Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Joint scientific statement of the European Association for the Study of Obesity and the European Society of Hypertension: obesity and early vascular ageing

Current cardiovascular risk scores do not include obesity or fat distribution as independent factors, and may underestimate risk in obese individuals. Assessment of early vascular ageing (EVA) biomarkers including arterial stiffness, central blood pressure, carotid intima–media thickness and flow-mediated vasodilation may help to refine risk assessment in obese individuals in whom traditional cardiovascular risk scores and factors suggest no need for specific medical attention. A number of issues need to be addressed before this approach is ready for translation into routine clinical practice. Methodologies for measurements of vascular markers need to be further standardized and less operator-dependent. The utility of these nontraditional risk factors will also need to be proven in sufficiently large and properly designed interventional studies. Indeed, published studies on vascular markers in obesity and weight loss vary in quality and study design, are sometimes conducted in small populations, use a variety of differing methodologies and study differing vascular beds. Finally, current vascular measurements are still crude and may not be sufficient to cover the different aspects of EVA in obesity.
Time-based adaptive second order sliding mode controller for wind energy conversion optimization

In this paper a novel time-based adaptive second-order sliding mode (SOSM) technique to optimise the efficiency of a variable-speed wind turbine is developed and analised. A revisited form of a recent time-based adaptation algorithm is proposed to deal with the characteristics and control requirements of the wind energy conversion system (WECS), particularly fastly varying disturbances due to gusty wind effects. The revisited algorithm, which enhances the reactivity of the adaptation strategy against fastly varying uncertainties, represents the main theoretical novelty of this work. The proposed controller is extensively assessed through computer simulation of the WECS under study.
Characterization of Protein Complexes and Subcomplexes in Protein-Protein Interaction Databases

The identification and characterization of protein complexes implicated in protein-protein interaction data are crucial to the understanding of the molecular events under normal and abnormal physiological conditions. This paper provides a novel characterization of subcomplexes in protein interaction databases, stressing definition and representation issues, quantification, biological validation, network metrics, motifs, modularity, and gene ontology (GO) terms. The paper introduces the concept of “nested group” as a way to represent subcomplexes and estimates that around 15% of those nested group with the higher Jaccard index may be a result of data artifacts in protein interaction databases, while a number of them can be found in biologically important modular structures or dynamic structures. We also found that network centralities, enrichment in essential proteins, GO terms related to regulation, imperfect 5-clique motifs, and higher GO homogeneity can be used to identify proteins in nested complexes.
Optimal Face-Iris Multimodal Fusion Scheme

Multimodal biometric systems are considered a way to minimize the limitations raised by single traits. This paper proposes new schemes based on score level, feature level and decision level fusion to efficiently fuse face and iris modalities. Log-Gabor transformation is applied as the feature extraction method on face and iris modalities. At each level of fusion, different schemes are proposed to improve the recognition performance and, finally, a combination of schemes at different fusion levels constructs an optimized and robust scheme. In this study, CASIA Iris Distance database is used to examine the robustness of all unimodal and multimodal schemes. In addition, Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA), a novel population-based iterative evolutionary algorithm, is applied to improve the recognition accuracy of schemes by reducing the number of features and selecting the optimized weights for feature level and score level fusion, respectively. Experimental results on verification rates demonstrate a significant improvement of proposed fusion schemes over unimodal and multimodal fusion methods.
Population-based cervical screening outcomes in Turkey over a period of approximately nine and a half years with emphasis on results for women aged 30-34.

PURPOSE To appraise the frequency of cervical cytological abnormalities in a population at normal risk via analysing the archive records of cytology for the period of approximately 9,5 years, comparing them with patient demographic charecteristics, and discuss the results for women under age of 35. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 32,578 cases of Pap smears were retrieved and analysed from our archive included the Pap tests performed between January 2001 and April 2010 at the Early Cancer Screening, Diagnosing and Education Center by the consent of three pathologists via utilizing the Bethesda System Criteria 2001 and the results were compared with some demographical characteristics. RESULTS Our rate of the cervical cytological abnormality was 1.83%, with ASCUS in 1.18%, LSIL in 0.39, HSIL in 0.16%, AGUS in 0.07%, squamous cell carcinoma in 0.02%, and adenoarcinoma in 0.006%. Cytological abnormalities were detected mostly in those with higher age, lower parity, and premenopausal period whereas the smoking status was without influence. Bacterial vaginosis (5.6%) was the most frequent infectious finding (Candida albicans 2.7%; Actinomyces sp. 1.3%; and Trichomonas vaginalis 0.2%) detected on the smears. The rate of abnormal cervical cytology was 9.5% among the women aged between 30-34. CONCLUSIONS Early detection of the cervical abnormalities by means of the regular cervical cancer screening programmes is useful to attenuate the incidence, mortality, and morbidity of cervical cancer. Our prevalence of the cytological abnormalities was much lower than the one in Western populations in general but very similar to those reported from other Islamic countries that may be explained by the conservative lifestyle and the lower prevalence of HPV in Turkey. A remarkable rate of abnormal cervical cytology of women aged 30-34 was pointed out in the present study.
Utilizing Focus Groups to Determine Clinical Perceptions of Assessment Needs

