Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comparison of Sevelamer Hydrochloride with Calcium Acetate on Biomarkers of Bone Turnover in Hemodialysis Patients

Objective. To evaluate the influence of sevelamer hydrochloride and calcium acetate on biomarkers of bone turnover in patients with hyperphosphatemia receiving hemodialysis. Methods. In this prospective, open-label, randomized, active-controlled study, 70 patients (38 men and 32 women) with hyperphosphatemia (serum phosphorus level >6.0 mg/dL) underwent a two-week washout period and were randomly selected to receive sevelamer hydrochloride (n = 37) or calcium acetate (n = 33) for eight weeks. Changes in serum levels of intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), alkaline phosphatase (Alk-P), phosphorus, and calcium were measured and compared. Results. After eight weeks of treatment, calcium acetate lowered iPTH levels significantly more than sevelamer hydrochloride did (−178.0 vs. −69.0 pg/mL, p = 0.0019). Levels of Alk-P were significantly elevated in patients given sevelamer hydrochloride compared with levels in those given calcium acetate treatment (24.09 vs. 7.45 U/L, p = 0.0014). Changes in serum phosphorus levels did not differ between sevelamer hydrochloride (−1.93 mg/dL) and calcium acetate (−2.5 mg/dL) at the end of the study (p = 0.0514). Changes in the calcium and phosphorous product did not significantly differ between the sevelamer-hydrochloride group (−18.06 mg2/dL2) and the calcium-acetate group (−19.05 mg2/dL2, p = 0.6764). Fifteen patients (45.5%) treated with calcium acetate had hypercalcemia (serum-adjusted calcium level >10.5 mg/dL); the rate was significantly higher than that of patients treated with sevelamer (five [13.5%] of 37, p = 0.0039). Conclusion. Treatment with sevelamer hydrochloride had the advantage of maintaining stable iPTH levels and elevating Alk-P levels while lowering serum phosphorus levels and calcium-phosphorous product.
The Impacts of Brand and Generic Advertising on Meat Demand

The effects of meat advertising expenditures on quarterly beef, pork, and poultry demand are estimated using a nonlinear Rotterdam model. Advertising stocks are incorporated into the model as both demand shifters and price and total expenditure scaling factors. Branded beef, pork, and poultry advertising elasticities are each significantly different from zero. Generic beef and pork advertising elasticities are not significantly different from zero. Some cross-advertising elasticities are significantly different from zero. Branded beef and poultry advertising have increased total meat consumption.
Insulin-like growth factor I in combination with insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 affects the hepatic acute phase response and hepatic morphology in thermally injured rats.

OBJECTIVE To modulate the hepatic acute phase response after a thermal injury by the administration of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in combination with its principal binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3). SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA The hepatic acute phase response is a cascade of events initiated to restore homeostasis after trauma; however, a prolonged response contributes to multiorgan failure, hypermetabolism, complications, and death. Although IGF-1 has been shown to improve cell recovery and play a major role in liver regeneration, its effect on the hepatic acute phase response is not known. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats (56 males) received a 60% total body surface area third-degree scald burn and were randomly divided to receive either rhIGF-I/BP-3 (10 mg/kg/day given subcutaneously) or saline (control). Rats were killed on postburn days 1, 2, 5, and 7 and serum glucose, electrolytes, acute phase reactant proteins, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1 beta, interleukin 6, and rat and human serum IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were measured. Hepatic protein concentrations, hepatocyte proliferation, and hepatocyte apoptosis were determined. RESULTS No hypoglycemia or electrolyte imbalance could be shown in rats receiving the growth factor complex compared with saline. rhIGF-I/BP-3 increased serum protein on postburn days 2 and 7, albumin on days 5 and 7, and transferrin on days 1, 5, and 7, and decreased haptoglobin and alpha1-acid glycoprotein on postburn days 5 and 7 compared with controls. IGF-I/ BP-3 had no effect on type II acute phase proteins. Rats receiving IGF-I/BP-3 had lower serum levels of interleukin 1 beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha on the first day after burn compared with controls, whereas serum levels of interleukin 6 did not change. rhIGF-I/BP-3 significantly increased total liver protein content on postburn days 1, 2, 5, and 7 compared with controls. IGF-I/BP-3 increased hepatocyte proliferation and decreased hepatocyte apoptosis versus controls. CONCLUSION In combination with its principal binding protein, rhIGF-I decreases the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 1 beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha, followed by a decrease in type I acute phase proteins. IGF-I/BP-3 had no effect on interleukin 6 and type II acute phase proteins. Decreases in acute phase protein and proinflammatory cytokine synthesis were associated with increases in constitutive hepatic proteins, total liver protein content, and hepatocyte proliferation. IGF-I/BP-3 attenuates the hypermetabolic response after thermal injury and may improve the clinical outcome.
Response of nightside auroral‐oval boundaries to the interplanetary magnetic field

