Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
American Journal of Epidemiology Original Contribution Perfluoroalkyl Chemicals and Chronic Kidney Disease in Us Adults

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health problem. Identifying novel risk factors for CKD, including widely prevalent environmental exposures, is therefore important. Perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs), including perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate, are manmade chemicals that have been detected in the blood of more than 98% of the US population. Results from experimental animal studies have suggested that an association between PFCs and CKD is plausible. However, in humans, the relation between serum PFCs and CKD has not been examined. The authors examined the relation of serum PFCs and CKD in 4,587 adult participants (51.1% women) from the combined 1999–2000 and 2003–2008 cycles of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey for whom PFC measurements were available. The main outcome was CKD, defined as a glomerular filtration rate of less than 60 mL/minute/1.73 m 2. The authors found that serum levels of PFCs, including perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate, were positively associated with CKD. This association was independent of confounders such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, and serum cholesterol level. Compared with subjects in quartile 1 (referent), the multivariable odds ratio for CKD among subjects in quartile 4 was 1.73 (95% confidence interval: 1.04, 2.88; P for trend ¼ 0.015) for perfluoro-octanoic acid and 1.82 (95% confidence interval: 1.01, 3.27; P for trend ¼ 0.019) for perfluorooctane sulfonate. The present results suggest that elevated PFC levels are associated with CKD. Chronic kidney disease (CKD), defined as a glomerular filtration rate of less than 60 mL/minute/1.73 m 2 (1, 2), is present in approximately 13.1% of the adult US population (3). CKD is a stage early in the renal disease continuum in which prevention and/or delay of irreversible kidney damage that leads to end-stage renal disease may be possible. CKD is also known to be an independent risk factor for cardiovas-cular disease and early death (4). In a recent study in which 2 consecutive national surveys were compared, Coresh et al. (3) reported an increase in the prevalence of CKD from 1988–1994 to 1999–2004, suggesting it to be a growing public health problem. From a public health point of view, identifying new risk factors for CKD, particularly widely available environmental exposures that have not been previously studied, is therefore important. There is growing concern regarding human exposure to perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs), including perfluorooc-tanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), because these chemicals are persistent in the …
A comparative analysis of correlation skew modeling techniques for CDO index tranches

In this work we present an analysis of CDO pricing models with a focus on “correlation skew models”. These models are extensions of the classic single factor Gaussian copula and may generate a skew. We consider examples with fat tailed distributions, stochastic and local correlation which generally provide a closer fit to market quotes. We present an additional variation of the stochastic correlation framework using normal inverse Gaussian distributions. The numerical analysis is carried out using a large homogeneous portfolio approximation.
Radial probe endobronchial ultrasound for the diagnosis of peripheral lung cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis

Improved diagnostic sensitivity of bronchsocopy for the investigation of peripheral pulmonary lesions (PPLs) with the use of radial probe endobroncial ultrasound (EBUS) has been reported, although diagnostic performance varies considerably. A systematic review of published literature evaluating radial probe EBUS accuracy was performed to determine point sensitivity and specificity, and to construct a summary receiver-operating characteristic curve. Sub-group analysis and linear regression was used to identify possible sources of study heterogeneity. 16 studies with 1,420 patients fulfilled inclusion criteria. Significant inter-study variation in EBUS method was noted. EBUS had point specificity of 1.00 (95% CI 0.99–1.00) and point sensitivity of 0.73 (95% CI 0.70–0.76) for the detection of lung cancer, with a positive likelihood ratio of 26.84 (12.60–57.20) and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.28 (0.23–0.36). Significant inter-study heterogeneity for sensitivity was observed, with prevalence of malignancy, lesion size and reference standard used being possible sources. EBUS is a safe and relatively accurate tool in the investigation of PPLs. Diagnostic sensitivity of EBUS may be influenced by the prevalence of malignancy in the patient cohort being examined and lesion size. Further methodologically rigorous studies on well-defined patient populations are required to evaluate the generalisability of our results.
The near-IR properties and continuum shapes of high redshift quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present $J-H-K'$ photometry for a sample of 45 high redshift quasars found by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The sample was originally selected on the basis of optical colors and spans a redshift range from 3.6 to 5.03. Our photometry reflects the rest-frame SED longward of Ly α for all redshifts. The results show that the near-IR colors of high redshift quasars are quite uniform. We have modelled the continuum shape of the quasars (from just beyond to ~4000 A) with a power law of the form $f_\nu \propto \nu^\alpha$, and find $\langle \alpha \rangle =-0.57$ with a scatter of 0.33. This value is similar to what is found for lower redshift quasars over the same restframe wavelength range, and we conclude that there is hardly any evolution in the continuum properties of optically selected quasars up to redshift 5. The spectral indices found by combining near-IR with optical photometry are in general consistent but slightly flatter than what is found for the same quasars using the optical spectra and photometry alone, showing that the continuum region used to determine the spectral indices can somewhat influence the results.
Driver-Activity Recognition in the Context of Conditionally Autonomous Driving

