Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comparison of PBDE Serum Concentrations in Mexican and Mexican-American Children Living in California

Background: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), which are used as flame retardants, have been found to be higher in residents of California than of other parts of the United States. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the role of immigration to California on PBDE levels in Latino children. Methods: We compared serum PBDE concentrations in a population of first-generation Mexican-American 7-year-old children (n = 264), who were born and raised in California [Center for Health Analysis of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study], with 5-year-old Mexican children (n = 283), who were raised in the states in Mexico where most CHAMACOS mothers had originated (Proyecto Mariposa). Results: On average, PBDE serum concentrations in the California Mexican-American children were three times higher than their mothers’ levels during pregnancy and seven times higher than concentrations in the children living in Mexico. The PBDE serum concentrations were higher in the Mexican-American children regardless of length of time their mother had resided in California or the duration of the child’s breast-feeding. These data suggest that PBDE serum concentrations in these children resulted primarily from postnatal exposure. Conclusions: Latino children living in California have much higher PBDE serum levels than their Mexican counterparts. Given the growing evidence documenting potential health effects of PBDE exposure, the levels in young children noted in this study potentially present a major public health challenge, especially in California. In addition, as PBDEs are being phased out and replaced by other flame retardants, the health consequences of these chemical replacements should be investigated and weighed against their purported fire safety benefits.
The Impact of In-Band Emission Interference in D2D-Enabled Cellular Networks

The overlay in-band device to device (D2D) scheme can be used by cellular user equipments (CUEs) and D2D user equipments (DUEs) to transmit the uplink and D2D data. The CUEs experience in-band emission interference (IEI) from the DUEs that transmit D2D signals in the adjacent channels. This paper evaluates the IEI impact in D2D-enabled cellular networks in terms of typical CUE outage probability for different DUE densities and DUE transmission powers. Further, the IEI intra-cell and IEI inter-cell are examined separately to determine the dominating part of IEI in the system. The results show the IEI impact has a harmful impact and causes the outage in the system with high probability when the DUE density is high. Also, a remarkable result finds that the IEI intra-cell and IEI inter-cell dominate the typical CUE outage probability similarly when the DUE density is low, whilst at high DUE density the IEI intra-cell does.
Determinants of Oral Health: Does Oral Health Literacy Matter?

Objective. To evaluate oral health literacy, independent of other oral health determinants, as a risk indicator for self-reported oral health. Methods. A cross-sectional population-based survey conducted in Tehran, Iran. Multiple logistic regression analysis served to estimate the predictive effect of oral health literacy on self-reported oral health status (good versus poor) controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors and tooth-brushing behavior. Results. In all, among 1031 participants (mean age 36.3 (SD 12.9); 51% female), women reported brushing their teeth more frequently (P < 0.001) and scored higher for oral health literacy (mean 10.9 versus 10.2, P < 0.001). In the adjusted model, high age (OR = 1.01, 95% CI 1.003–1.034), low education (OR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.23–2.87), small living area in square meters per person (OR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.003–3.423), poor tooth brushing behavior (OR = 3.35, 95% CI 2.02–5.57), and low oral health literacy scores (OR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.02–2.45) were significant risk indicators for poor self-reported oral health. Conclusions. Low oral health literacy level, independent of education and other socioeconomic determinants, was a predictor for poor self-reported oral health and should be considered a vital determinant of oral health in countries with developing health care systems.
L1 and L2 regularization for multiclass hinge loss models

This paper investigates the relationship between the loss function, the type of regularization, and the resulting model sparsity of discriminatively-trained multiclass linear models. The effects on sparsity of optimizing log loss are straightforward: L2 regularization produces very dense models while L1 regularization produces much sparser models. However, optimizing hinge loss yields more nuanced behavior. We give experimental evidence and theoretical arguments that, for a class of problems that arises frequently in natural-language processing, both L1and L2-regularized hinge loss lead to sparser models than L2-regularized log loss, but less sparse models than L1-regularized log loss. Furthermore, we give evidence and arguments that for models with only indicator features, there is a critical threshold on the weight of the regularizer below which L1and L2-regularized hinge loss tends to produce models of similar sparsity.
Effects of confinement and orientation on the thermoelectric power factor of silicon nanowires