Perceptions of Outcome Assessment Needs for Severely Emotionally Disturbed Children Emily Smith Putnam Department of Psychology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy There has been a recent trend towards increasing accountability of mental health care providers through the use of treatment outcome measures, in order to reduce spending and improve patient care. This qualitative study utilized focus groups to elicit input regarding the need and possible content involved in creating an improved outcome measure specifically designed for severe emotionally disturbed (SED) children and adolescents. We conducted 60-90 minute focus groups with each of the following three separate constituent groups who are regularly involved in the care of SED youth at the Utah State Hospital (USH), including a) hospital clinical staff, b) affiliated education staff, and c) parents/primary caregivers; as well as clinical staff at community mental health youth outpatient clinic, Wasatch Mental Health (WMH) Youth Outpatient Program. While the groups agreed that a new unified system of tracking outcomes could be beneficial as an aid in improving outcomes, their greater concern is about a lack of communication between disciplines and between levels of care. Six broad domains were divided between two sections of Internal versus External Locus of control (Internal: Behavior, Social/Emotional, Academic/Cognitive, and Strength-Based Assessment; External: Collaboration among Care Providers and Family) and 23 subdomains were generated based on themes identified from the focus groups‘ responses. We also compared these domains and subdomains to ones previously generated by a USH pilot study and found some overarching similarities, but also some notable differences and both should be considered in any future outcome measure created. However, the most prevalent theme we found was a desire for an increase in collaboration and communication between constituencies and throughout levels of care, which is vitally important to improve care and long-term outcomes of SED youth.
Mitochondrial haplogroup is associated with the phenotype of familial amyloidosis with polyneuropathy in Swedish and French patients

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is a monogenic disease caused by mutations in the transthyretin (TTR) gene. The phenotype of the most common TTR mutation, V30M, varies within and between populations. Oxidative stress and protein misfolding are cellular processes involved in the development of FAP. Because the mitochondria are important for both these processes, we investigated if mitochondrial haplogroups are related to age at onset of the disease in Swedish and French FAP patients. Mitochondrial haplogroup analysis was performed on 25 early‐onset (below 40 years) and 29 late‐onset (above 51 years) Swedish FAP patients. DNA from 249 Swedish individuals served as controls. In addition, 6 early‐onset and 17 late‐onset French FAP patients were examined with 25 French controls. The haplogroup distribution among late‐onset Swedish and French cases was similar to that found in the general populations, whereas among early‐onset cases a different haplogroup distribution was seen. The relatively rare haplogroup K was significantly more common among early‐onset cases. Our findings substantiate the suggestion that a genetic component, still to be found, affecting mitochondrial function has an impact on the amyloid generating process in transthyretin amyloidosis.
Simple O‐Acylated Derivatives of Lysergol and Dihydrolysergol‐I: Synthesis and Interaction with 5‐HT2A, 5‐HT2C and 5‐HT1B Receptors, and α1 Adrenergic Receptors

A series of simple O‐acylated derivatives of the naturally occurring clavine alkaloids lysergol and dihydrolysergol‐I were synthesized and tested in‐vitro for their ability to interact with 5‐HT2A receptors in rat tail artery, 5‐HT2C receptors in piglet choroid plexus, 5‐HT1B receptors in guinea‐pig iliac artery and α1‐adrenergic receptors in rat aorta.
Understanding IEEE 802.11n multi-hop communication in wireless networks

In this paper, we present a measurement study of the multi-hop behavior of the new IEEE 802.11n standard in an indoor mesh testbed. As main contribution, we quantitatively describe characteristics of IEEE 802.11n on multi-hop paths like throughput, aggregate size and utilized MIMO features. Furthermore, we show how to build an IEEE 802.11n indoor testbed capable of multi-hop communication. In an 8-hop chain topology, we observe that channel bonding nearly doubles the throughput for any fixed path length. The mean aggregate size in number of frames at each node is also doubled by channel bonding. The aggregate size decreases with increasing path length. Limiting the aggregate size severely impacts throughput both on single and multi-hop paths. The throughput degrades as the path length is increased as in legacy IEEE 802.11a/b/g. We believe that these findings will enhance the understanding of the performance of IEEE 802.11n in multi-hop networks.
Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited

The claim that Eskimo languages have words for different types of snow is well-known among the public, but has been greatly exaggerated through popularization and is therefore viewed with skepticism by many scholars of language. Despite the prominence of this claim, to our knowledge the line of reasoning behind it has not been tested broadly across languages. Here, we note that this reasoning is a special case of the more general view that language is shaped by the need for efficient communication, and we empirically test a variant of it against multiple sources of data, including library reference works, Twitter, and large digital collections of linguistic and meteorological data. Consistent with the hypothesis of efficient communication, we find that languages that use the same linguistic form for snow and ice tend to be spoken in warmer climates, and that this association appears to be mediated by lower communicative need to talk about snow and ice. Our results confirm that variation in semantic categories across languages may be traceable in part to local communicative needs. They suggest moreover that despite its awkward history, the topic of “words for snow” may play a useful role as an accessible instance of the principle that language supports efficient communication.
Genotyping of ancient Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains reveals historic genetic diversity

The evolutionary history of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) has previously been studied by analysis of sequence diversity in extant strains, but not addressed by direct examination of strain genotypes in archaeological remains. Here, we use ancient DNA sequencing to type 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms and two large sequence polymorphisms in the MTBC strains present in 10 archaeological samples from skeletons from Britain and Europe dating to the second–nineteenth centuries AD. The results enable us to assign the strains to groupings and lineages recognized in the extant MTBC. We show that at least during the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries AD, strains of M. tuberculosis belonging to different genetic groups were present in Britain at the same time, possibly even at a single location, and we present evidence for a mixed infection in at least one individual. Our study shows that ancient DNA typing applied to multiple samples can provide sufficiently detailed information to contribute to both archaeological and evolutionary knowledge of the history of tuberculosis.
Combined Analyses of Bacterial, Fungal and Nematode Communities in Andosolic Agricultural Soils in Japan

We simultaneously examined the bacteria, fungi and nematode communities in Andosols from four agro-geographical sites in Japan using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and statistical analyses to test the effects of environmental factors including soil properties on these communities depending on geographical sites. Statistical analyses such as Principal component analysis (PCA) and Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the compositions of the three soil biota communities were strongly affected by geographical sites, which were in turn strongly associated with soil characteristics such as total C (TC), total N (TN), C/N ratio and annual mean soil temperature (ST). In particular, the TC, TN and C/N ratio had stronger effects on bacterial and fungal communities than on the nematode community. Additionally, two-way cluster analysis using the combined DGGE profile also indicated that all soil samples were classified into four clusters corresponding to the four sites, showing high site specificity of soil samples, and all DNA bands were classified into four clusters, showing the coexistence of specific DGGE bands of bacteria, fungi and nematodes in Andosol fields. The results of this study suggest that geography relative to soil properties has a simultaneous impact on soil microbial and nematode community compositions. This is the first combined profile analysis of bacteria, fungi and nematodes at different sites with agricultural Andosols.
Friendship Selection in the Social Internet of Things: Challenges and Possible Strategies

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to be overpopulated by a very large number of objects, with intensive interactions, heterogeneous communications, and millions of services. Consequently, scalability issues will arise from the search of the right object that can provide the desired service. A new paradigm known as Social Internet of Things (SIoT) has been introduced and proposes the integration of social networking concepts into the Internet of Things. The underneath idea is that every object can look for the desired service using its friendships, in a distributed manner, with only local information. In the SIoT it is very important to set appropriate rules in the objects to select the right friends as these impact the performance of services developed on top of this social network. In this work, we addressed this issue by analyzing possible strategies for the benefit of overall network navigability. We first propose five heuristics, which are based on local network properties and that are expected to have an impact on the overall network structure. We then perform extensive experiments, which are intended to analyze the performance in terms of giant components, average degree of connections, local clustering, and average path length. Unexpectedly, we discovered that minimizing the local clustering in the network allowed for achieving the best results in terms of average path length. We have conducted further analysis to understand the potential causes, which have been found to be linked to the number of hubs in the network.
Effects of flaxseed and Hypericum perforatum on hot flash, vaginal atrophy and estrogen-dependent cancers in menopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: In this study, we aimed at evaluation of the efficacy of Hypericum perforatum and flaxseed on hot flash, vaginal atrophy and estrogen-dependent cancers in menopausal women Materials and Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (RCT) to explore trials that assessed the effectiveness of H. perforatum and flaxseed on hot flash, vaginal atrophy and estrogen-dependent cancers. In this regard, the following terms were used “menopause AND H. perforatum OR flaxseed OR Linum usitatissimum. Only randomized controlled trials were included in the study. Results: Nine RCTs were included in this systematic review. Based on the literature, flaxseed showed beneficial effect on hot flash frequency and intensity, which was not statistically significant. According to two trials, flaxseed showed estrogenic effects; however, no conclusion regarding cancer promoting or protecting effects can be made. The evidence of the efficacy of the flaxseed on alleviating vaginal atrophy was also limited due to inconsistent findings in this regard. One trial declared that Vitex agnus-castus and H. perforatum showed comparable decrease in the frequency of hot flashes. Conclusion: The results of our systematic review suggest beneficial effect on vasomotor symptom with both of flaxseed and H. perforatum. Consistent conclusion regarding estrogen-dependent cancers and maturation value is limited due to small number of trials related to flaxseed. Further trials are still needed to confirm the results of our systematic review.
Surfactant Lavage in a Piglet Model of Meconium Aspiration Syndrome