The poleward and equatorward boundaries of the nightside auroral oval are scaled from DMSP auroral imagery and their response to the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is investigated. Although, as expected, the Bz component of the IMF is found to be the dominant factor in determining the latitude of the oval equatorward boundary, the correlation coefficients are not very high: the large variance results from the considerable scatter of points when the IMF is northward and large. By examining the oval boundaries from successive orbits, it is suggested that most of the expanded oval cases during such northward IMF periods occurred within several hours after periods of southward IMF. This indicates that the response of the oval to northward turnings (i.e., the contraction of the oval) takes place rather slowly, so that the contracted oval in its smallest size can be established only when the IMF has a northward component steadily for more than several hours. The observed oval equatorward boundary is mapped onto the equatorward plane of the magnetotail, and then plasma sheet processes are discussed with respect to present theories on the formation of the Alfven layer as a result of the penetration of solar wind electric fields into the magnetotail.
Species Specificity of Macaque Rhadinovirus Glycoprotein B Sequences

ABSTRACT All members of the Herpesviridae family contain sequences for a highly conserved glycoprotein B (gB) gene. We investigated the phylogenetic relationships of gB sequences from eight independent rhadinovirus isolates obtained from three species: rhesus (Macaca mulatta), cynomologus (Macaca fasicularis), and pig-tailed (Macaca nemestrina) macaques. Samples were derived from monkeys housed at four separate facilities. Analysis of these eight independent gB sequences revealed five regions of heterogeneity within the 823- to 829-amino-acid polypeptides: residues 1 to 65, 120 to 185, 255 to 300, 352 to 393, and 412 to 457. The remaining regions of gB were highly conserved among the different macaque isolates. Overall divergence among these gene sequences ranged from 0.1 to 7.2% at the amino acid level. Phylogenetic trees constructed with our macaque rhadinovirus gB sequences and those derived from additional subfamilies or genera (alpha, beta, gamma-1, and gamma-2) revealed that the macaque gB sequences branched with other gamma-2 herpesvirus gB sequences and that within the gamma-2 genera, the macaque gB sequences clustered as a distinct branch. The eight macaque rhadinovirus gB sequences were all approximately equidistant from Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) gB sequences and had a shorter evolutionary distance to KSHV gB sequences than to any other herpesvirus, including the gamma-2 herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) of New World squirrel monkeys. The macaque gB sequences did not cluster according to the facility of origin, but did cluster according to the species of origin, displaying less intraspecies divergence (0.1 to 2.9%) than interspecies divergence (3.3 to 7.2%). These results demonstrate a close relatedness of rhadinovirus isolates from different macaque species.
Halftone visual cryptography via direct binary search