It is suggested that low dimensionality can improve the thermoelectric (TE) power factor of a device, offering an enhancement of the ZT figure of merit. In this work the atomistic sp3d5s*-spin-orbit-coupled tight-binding model and the linearized Boltzmann transport theory is applied to calculate the room temperature electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor of narrow 1D silicon nanowires (NWs). We present a comprehensive analysis of the thermoelectric coefficients of n-type and p-type NWs of diameters from 12nm down to 3nm, in [100], [110], and [111] transport orientations at different carrier concentrations. We find that the length scale at which the influence of confinement on the power factor can be observed is at diameters below 7nm. We show that contrary to the current view, the effect of confinement and geometry on the power factor originates mostly from changes in the conductivity which is strongly affected, rather than the Seebeck coefficient. In general, enhanced scattering at these diameter scales strongly degrades the conductivity and power factor of the device. We identify cases, however, for which confinement largely improves the channel's conductivity, resulting in ~2-3X power factor improvements. Our results may provide guidance in the design of efficient low dimensional thermoelectric devices.
A Joint Design Approach for Communication Schedule and Layout of Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper considers the problem of designing the layout geometry of a wireless sensor network to extend network lifetime. The communication pattern between sensor nodes and their associated base station is exploited in building an efficient network structure prior to network deployment. Such an approach is feasible for sensor networks whose installation and layout can be planned ahead of time, as is possible in many sensor network applications including intrusion detection, powerline monitoring and indoor monitoring. Since sensor nodes expand energy for relaying packets, we consider the question of placement of nodes in the typical line network topology to reduce the packet forwarding load on sensor nodes closer to the base station. Similar to scheduling problems in other domains, we also exploit the problem structure to find the periods for each sensor node to keep its radio active. The novelty of our problem formulation is that it jointly determines geometric layout and idlelistening times for line topologies. We also explain how the line solution can be used as a primitive in design of networks for the coverage of two dimensional regions. Simulation results show that such a joint design approach yields significant improvements in network lifetime as compared to the conventional network design method using uniform node distribution.
Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoid faunas from northwestern Guangxi (South China): taxonomy and biochronology

The highly fossiliferous succession of Smithian (Early Triassic) ammonoids from northwestern Guangxi (South China) provides a key equatorial record, at the boundary between Tethys and Panthalassa. After the end-Permian extinction, ammonoids reached their first major diversity peak during Smithian times, coupled with a marked contrast in their latitudinal distribution. This monograph contains a part of the fundamental taxonomic and biostratigraphic data of a more comprehensive research project addressing patterns of recovery in time and space of Early Triassic ammonoids and other marine clades, in conjunction with global paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes.
Efficiently Explaining Deterministic Exogenous Events in Partially Observable Environments

We consider the problem of continual planning (DesJardins et al. 1999) in hazardous partiallyobservable dynamic environments, where deterministic exogenous events that cannot be directly observed affect the state of the world and no plan can be guaranteed to succeed. In these environments, limited observability makes state transitions ambiguous and difficult to predict. To resolve this ambiguity, we have developed two versions of DISCOVERHISTORY, an algorithm that understands its environment by abductively explaining changes in state through reference to event models. We provide an analysis of their computational complexity and an empirical comparison of their performance in terms of execution time and success rate at accomplishing goals. We show that use of explanation generation increases the success rate of a continual planning agent and provide an initial benchmark for efficiency of continual planning with explanation in standard domains.
Study of dispersion of brine water into coastal seawater by using a pilot