This paper presents a novel approach to automated recognition of the driver's activity, which is a crucial factor for determining the take-over readiness in conditionally autonomous driving scenarios. Therefore, an architecture based on head-and eye-tracking data is introduced in this study and several features are analyzed. The proposed approach is evaluated on data recorded during a driving simulator study with 73 subjects performing different secondary tasks while driving in an autonomous setting. The proposed architecture shows promising results towards in-vehicle driver-activity recognition. Furthermore, a significant improvement in the classification performance is demonstrated due to the consideration of novel features derived especially for the autonomous driving context.
National Athletic Trainers' Association position statement: management of sport concussion.

OBJECTIVE To provide athletic trainers, physicians, and other health care professionals with best-practice guidelines for the management of sport-related concussions. BACKGROUND An estimated 3.8 million concussions occur each year in the United States as a result of sport and physical activity. Athletic trainers are commonly the first medical providers available onsite to identify and evaluate these injuries. RECOMMENDATIONS The recommendations for concussion management provided here are based on the most current research and divided into sections on education and prevention, documentation and legal aspects, evaluation and return to play, and other considerations.
Corporate Governance and the Voice of the Paparazzi

This is one of a group of papers, at Brookings awaiting publication, celebrating the remarkably sustained value of Albert Hirschman's "Exit, Voice & Loyalty," published in 1971. Those who know that book -- and everyone should -- recognize that exit-voice has particular relevance in corporate governance. It is a conundrum: shareholders "exit" at a turnstile pace -- turnovers of 75% a year in NYSE stocks -- and shareholder "voice" only from a handful of state/local pension funds. Why then has the American corporation come to be seen as the paradigm? The paper focuses on the exceptionally high degree of financial transparency here, far better than elsewhere, which with the high degree of public confidence and interest engendered thereby have produced an extraordinary level of media attention -- the voice of the analysts and other paparazzi -- helping greatly to explain the palace upheavals at GM, Kodak, Westinghouse and elsewhere. Far from being an isolated phenomenon, it is simply one aspect of a society and market structure that could function well only with pervasive sunshine. The paper looks also at Germany, Japan, and (ach! ) So. Korea and the like.
Synapsin I is structurally similar to ATP‐utilizing enzymes

Synapsins are abundant synaptic vesicle proteins with an essential regulatory function in the nerve terminal. We determined the crystal structure of a fragment (synC) consisting of residues 110‐420 of bovine synapsin I; synC coincides with the large middle domain (C‐domain), the most conserved domain of synapsins. SynC molecules are folded into compact domains and form closely associated dimers. SynC monomers are strikingly similar in structure to a family of ATP‐utilizing enzymes, which includes glutathione synthetase and D‐alanine:D‐alanine ligase. SynC binds ATP in a Ca2+‐dependent manner. The crystal structure of synC in complex with ATPγS and Ca2+ explains the preference of synC for Ca2+ over Mg2+. Our results suggest that synapsins may also be ATP‐utilizing enzymes.
Personalised rating prediction for new users using latent factor models

In recent years, personalised recommendations have gained importance in helping users deal with the abundance of information available online. Personalised recommendations are often based on rating predictions, and thus accurate rating prediction is essential for the generation of useful recommendations. Recently, rating prediction algorithms that are based on matrix factorisation have become increasingly popular, due to their high accuracy and scalability. However, these algorithms still deliver inaccurate rating predictions for new users, who submitted only a few ratings. In this paper, we address the new user problem by introducing several extensions to the basic matrix factorisation algorithm, which take user attributes into account when generating rating predictions. We consider both demographic attributes, explicitly supplied by users, and attributes inferred from user-generated texts. Our results show that employing our text-based user attributes yields personalised rating predictions that are more accurate than our baselines, while not requiring users to explicitly supply any information about themselves and their preferences.
Shadow Detection and Removal from Real Images: State of Art

Shadow detection and removal is used in various image processing applications like video surveillance, scene interpretation and object recognition. Ignoring the existence of shadows in images may cause serious problems like object merging, object lose, misinterpretation and alternation of object shape in various visual processing applications like segmentation, scene analysis and tracking. Many algorithms have been proposed in the literature, that deals with shadow detection and removal from images as well as videos. A comparative and empirical evaluation of the existing approaches in video has already been reported, but we lack a similar one in case of still images. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of existing shadow detection and removal algorithms reported in the case of still images. Evaluation metrics involved in shadow detection and removal techniques are discussed and the inefficiency of conventional metrics such as; per pixel accuracy, Precision, Recall, FScore etc in detection phase are also explored. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of selected methods are also discussed. To the best of our knowledge this is the first article that exclusively discusses shadow detection and removal methodologies from real images.
Addressing the Myths of Terrorism in America