This paper considers the problem of encoding a secret binary image SI into n shares of meaningful halftone images within the scheme of visual cryptography (VC). Secret pixels encoded into shares introduce noise to the halftone images. We extend our previous work on halftone visual cryptography [1] and propose a new method that can encode the secret pixels into the shares via the direct binary search (DBS) halftoning method. The perceptual errors between the halftone shares and the continuous-tone images are minimized with respect to a human visual system (HVS) model [2]. The secret image can be clearly decoded without showing any interference with the share images. The security of our method is guaranteed by the properties of VC. Simulation results show that our proposed method can improve significantly the halftone image quality for the encoded shares compared with previous algorithms.
Insights into differential activity patterns of drosophilids under semi-natural conditions

SUMMARY We showed recently that Drosophila ananassae, a closely related and sympatric species of the commonly studied fruitfly D. melanogaster, shows distinctly deviant patterns in circadian activity/rest rhythm from the latter under a variety of laboratory conditions. To examine whether such differences extend to more natural conditions where a variety of time cues and similar environmental pressures might force different species to adopt similar temporal patterns, we examined these two species under semi-natural conditions over a span of 1.5 years. Furthermore, we asked to what extent features of activity/rest rhythm of flies are conserved across species under changing environmental conditions encountered across seasons, and to do so, we studied two more drosophilid species. We found that while each species exhibits seasonality in activity patterns, this seasonality is marked by interesting inter-specific differences. Similar to laboratory studies, D. ananassae showed activity mostly during the day, while D. melanogaster and D. malerkotliana exhibited almost similar activity patterns across seasons, with predominantly two peaks of activity, one in the morning and another in the evening. Throughout the year, Zaprionus indianus displayed very low levels of activity compared with D. melanogaster, yet, compared with those seen in standard laboratory assays, this species exhibited more robust rhythms under semi-natural conditions. We hypothesise that different ecological factors may have influenced these species to adopt different temporal niches.
Evaluation of GSMaP Precipitation Estimates over the Contiguous United States

Abstract Precipitation estimates from the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) project are evaluated over the contiguous United States (CONUS) for the period of 2005–06. GSMaP combines precipitation retrievals from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite and other polar-orbiting satellites, and interpolates them with cloud motion vectors derived from infrared images from geostationary satellites, to produce a high-resolution dataset. Four other satellite-based datasets are also evaluated concurrently with GSMaP, to provide a better perspective. The new Climate Prediction Center (CPC) unified gauge analysis is used as the reference data. The evaluation shows that GSMaP does well in capturing the spatial patterns of precipitation, especially for summer, and that it has better estimation of precipitation amount over the eastern than over the western CONUS. Meanwhile, GSMaP shares many of the challenges common to other satellite-based products, including that it underestimates in winter.
An Approach to Average Modeling and Simulation of Switch-Mode Systems

This paper suggests a pedagogical approach to teaching the subject of average modeling of PWM switch-mode power electronics systems through simulation by general-purpose electronic circuit simulators. The paper discusses the derivation of PSPICE/ORCAD-compatible average models of the switch-mode power stages, their software implementation, and fast time-domain, frequency-domain, and stability analysis simulation techniques suitable for virtual study of complex switch-mode feedback systems. The proposed approach is demonstrated by a simulation example. The methodology is oriented toward Electrical Engineering students at the undergraduate level, enrolled in courses such as “Power Electronics,” “Industrial Electronics,” or the like. The paper can be helpful to instructors of a “Virtual Power Electronics Laboratory” course wanting to conduct a software experiment on dynamics of switch-mode power converter systems. Engineers and scientists approaching the task of simulation of switch-mode systems can also find the suggested technique useful.
Enhancing data analysis with noise removal

