment in the stock market), but find none of them to be fully satisfactory. We conclude that the standard principal agent model typically used in the literature cannot rationalize observed contracts. One reason may be that executive pay contracts are suboptimal. JEL Classification: G30, M52
A review of DNA sequencing techniques

1. Summary 169 2. Introduction 170 3. Sanger's method and other enzymic methods 170 3.1 Random approach 171 3.2 Direct approach 171 3.3 Enzyme technology 175 3.4 Sample preparation 175 3.5 Labels and DNA labelling 176 3.5. 1 Radioisotopes 176 3.5. 2 Chemiluminescent detection 176 3.5. 3 Fluorescent dyes 177 3.6 Fragment separation and analysis 180 3.6. 1 Electrophoresis 180 3.6. 2 Mass spectrometry – an alternative 182 4. Maxam & Gilbert and other chemical methods 183 5. Pyrosequencing – DNA sequencing in real time by the detection of released PPi 187 6. Single molecule sequencing with exonuclease 190 7. Conclusion 192 8. Acknowledgements 192 9. References 193 The four best known DNA sequencing techniques are reviewed. Important practical issues covered are read-length, speed, accuracy, throughput, cost, as well as the automation of sample handling and preparation. The methods reviewed are: (i) the Sanger method and its most important variants (enzymic methods); (ii) the Maxam & Gilbert method and other chemical methods; (iii) the PyrosequencingTM method – DNA sequencing in real time by the detection of released pyrophosphate (PPi); and (iv) single molecule sequencing with exonuclease (exonuclease digestion of a single molecule composed of a single strand of fluorescently labelled deoxynucleotides). Each method is briefly described, the current literature is covered, advantages, disadvantages, and the most suitable applications of each method are discussed.
Embedding Watermarks into Deep Neural Networks

Significant progress has been made with deep neural networks recently. Sharing trained models of deep neural networks has been a very important in the rapid progress of research and development of these systems. At the same time, it is necessary to protect the rights to shared trained models. To this end, we propose to use digital watermarking technology to protect intellectual property and detect intellectual property infringement in the use of trained models. First, we formulate a new problem: embedding watermarks into deep neural networks. Second, we propose a general framework for embedding a watermark in model parameters, using a parameter regularizer. Our approach does not impair the performance of networks into which a watermark is placed because the watermark is embedded while training the host network. Finally, we perform comprehensive experiments to reveal the potential of watermarking deep neural networks as the basis of this new research effort. We show that our framework can embed a watermark during the training of a deep neural network from scratch, and during fine-tuning and distilling, without impairing its performance. The embedded watermark does not disappear even after fine-tuning or parameter pruning; the watermark remains complete even after 65% of parameters are pruned.
Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of Obesity and Overweight in Iranian Children and Adolescents

Background To date, few studies looked upon obesity and overweight in children and adolescents through the 3 different temporal dimensions of age, period, and cohort. The current study aimed at evaluating the trends of these health issues among children under 19 years old using the age-period-cohort (APC) analysis. Methods Data gathered through 5 cross sectional studies including 2 national health surveillance (1990 - 91 and 1999), and 3 CASPIAN surveys (2003, 2009, and 2011). Subjects were classified by their body mass index (BMI) into 3 groups of normal (BMI < 85th percentile), overweight-obese (85th percentile < BMI < 95th percentile), and obese (95th percentile < BMI). Intrinsic estimator method was used to analyze the effects of age, period, and birth cohort on obesity and overweight among the subjects. Results A total of 80,698 children and adolescents under 19 years old, including 40,419 (50.09%) males and 40,279 (49.91%) females, were evaluated. The prevalence of obesity decreased progressively by age in males and females with minor discrepancies. It increased from 1990 to 2009 in both genders, but from that point on remained quite constant in males and dropped significantly in females. The prevalence of obesity was steady in earlier birth cohorts, but increased significantly after the birth cohorts from 1986 to 1990. Conclusions Environmental factors and social stresses during neonatal and infantile periods (birth cohort effect) along with other variables influencing the children later in their lives (period effect) affect the prevalence of overweight and obesity substantially. Moreover, a decrease in the prevalence of obesity and overweight was observed by age increase (age effect).
Evaluation of cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of ivermectin against Newcastle disease virus.