In the aftermath of 9/11, the intersection of sensational media coverage, public fears, and political motivations has contributed to misconceptions about the nature of terrorism and the perpetrators of extremist violence. The current study uses data from the Extremist Crime Database and Global Terrorism Database to address the myths of terrorism in the United States. We examine jihadist-inspired, far-right, and far-left incidents to provide an empirical critique of turn of the century popular discourse that suggests terrorism (1) incidents are increasing, (2) fatalities and injuries are increasing, and is committed by (3) internationally based, (4) jihadist-inspired extremists, (5) of Arab decent, (6) working in organized groups. The results highlight the reality of the terrorism problem finding incidents are decreasing and often involve no deaths or injuries. Additionally, terrorists are more often domestic-based, White, far-right extremists, acting alone. We conclude with a discussion of findings and implications for public knowledge and policy responses to terrorism and extremist violence.
Heterozygous caveolin‐3 mice show increased susceptibility to palmitate‐induced insulin resistance

Insulin resistance and diabetes are comorbidities of obesity and affect one in 10 adults in the United States. Despite the high prevalence, the mechanisms of cardiac insulin resistance in obesity are still unclear. We test the hypothesis that the insulin receptor localizes to caveolae and is regulated through binding to caveolin‐3 (CAV3). We further test whether haploinsufficiency for CAV3 increases the susceptibility to high‐fat‐induced insulin resistance. We used in vivo and in vitro studies to determine the effect of palmitate exposure on global insulin resistance, contractile performance of the heart in vivo, glucose uptake in the heart, and on cellular signaling downstream of the IR. We show that haploinsufficiency for CAV3 increases susceptibility to palmitate‐induced global insulin resistance and causes cardiomyopathy. On the basis of fluorescence energy transfer (FRET) experiments, we show that CAV3 and IR directly interact in cardiomyocytes. Palmitate impairs insulin signaling by a decrease in insulin‐stimulated phosphorylation of Akt that corresponds to an 87% decrease in insulin‐stimulated glucose uptake in HL‐1 cardiomyocytes. Despite loss of Akt phosphorylation and lower glucose uptake, palmitate increased insulin‐independent serine phosphorylation of IRS‐1 by 35%. In addition, we found lipid induced downregulation of CD36, the fatty acid transporter associated with caveolae. This may explain the problem the diabetic heart is facing with the simultaneous impairment of glucose uptake and lipid transport. Thus, these findings suggest that loss of CAV3 interferes with downstream insulin signaling and lipid uptake, implicating CAV3 as a regulator of the IR and regulator of lipid uptake in the heart.
Using Procedural And Conceptual Colour Stimulation-Game As an Instructional Gizmo For Nigerian Students

This research study focused on investigating on the effect of colour stimulation-game on Nigerian Junior secondary school creative arts by adopting quasi-experimental research design with 60 junior secondary schools of three co-educational, from Private, Public and Federal Secondary Schools using simple random sampling technique to randomly select The three secondary schools assigned to both experimental and control groups. With the aid of two instruments which were The Colour Stimulation-game and Colour Stimulation-Game Achievement Test (CSGAT), the data was collected. Frequency counts and percentage distribution, mean, standard deviation, independent t-test, ANOVA and ANCOVA were used to analyse the data demographic information, the research question and the hypothesis generated respectively. The researcher found out that the students taught with Stimulus perform better after treatment than the student taught with conventional teaching method, students taught with Colour Stimulus game performed better when exposed to treatment than their students taught with conventional teaching method and female students taught with Colour Stimulus game performed better than their male students. It was recommended that that creative arts instructors should utilizes, colour stimuli game and reducing conventional method do as to impact the appropriates knowledge for studentsKeywords: Colour Stimulation-Game, Colour, Game and instruction, Game, Significant in games
Tissue culture studies in Hodgkin’s disease morphologic, cytogenic, cell surface, and enzymatic properties of cultures derived from splenic tumors