Resume : Les technologies utilisees dans le dessalement des eaux de mer sont accompagnees par diverses impacts sur l’environnement. Plusieurs effects consideres dans les unites de dessalement tells que les imacts marins et la pollution marine. Les unites de dessalement des eaux de mer sont localisees pour apporter un supplement d’eau aux populations et aux diverses applications. La construction des unites dessalement et les infrastructures installees sur les cotes affectent le milieu marin. La grande salinite de la saumure et les produits chimiques utilizes sont deverses dans le milieu marin. Ainsi, plusieurs impacts sont causes par la decharge de la saumure. Dans cet article, l’objectif de ce travail consiste d’etudierl’influence de different parameters de dispersion de la saumure comme la position du rejet, le deplacement et le temps. Different points de rejet de la saumure ( P1, P2, P3) sont etudies horizontalement et verticalement en fonction de la temperature de l’eau de mer. Les resultants experimentaux obtenus montrent que la dispersion de la saumure , la meilleure position est celle la plus loine et la plus profonde (P3). Abstract : The technologies used in water desalination are accompanied by adverse environmental effects. There are several effects to be considered in desalination plants, such as the use of the land, the groundwater, the marine environment and noise pollution. Seawater desalination plants are located by the shoreline, to supply desalted water to the population of the main cities and for other uses. The construction of both the desalination plants and all the required infrastructure in coastal areas affects the local environment. For instance, the high salt concentration in the brine and several chemical products used in the desalination process are returned to the sea. Most impacts on the marine environment arise as a consequence of the brine discharge. In this paper, the objective of this work consists to study the dispersion of the brine discharges and its impact into marine environment. Then, a pilot used to study the different parameters of dispersion such as position of brine and depth and time of dispersion. Different points of brine (P1, P2, P3) were studied horizontally and vertically according to the ambient sea water. Experimental results obtained show that dispersion of brine in best then position of brine point is far and in down sea (P3) .
Increased Oxidative Stress in the Nucleus Caused by Nox4 Mediates Oxidation of HDAC4 and Cardiac Hypertrophy

Rationale: Oxidation of cysteine residues in class II histone deacetylases (HDACs), including HDAC4, causes nuclear exit, thereby inducing cardiac hypertrophy. The cellular source of reactive oxygen species responsible for oxidation of HDAC4 remains unknown. Objective: We investigated whether nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 4 (Nox4), a major nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, mediates cysteine oxidation of HDAC4. Methods and Results: Phenylephrine (100 &mgr;mol/L), an &agr;1 adrenergic agonist, induced upregulation of Nox4 (1.5-fold; P<0.05) within 5 minutes, accompanied by increases in O2− (3.5-fold; P<0.01) from the nuclear membrane and nuclear exit of HDAC4 in cardiomyocytes. Knockdown of Nox4, but not Nox2, attenuated O2− production in the nucleus and prevented phenylephrine-induced oxidation and nuclear exit of HDAC4. After continuous infusion of phenylephrine (20 mg/kg per day) for 14 days, wild-type and cardiac-specific Nox4 knockout mice exhibited similar aortic pressures. Left ventricular weight/tibial length (5.7±0.2 versus 6.4±0.2 mg/mm; P<0.05) and cardiomyocytes cross-sectional area (223±13 versus 258±12 &mgr;m2; P<0.05) were significantly smaller in cardiac-specific Nox4 knockout than in wild-type mice. Nuclear O2−production in the heart was significantly lower in cardiac-specific Nox4 knockout than in wild-type mice (4116±314 versus 7057±1710 relative light unit; P<0.05), and cysteine oxidation of HDAC4 was decreased. HDAC4 oxidation and cardiac hypertrophy were also attenuated in cardiac-specific Nox4 knockout mice 2 weeks after transverse aortic constriction. Conclusions: Nox4 plays an essential role in mediating cysteine oxidation and nuclear exit of HDAC4, thereby mediating cardiac hypertrophy in response to phenylephrine and pressure overload.
Exposures of Elderly Volunteers with and without Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to Concentrated Ambient Fine Particulate Pollution