Removing objects that are noisy is an important goal of data cleaning as noise hinders most types of data analysis. Most existing data cleaning methods focus on removing noise that is the product of low-level data errors that result from an imperfect data collection process, but data objects that are irrelevant or only weakly relevant can also significantly hinder data analysis. Thus, if the goal is to enhance the data analysis as much as possible, these objects should also be considered as noise, at least with respect to the underlying analysis. Consequently, there is a need for data cleaning techniques that remove both types of noise. Because data sets can contain large amounts of noise, these techniques also need to be able to discard a potentially large fraction of the data. This paper explores four techniques intended for noise removal to enhance data analysis in the presence of high noise levels. Three of these methods are based on traditional outlier detection techniques: distance-based, clustering-based, and an approach based on the local outlier factor (LOF) of an object. The other technique, which is a new method that we are proposing, is a hyperclique-based data cleaner (HCleaner). These techniques are evaluated in terms of their impact on the subsequent data analysis, specifically, clustering and association analysis. Our experimental results show that all of these methods can provide better clustering performance and higher quality association patterns as the amount of noise being removed increases, although HCleaner generally leads to better clustering performance and higher quality associations than the other three methods for binary data.
Correction: Specific contributions of the four voltage-sensing domains in L-type calcium channels to gating and modulation

After publication, the author noticed that a −50-mV shift of the voltage dependence of the tail currents in the presence of the 2δ-1 subunit, similar to that found in the paper of reference (Savalli et al., 2016), had been reported in the earlier study by Platano et al. (2000; Fig. 5 E). In contrast, the statement in our Commentary related to the shift of IV curves, which indeed is much smaller (−10 mV) than that determined from the tail currents (Platano et al., 2000; Fig. 1 C). Therefore, the sentences quoted above are in error and have been deleted from the HTML and PDF versions of the Commentary. As these sentences contained the only citation of Platano et al. (2000), this reference has also been removed. The error remains only in the print version.
Getting Creative with Semantic Similarity

This paper investigates how graph-based representations of entities and concepts can be used to infer semantic similarity and relatedness, and, more speculatively, how these can be used to infer novel associations as part of a creative process. We show how personalised PageRank on a co-occurrence graph can obtain competitive scores on a standard semantic similarity task, as well as being used to discover interesting and surprising links between entities. We hypothesise that such links could form the first stage in a creative ideation process.
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills

For more than thirty-five years and through five editions, Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills has been the "bible" of the climbing world. An essential teaching tool and resource for novice to advanced mountaineers, it is the standard text for climbing courses throughout the United States and abroad. Freedom is the best-selling mountaineering book of all time, with over 500,000 copies sold. Completely updated and revised, the 6th edition reflects the rapid changes in mountaineering that have accompanied its increased popularity, the development of new techniques, and the introduction of new and improved equipment. It redefines the basics with the latest information on climbing and outdoor fundamentals; rock, snow, ice, and alpine climbing; emergency prevention and response; and the mountain environment. Included in the 6th edition are expanded treatments of belaying, leading and protecting on rock, glacier travel and crevasse rescue, and wilderness travel.
Event Based Emotion Classification for News Articles

Reading of news articles can trigger emotional reactions from its readers. But comparing to other genre of text, news articles that are mainly used to report events, lack emotion linked words and other features for emotion classiﬁcation. In this paper, we propose an event anchor based method for emotion classi-ﬁcation for news articles. Firstly, we build an emotion linked news corpus through crowd-sourcing. Then we propose a CRF based event anchor extraction method to identify event related anchor words that can potentially trigger emotions. These anchor words are then used as features to train a classiﬁer for emotion classiﬁcation. Experiment shows that our proposed anchor word based method achieves comparable performance to bag-of-word based method and it also performs better than emotion lexicon features. Combining anchor words with bag-of-words can increase the performance by 7.0% under weighted F-score. Evaluation on the SemEval 2007 news headlines task shows that our method outperforms most of other methods.
Measurements of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect in the Nearby Clusters A478, A2142, and A2256