Cytotoxic and antiviral potential of ivermectin and ribavirin was evaluated. Cytotoxicity was checked on chick primary fibroblast cell line through MTT assay. Antiviral potential was determined against Newcastle disease virus on 9-day old chicken embryos. Six different concentrations (200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25μg/ml) of both the drugs were evaluated. The 100μg/ml concentration of ivermectin and higher were cytotoxic. The 25μg/ml concentration of ribavirin and higher were cytotoxic. Comparison of ivermectin and ribavirin showed that ivermectin was safe at 50μg/ml and lower concentrations. Ribavirin was protective for cell at 12.5μg/ml and 6. 25μg/ml only. Comparison of antiviral activity indicated that ivermectin has strong antiviral potential at 100μg/ml and higher but same concentrations were cytotoxic. Ribavirin showed strong antiviral potential at all concentrations.
Layered representations for human activity recognition

We present the use of layered probabilistic representations using hidden Markov models for performing sensing, learning, and inference at multiple levels of temporal granularity We describe the use of representation in a system that diagnoses states of a user's activity based on real-time streams of evidence from video, acoustic, and computer interactions. We review the representation, present an implementation, and report on experiments with the layered representation in an office-awareness application.
Phylogeography of the fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum

Until recently, Histoplasma capsulatum was believed to harbour three varieties, var. capsulatum (chiefly a New World human pathogen), var. duboisii (an African human pathogen) and var. farciminosum (an Old World horse pathogen), which varied in clinical manifestations and geographical distribution. We analysed the phylogenetic relationships of 137 individuals representing the three varieties from six continents using DNA sequence variation in four independent protein‐coding genes. At least eight clades were idengified: (i) North American class 1 clade; (ii) North American class 2 clade; (iii) Latin American group A clade; (iv) Latin American group B clade; (v) Australian clade; (vi) Netherlands (Indonesian? ) clade; (vii) Eurasian clade and (viii) African clade. Seven of eight clades represented genetically isolated groups that may be recognized as phylogenetic species. The sole exception was the Eurasian clade which originated from within the Latin American group A clade. The phylogenetic relationships among the clades made a star phylogeny. Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum individuals were found in all eight clades. The African clade included all of the H. capsulatum var. duboisii individuals as well as individuals of the other two varieties. The 13 individuals of var. farciminosum were distributed among three phylogenetic species. These findings suggest that the three varieties of Histoplasma are phylogenetically meaningless. Instead we have to recognize the existence of genetically distinct geographical populations or phylogenetic species. Combining DNA substitution rates of protein‐coding genes with the phylogeny suggests that the radiation of Histoplasma started between 3 and 13 million years ago in Latin America.
Psychological sequelae of head trauma.

Head trauma is a significant health care problem. Treatment of the head trauma patient requires assistance from many different disciplines in order to maximize recovery of function. The fact that one fourth or more of head trauma patients are impaired in recovery because of psychological factors suggests that appropriate treatment programs are not being implemented in the United States. Organic factors can produce many of the symptoms reported by head trauma patients. However, these factors are more likely to contribute indirectly to such symptoms, and their influence declines as recovery progresses. Recovery from head trauma follows identifiable stages. During the period of coma, the extent of the organic disturbance is sufficient to impair brain-stem functions. Once consciousness is regained, there is a period of gross memory dysfunction. Coma and posttraumatic amnesia represent the acute phase of recovery, during which patients are often hospitalized and receive intense medical care. Once gross functions return, intense medical care is no longer needed. However, the head trauma victim has not returned to a premorbid status at this point. This phase, between recovery from posttraumatic amnesia and stabilization or recovery of premorbid level of functioning, can best be considered the chronic phase of recovery. The chronic phase of recovery is characterized by defects in cortical functions, including impaired intellectual functions, memory weakness, difficulty in processing complex stimuli, slowed reaction time, and other deficits. While these deficits may not be profound, they do correlate with the severity of injury and the degree of eventual recovery. This observation lends further credence to the presence of underlying disturbance of neurologic functioning. During this chronic phase of recovery, head trauma patients may have made good physical recovery and may feel well enough to return to work. However, they frequently process less information and may experience difficulty with tasks that require attention and effort. Such patients tire rapidly and experience stress symptoms, such as headaches and irritability. These symptoms correspond to environmental demands, but they also reflect underlying neurogenic weaknesses. Emotional sequelae that often emerge during the chronic phase of recovery may be related to the patient's reduced ability to cope with environmental stress. Therefore it is not surprising that emotional sequelae appear to correspond more to environmental demands than to severity of injury per se. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS) Language: en
Focal cortical dysplasia – review