The elderly and individuals who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be sensitive to particulate matter (PM) air pollution. We evaluated short-term health responses of 13 elderly volunteers with COPD and 6 age-matched healthy adults to controlled exposures of ambient PM pollution in suburban Los Angeles. Using a Harvard particle concentrator and a whole-body chamber, we exposed each person on separate occasions to approximately 200 μg/m3 concentrated ambient particles (CAP) less than 2.5 μm in diameter and to filtered air (FA). Each exposure lasted 2 h with intermittent mild exercise. We found no significant effects of CAP on symptoms, spirometry, or induced sputum. A significant negative effect of CAP on arterial oxygenation (measured by pulse oximetry) immediately postexposure was more pronounced in healthy subjects. Peripheral blood basophils increased after CAP in healthy but not in COPD subjects. In both groups, red cell counts increased slightly 1 day after exposure to FA but not to CAP. Preexposure ectopic heartbeats were infrequent in healthy subjects, but increased modestly during/after CAP exposure relative to FA. Ectopic beats were more frequent in COPD subjects, but decreased modestly during/after CAP relative to FA. Heart-rate variability over multihour intervals was lower after CAP than after FA in healthy elderly subjects but not in COPD subjects. Thus, in this initial small-scale study of older volunteers experimentally exposed to ambient PM, some acute cardiopulmonary responses were consistent with effects reported from epidemiologic studies. Unexpectedly, individuals with COPD appeared less susceptible than healthy elderly individuals. Further investigation of older adults is warranted to understand the pathophysiology and public health significance of these findings.
Heuristic Search Value Iteration for POMDPs

We present a novel POMDP planning algorithm called heuristic search value iteration (HSVI). HSVI is an anytime algorithm that returns a policy and a provable bound on its regret with respect to the optimal policy. HSVI gets its power by combining two well-known techniques: attention-focusing search heuristics and piecewise linear convex representations of the value function. HSVI's soundness and convergence have been proven. On some bench-mark problems from the literature, HSVI displays speedups of greater than 100 with respect to other state-of-the-art POMDP value iteration algorithms. We also apply HSVI to a new rover exploration problem 10 times larger than most POMDP problems in the literature.
Reduced fecundity is the cost of cheating in RNA virus φ6

Co–infection by multiple viruses affords opportunities for the evolution of cheating strategies to use intracellular resources. Cheating may be costly, however, when viruses infect cells alone. We previously allowed the RNA bacteriophage ø6 to evolve for 250 generations in replicated environments allowing co–infection of Pseudomonas phaseolicola bacteria. Derived genotypes showed great capacity to compete during co–infection, but suffered reduced performance in solo infections. Thus, the evolved viruses appear to be cheaters that sacrifice between–host fitness for within–host fitness. It is unknown, however, which stage of the lytic growth cycle is linked to the cost of cheating. Here, we examine the cost through burst assays, where lytic infection can be separated into three discrete phases (analogous to phage life history): dispersal stage, latent period (juvenile stage), and burst (adult stage). We compared growth of a representative cheater and its ancestor in environments where the cost occurs. The cost of cheating was shown to be reduced fecundity, because cheaters feature a significantly smaller burst size (progeny produced per infected cell) when infecting on their own. Interestingly, latent period (average burst time) of the evolved virus was much longer than that of the ancestor, indicating the cost does not follow a life history trade-off between timing of reproduction and lifetime fecundity. Our data suggest that interference competition allows high fitness of derived cheaters in mixed infections, and we discuss preferential encapsidation as one possible mechanism.
International Journal for Equity in Health Can Working with the Private For-profit Sector Improve Utilization of Quality Health Services by the Poor? a Systematic Review of the Literature