Monolayer and suspension cell cultures prepared from Hodgkin's disease tumors in the spleen were examined microscopically and by cytogenetics, tested for lymphocyte and monocyte cell surface properties, and assayed for enzymes by histochemical and spectrophotometric techniques. Hodgkin's disease monolayer cultures were composed of rapidly proliferating round and polygonal cells that were capable of propagation in vitro for an indefinite period of time. Abnormal aneuploid chromosomes were found in short-term Hodgkin's disease monolayers that had been passaged 16-20 times, and in established cell lines carried in culture longer than 3 yr and passaged more than 200 times. Cells fromHodgkin's disease monolayers contained lysozyme (muramidase), fluoride-resistant alpha naphthol acetate esterase, acid and alkaline phosphatase, and chymotrypsin-like activity. The monolayers did not exhibit specific cell surface markers or phagocytosis. Suspension cultures derived from Hodgkin's disease monolayers were composed of cells with aneuploid karyotypes and similar enzymes. The Hodgkin's disease suspension culture cells had surface receptors for complement and IgGFc, lacked surface or cytoplasmic immunoglobulin, and did not form Erosettes, react with an antithymocyte serum, nor exhibit phagocytosis. Normal monolayer culture cells, derived from adult spleen and human fetal spleen and thymus, were composed of spindle cells with a diploid number of chromosomes that could be carried for only a finite period of time in vitro. Normal cultured cells contained similar esterases and phosphatases, but were devoid of lysozyme and chymotrypsin-like activity. The morphologic, cytogenetic, cell surface, and enzymatic findings indicate that our Hodgkin's disease monolayer and suspension cultures are composed of cells with many properties suggesting an origin from monocytes (macrophages) rather than lymphocytes or fibroblasts. The presence of aneuploid karyotypes is consistent with a neoplastic origin and derivation from a malignant cell of Hodgkin's disease.
Making Sense of Performance in Data Analytics Frameworks

There has been much research devoted to improving the performance of data analytics frameworks, but comparatively little effort has been spent systematically identifying the performance bottlenecks of these systems. In this paper, we develop blocked time analysis, a methodology for quantifying performance bottlenecks in distributed computation frameworks, and use it to analyze the Spark framework's performance on two SQL benchmarks and a production workload. Contrary to our expectations, we find that (i) CPU (and not I/O) is often the bottleneck, (ii) improving network performance can improve job completion time by a median of at most 2%, and (iii) the causes of most stragglers can be identified.
Contour Detection in Unstructured 3D Point Clouds

We describe a method to automatically detect contours, i.e. lines along which the surface orientation sharply changes, in large-scale outdoor point clouds. Contours are important intermediate features for structuring point clouds and converting them into high-quality surface or solid models, and are extensively used in graphics and mapping applications. Yet, detecting them in unstructured, inhomogeneous point clouds turns out to be surprisingly difficult, and existing line detection algorithms largely fail. We approach contour extraction as a two-stage discriminative learning problem. In the first stage, a contour score for each individual point is predicted with a binary classifier, using a set of features extracted from the point's neighborhood. The contour scores serve as a basis to construct an overcomplete graph of candidate contours. The second stage selects an optimal set of contours from the candidates. This amounts to a further binary classification in a higher-order MRF, whose cliques encode a preference for connected contours and penalize loose ends. The method can handle point clouds > 107 points in a couple of minutes, and vastly outperforms a baseline that performs Canny-style edge detection on a range image representation of the point cloud.
Oxygen Species Cisplatin through the Accumulation of Intracellular Reactive Sensitizing Effect of Galectin-7 in Urothelial Cancer to Updated

To improve chemotherapeutic efficacy in urothelial cancer, it is important to identify predictive markers for chemosensitivity as well as possible molecules accelerating cell killing mechanisms. In this study, we assessed the possibility of galectin-7 to accelerate cis -diamminedichloroplatinum (CDDP)–induced cell killing in vitro and also to predict chemosensitivity against CDDP in urothelial cancer patients. The expression of galectin-7 was analyzed in five bladder cancer cell lines with different p53 status after treatment with CDDP. The roles of galectin-7 in chemosensitivity against CDDP were analyzed by transfection of the galectin-7 gene into several of these cell lines. Furthermore, the relationship between the expression of galectin-7 and the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was analyzed in 17 human bladder cancer specimens. Exposure to CDDP induced galectin-7 in cell lines with wild-type p53 but not in those with mutated p53. When the galectin-7 gene was transfected into cell lines with mutated p53, the sensitivity to CDDP increased compared with control transfectants. In addition, galectin-7–transfected cells exhibited more accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species and activation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and Bax than control transfectants. SP600125, an inhibitor of JNK, or antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine inhibited the enhancement of chemosensitivity against CDDP by galectin-7 transfection. In clinical samples, the expression levels of galectin-7 were significantly lower in urothelial carcinomas compared with normal urothelium. When chemosensitivity was tested, its expression levels were higher in the chemosensitive group than in the chemoresistant group. Galectin-7 is a candidate for a predictive marker of chemosensitivity against CDDP, and the targeted expression of galectin-7 might overcome the chemoresistance of urothelial cancer. [Cancer Res 2007;67(3):1212–20]