An X-ray flux-limited sample of nearby clusters of galaxies has been defined for observations of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE) to be carried out on the Owens Valley 5.5 m telescope at 32 GHz. The X-ray sample selection minimizes the systematic errors introduced by cluster elongation in the determination of H0. Owing to their proximity, these clusters are well studied in the X-ray wave bands. The measurement of the SZE in three of these clusters is reported in this paper: ΔT = -375 ± 28 μK (A478), -437 ± 25 μK (A2142), and -243 ± 29 μK (A2256). These values have been corrected for radio source contamination, but have not been corrected for the beam dilution and switching (which are model dependent). There is an additional overall calibration uncertainty of 7%. If the temperature profile of the clusters is known, then the SZE provides a direct probe of the baryonic mass in the hot ionized phase of the medium. We find surface baryonic mass densities of (7.5 ± 2.5) × 1013 M☉ Mpc-2 within the 7. ′35 FWHM Gaussian beam of the 5.5 m telescope projected on the cluster centers. For A2142, A2256, and the Coma cluster previously observed by Herbig et al., we find a consistent value for the ratio of the SZE determined baryonic mass to the gravitational binding mass of Msze/Mtot = 0.061 ± 0.011 h-1. Note that this is a lower limit on the total baryon fraction, as there may be significant contributions from other baryons. Comparison with the standard big bang nucleosynthesis prediction ΩBh2 = 0.013±0.02 gives a value for the cosmological density parameter of Ω0h ≲ 0.21±0.05, assuming our limit on the baryon fraction in clusters applies to the universe as a whole. This density is in agreement with independently determined values from large-scale structure studies. Recent values for ΩBh2 based upon deuterium abundances are outside the previously accepted range, and in combination with our data lead to significantly higher or lower Ω0. Finally, we present preliminary determinations of the Hubble constant using X-ray models gleaned from the literature. The data from the three clusters, along with the results previously obtained using the same telescope on the Coma Cluster, yield a sample average value H0 = 54 ± 14 km s-1 Mpc-1. We discuss the uncertainties in these results and future prospects for this method.
AC flashover performance of porcelain, glass and polymeric insulators at high altitudes

With the development of EHV and UHV transmission technology, more and more transmission lines are built across high altitude regions in China. The pollution flashover performances in high altitude regions are affected not only by the pollutants but also by the atmospheric parameters. To study the performance of insulators at high altitudes, six commonly used porcelain, glass and polymer insulators were tested in three high altitude sites with altitudes of 2820, 3575 and 4484m. In this paper, the AC pollution flashover performance of these insulators were modeled and computed at high altitudes, taking into account of the ESDD, NSDD, the pressure and temperature. Further, the respective influences of ESDD, NSDD, air pressure and ambient temperature on flashover voltage gradient were analyzed. The results indicate that polymer insulators have 48.72% higher flashover voltage gradient than porcelain and 72.35% higher than glass insulators at 59kPa (corresponding to 4484m). These results will help to select the type and number of insulators in the high altitude regions.
Numerical simulations of seismicity-induced fluid flow in the Tjornes Fracture Zone, Iceland

[1] We use high-resolution simulations to analyze fluid flow, pore pressure, and fault permeability evolution in the seismically active Tjornes Fracture Zone (TFZ), a major transform fault zone in the North of Iceland. Our results show that the TFZ is characterized by four distinct areas where pore pressures are above hydrostatic, consistent with geophysical observations. Basement and faults, which are assumed to have low permeabilities, often display pore pressures close to lithostatic. Fault permeabilities are allowed to vary freely as a function of the effective fault normal stress. They hence inflate periodically to release excess pore pressure in a few minutes. This is accompanied by an increase in permeability of over seven orders of magnitude and causes short-lived fluid fluxes of more than 0.01 m s−1. After pore pressures have dissipated, fault permeabilities decay back to their original values in 2 to 3 years as the effective fault normal stress increases. This behavior is consistent with a toggle switch mechanism and could have two important implications for fluid flow in seismically and hydrothermally active oceanic crust. First, the rapid changes in fault permeability and pore pressure provide an explanation for distinct cyclical geochemical changes observed on a similar timescale in thermal waters near the town of Husavik in the TFZ before and after a magnitude 5.8 Mw earthquake. Second, our results provide another line of evidence in the growing number of observations that crustal permeabilities are constantly evolving and geological processes in hydrothermal systems can be dominated by short-lived and extreme flow events.