Background: There has been a growing interest in the role of the private for-profit sector in health service provision in low-and middle-income countries. The private sector represents an important source of care for all socioeconomic groups, including the poorest and substantial concerns have been raised about the quality of care it provides. Interventions have been developed to address these technical failures and simultaneously take advantage of the potential for involving private providers to achieve public health goals. Limited information is available on the extent to which these interventions have successfully expanded access to quality health services for poor and disadvantaged populations. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by presenting the results of a systematic literature review on the effectiveness of working with private for-profit providers to reach the poor.
A Family of New Efficient Arrays for Matrix Multiplication

The authors present a regular iterative algorithm for matrix multiplication and show that several well-known matrix multiplication arrays are directly obtained from it, differing only in the choice of iteration vector. They then present a regular iterative algorithm for matrix multiplication using the S. Winograd method (1968) and show in detail how to derive one array from this algorithmic description. Other arrays in the same family can similarly be obtained for different choices of the iteration space. The new arrays compute the product of two matrices faster than available conventional arrays and use a smaller number of processor cells. >
Fludarabine- and Cyclophosphamide-Based Nonmyeloablative Conditioning Regimen for Transplantation of Chronic Granulomatous Disease: Possible Correlation with Prolonged Pure Red Cell Aplasia

An 18-year-old patient with chronic granulomatous disease who had had at least 2 episodes of life-threatening Aspergillus pneumonia was treated with nonmyeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation (NSCT) from an HLA-identical and major ABO-incompatible sibling. The conditioning regimen consisted of cyclophosphamide at a dose of 60 mg/kg (days -5, -4) and fludarabine at a dose of 30 mg/m2 (days -5, -4, -3, -2, -1). Full donor T-cell engraftment was attained on day 28, and full myeloid engraftment was established by day 150 after tacrolimus withdrawal.The bacteriocidal activity of neutrophils, as indicated by flow cytometry with the use of a dichlorofluorescein diacetate oxidation assay, remained low until 150 days after transplantation, but no infection was detected, a finding that suggests mixed chimerism of granulocytes controlled infection. Graftversus-host disease and severe regimen-related toxicity (grade 3 or greater) were not observed. This patient developed prolonged pure red cell aplasia, possibly caused by persistent antidonor isohemagglutinin produced by the residual host B-cells. The aplasia resolved with the combination of erythropoietin, double filtration plasmapheresis, and rituximab. In the setting of major ABO-incompatible NSCT, a fludarabine- and cyclophosphamide-based conditioning regimen may lead to prolonged PRCA.
A virtual bronchoscopic navigation system for pulmonary peripheral lesions.

STUDY OBJECTIVES We performed ultrathin bronchoscopy for pulmonary peripheral lesions using a system that displays virtual bronchoscopy (VB) images to the lesion simultaneously with actual images and navigates the bronchoscope to the target bronchus. We then evaluated the system with regard to its usefulness and problems. DESIGN A pilot study. SETTING A tertiary teaching hospital. PATIENTS The subjects were consecutive patients with small pulmonary peripheral lesions (< or = 30 mm). INTERVENTIONS Using this system, the rotation, advancement, and retreat of VB images were possible, and the bronchus into which the bronchoscope was to be advanced was displayed. VB images were displayed along with actual images, and the ultrathin bronchoscope was advanced to the target bronchus under direct vision. Under CT and radiographic fluoroscopy, a pair of forceps was inserted into the lesion via the bronchoscope. Thin-section CT images were obtained; after confirming the advancement of the bronchoscope into the target bronchus and the arrival of the forceps at the lesion, a biopsy was performed. RESULTS Study subjects included 37 patients with 38 lesions. VB images to a median of the sixth- (third- to ninth-) order bronchi could be produced. Using this system, the ultrathin bronchoscope could be advanced into the planned route for 36 of the 38 lesions (94.7%). The system was used for a median of 2.6 min, and the median examination time was 24.9 min. The biopsy forceps could be advanced to the lesion in 33 of the 38 lesions (86.8%), and diagnosis was possible for 31 lesions (81.6%). CONCLUSIONS This navigation system is useful for ultrathin bronchoscopy for pulmonary peripheral lesions.