Summary Focal cortical dysplasia is a malformation of cortical development, which is the most common cause of medically refractory epilepsy in the pediatric population and the second/third most common etiology of medically intractable seizures in adults. Both genetic and acquired factors are involved in the pathogenesis of cortical dysplasia. Numerous classifications of the complex structural abnormalities of focal cortical dysplasia have been proposed – from Taylor et al. in 1971 to the last modification of Palmini classification made by Blumcke in 2011. In general, three types of cortical dysplasia are recognized. Type I focal cortical dysplasia with mild symptomatic expression and late onset, is more often seen in adults, with changes present in the temporal lobe. Clinical symptoms are more severe in type II of cortical dysplasia usually seen in children. In this type, more extensive changes occur outside the temporal lobe with predilection for the frontal lobes. New type III is one of the above dysplasias with associated another principal lesion as hippocampal sclerosis, tumor, vascular malformation or acquired pathology during early life. Brain MRI imaging shows abnormalities in the majority of type II dysplasias and in only some of type I cortical dysplasias. The most common findings on MRI imaging include: focal cortical thickening or thinning, areas of focal brain atrophy, blurring of the gray-white junction, increased signal on T2- and FLAIR-weighted images in the gray and subcortical white matter often tapering toward the ventricle. On the basis of the MRI findings, it is possible to differentiate between type I and type II cortical dysplasia. A complete resection of the epileptogenic zone is required for seizure-free life. MRI imaging is very helpful to identify those patients who are likely to benefit from surgical treatment in a group of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. However, in type I cortical dysplasia, MR imaging is often normal, and also in both types the lesion seen on MRI may be smaller than the seizure-generating region seen in the EEG. The abnormalities may also involve vital for life brain parts, where curative surgery will not be an option. Therefore, other diagnostic imaging techniques such as FDG PET, MEG, DTI and intra-cranial EEG are widely used to establish the diagnosis and to decide on management. With advances in both genetics and neuroimaging, we may develop a better understanding of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, which will help us to provide more successful pharmacological and/or surgical treatment in the future.
Finite-dimensional filters with nonlinear drift X: explicit solution of DMZ equation

In this note, we consider the explicit solution of Duncan-Mortensen-Zakai (DMZ) equation for the finite-dimensional filtering system. We show that Yau's (1990, 1994) filtering system (/spl delta/f/sub j///spl delta/x/sub i/)-(/spl delta/f/sub i///spl delta/x/sub i/)=c/sub ij/=constant for all (i,j) can be solved explicitly with an arbitrary initial condition by solving a system of ordinary differential equations and a Kolmogorov-type equation. Let n be the dimension of state space. We show that we need only n sufficient statistics in order to solve the DMZ equation.
Leptin, obesity and cardiovascular disease

Purpose of reviewObesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Leptin levels are increased in obesity and leptin exhibits cardiovascular actions that may contribute to increased cardiovascular risk. We review the sympathetic, renal and vascular actions of leptin and their relevance to cardiovascular disease. Recent findingsLeptin possesses cardio-renal actions potentially contributing to obesity-related hypertension including generalized sympathoactivation. However, given that leptin resistance occurs in obesity, it has been difficult to link hyperleptinemia with hypertension. One possibility is that leptin resistance is confined to the metabolic effects of leptin, with preservation of its sympathoexcitatory actions. Other mechanisms may contribute to the pressor effects of leptin. For instance, angiotensin II induces leptin generation. Leptin also potentiates the pressor effect of insulin. Therefore, interactions between angiotensin II and insulin with leptin could have deleterious cardiovascular effects in obesity. Additionally, leptin appears to stimulate vascular inflammation, oxidative stress and hypertophy. These actions may contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension, atherosclerosis, and left ventricular hypertrophy. SummaryThe potential actions of leptin in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular complications of obesity are diverse, despite evidence of leptin resistance to its metabolic actions. However, most information about cardiovascular actions of leptin derives from in-vitro and animal studies. Future research in humans is widely awaited.
Current status of blastic transformation in chronic myelogenous leukemia

Although chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) represents only 15% of all cases of leukemia, its maximal incidence occurs in the third to sixth decades of life such that in-dividuals are affected in their most productive years [ 1,2]. Mean duration of survival after diagnosis is approximately 3.5 years, a statistic little changed during the past six decades [3-71. A metamorphosis of the chronic leukemia to an acute form of disease heralds the death of about 80% of patients when figures are adjusted for deaths due to drug toxicity and miscellaneous nonleukemic causes [5,8]. Thus the risk of development of acute leukemia is greater in CML than in any other known clinical circumstance, including heritable chromosomal anomalies such as the Down, Bloom, and Fanconi syndromes, other myeloproliferative disorders, and intense mutagenic chemical or ionizing radiation exposure [9--191. Although great advances have occurred in the last ten years in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) in all age groups, little progress has been made in the therapy of transformed CML (tCML). Not only has chemotherapy failed to prolong greatly the chronic phase of CML, but also modern series indicate mean survivals after transformation of approximately two months, similar to the early findings of Minot [3].