ABSTRACTS: Meconium aspiration continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in newborn infants and is one of the most common indications for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Lab studies have suggested that meconium inactivates surfactant and displaces surfactant from the alveolar surface. A recent report has suggested a clinical role for surfactant therapy in human infants with meconium aspiration. We evaluated the effect of surfactant (Survata) lavage on a piglet model of meconium aspiration. Meconium pneumonitis was created by administration of 4 mL/kg of a 20% slurry of human meconium via endotracheal tube. Twenty-four newborn piglets were then randomly assigned to one of three groups: I) suction only (n = 7), 2) saline lavage (n = 5), or 3) surfactant lavage (n = 7). Five piglets were excluded from analysis due to death from pneumothorax during meconium administration (n = 3), death from pneumothorax during saline lavage (n = 1), and death from pneumothorax during surfactant lavage (n =1). The surfactant group had a statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement in arterial to alveolar oxygen ratio gradient versus both control groups for the first 3 h. The oxygenation index was statistically significant versus the suction only group at 1, 3, and 4 h. Surfactant levage of meconium aspiration in piglets results in short-term improvement of oxygenation and warrants further study.
Longitudinal association between self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and suicidal behavior in adolescents and young adults_ A systematic review with meta-analysis

Background: Adolescents with previous self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) have over 2-fold risk of dying by suicide, higher than older ages. This meta-analysis aims to disentangle the association of each SITB with subsequent suicidal behavior in adolescence/young adulthood, the contribution of each SITB, and the proportion of suicide deaths with no previous suicide attempt. Methods: We searched 6 databases until June 2015. Inclusion criteria: 1. Assessment of any previous SITB [a) suicidal thoughts and behaviors (ideation; threat/gesture; plan; attempt); b) non-suicidal thoughts and behaviors (thoughts; threat/gesture; self-injury); c) self-harm] as a risk factor of suicide attempt or suicide death; 2. Casecontrol or cohort studies; 3. Subjects aged 12-26y. Random effect models, metaregression analyses including mental health and environmental variables, and population attributable risks (PAR)s were estimated. Results: From 23,682 potentially eligible articles, 29 were included in the meta-analysis (1,122,054 individuals). While 68% of all youth suicide deaths had no previous suicide attempt, suicide death was very strongly associated with any previous SITB (OR=22.53, 95%CI: 18.40–27.58). Suicide attempts were also associated with a history of previous SITB (OR=3.48, 95%CI: 2.71–4.43). There were no moderating effects for mental health and environmental features. The PAR of previous SITB to suicide attempts is 26%. Limitations: There is considerable heterogeneity between the available studies. Due to limitations in the original studies, an over-estimation of the proportion dying at their first attempt cannot be ruled out, since they might have missed unrecognized previous suicide attempts. Conclusions: Although more than two thirds of suicide deaths in adolescence/young adulthood have occurred with no previous suicidal behavior, previous SITBs have a much higher risk of dying by suicide than previously reported in this age group. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.jad. 2017.03. 035 Received 15 September 2016; Received in revised form 9 January 2017; Accepted 10 March 2017 ⁎ Correspondence to: IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), PRBB Building. Doctor Aiguader 88. 08003 Barcelona, Spain. 1 First authors equal contribution. E-mail address: jalonso@imim.es (J. Alonso). Abbreviations: CI, Confidence Intervals; MOOSE, Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology; NOS, Newcastle-Ottawa Scale; NSSI, Non-Suicidal Self-Injury; NSSIT, Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Thoughts; OR, Odds Ratio; PAR, Population Attributable Risk; RR, Relative Risk; SE, Standard Error; SITB, Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors; US, United States; WHO, World Health Organization Journal of Affective Disorders 215 (2017) 37–48 Available online 12 March 2017 0165-0327/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MARK