Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Creatinine Fluctuation Has a Greater Effect than the Formula to Estimate Glomerular Filtration Rate on the Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease

Background/Aims: Cases of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are defined by the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), calculated using the Modified Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) or, more recently, the CKD Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula. This study set out to promote a systematic approach to reporting CKD prevalence. Design, Setting, Participants and Measurements: The study explores the impact of the way in which eGFR is calculated on the prevalence of CKD. We took into account whether including (1) ethnicity, (2) using a single eGFR, (3) using more than 1 eGFR value or (4) using the CKD-EPI formula affected the estimates of prevalence. Sample: Of 930,997 registered patients, 36% (332,891) have their eGFR defined (63% of those aged 50–74 years, 81% >75 years). Results: The prevalence of stage 3–5 CKD is 5.41% (n = 50,331). (1) Not including ethnicity data the prevalence would be 5.49%, (2) just using the latest eGFR 6.4%, (3) excluding intermediary values 5.55% and (4) using the CKD-EPI equation 4.8%. All changes in eGFR (t test) and the proportion with CKD (χ2 test) were significant (p < 0.001). Using serum-creatinine-calculated eGFR instead of laboratory data reduced the prevalence of stage 3–5 CKD by around 0.01%. Sixty-six percent of people with stage 3–5 disease have cardiovascular disease and 4.0% significant proteinuria using the MDRD formula; the corresponding figures using CKD-EPI are 74 and 4.6%. Conclusions: A standardised approach to reporting case finding would allow a better comparison of prevalence estimates. Using a single eGFR tends to inflate the reported prevalence of CKD by ignoring creatinine fluctuation; this effect is greater than the difference between MDRD and CKD-EPI.
Reduced elastic mismatch achieved by interposing vein cuff in expanded polytetrafluoroethylene femoral bypass decreases intimal hyperplasia.

BACKGROUND Wall shear stress, arterial wall elasticity, and intimal hyperplasia are related. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro mechanical properties of ovine femoral arteries, jugular veins, and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene conduits, and to evaluate postoperative intimal hyperplasia. METHODS Arterial, venous, and ePTFE mechanical properties were studied in a circulating loop at isobaric systemic pressures. Histological studies of intimal hyperplasia in ePTFE-bypassed femoral arteries with and without Miller cuffs were performed at the 40th and 120th day. RESULTS The incremental elastic modulus of veins was significantly higher than that of femoral arteries (P < 0.05), but significantly lower than that of ePTFE graft conduits (P < 0.05). Intimal hyperplasia was significantly less in Miller-cuff-bypassed arteries both at the 40th and 120th day (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The Miller cuff acts as a mechanical adapter enhancing wall shear stress and the elastic matching between ePTFE and the native artery, resulting in an early decrease of intimal hyperplasia.
Static Analysis of Executables for Collaborative Malware Detection on Android

Smartphones are getting increasingly popular and several malwares appeared targeting these devices. General countermeasures to smartphone malwares are currently limited to signature-based antivirus scanners which efficiently detect known malwares, but they have serious shortcomings with new and unknown malwares creating a window of opportunity for attackers. As smartphones become host for sensitive data and applications, extended malware detection mechanisms are necessary complying with the corresponding resource constraints. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we perform static analysis on the executables to extract their function calls in Android environment using the command readelf. Function call lists are compared with malware executables for classifying them with PART, Prism and Nearest Neighbor Algorithms. Second, we present a collaborative malware detection approach to extend these results. Corresponding simulation results are presented.
Artificial Balance: Restoration of the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex in Humans with a Prototype Vestibular Neuroprosthesis

The vestibular system plays a crucial role in the multisensory control of balance. When vestibular function is lost, essential tasks such as postural control, gaze stabilization, and spatial orientation are limited and the quality of life of patients is significantly impaired. Currently, there is no effective treatment for bilateral vestibular deficits. Research efforts both in animals and humans during the last decade set a solid background to the concept of using electrical stimulation to restore vestibular function. Still, the potential clinical benefit of a vestibular neuroprosthesis has to be demonstrated to pave the way for a translation into clinical trials. An important parameter for the assessment of vestibular function is the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), the primary mechanism responsible for maintaining the perception of a stable visual environment while moving. Here we show that the VOR can be artificially restored in humans using motion-controlled, amplitude modulated electrical stimulation of the ampullary branches of the vestibular nerve. Three patients received a vestibular neuroprosthesis prototype, consisting of a modified cochlear implant providing vestibular electrodes. Significantly higher VOR responses were observed when the prototype was turned ON. Furthermore, VOR responses increased significantly as the intensity of the stimulation increased, reaching on average 79% of those measured in healthy volunteers in the same experimental conditions. These results constitute a fundamental milestone and allow us to envision for the first time clinically useful rehabilitation of patients with bilateral vestibular loss.
Uplink Scheduling with Quality of Service in IEEE 802.16 Networks

In order to support real-time and bandwidth demanding applications the IEEE 802.16 standard is expected to provide quality of service (QoS). Although the standard defines a QoS signaling framework and four service levels, scheduling mechanisms for this network are unspecified. In this paper, we propose a scheduling discipline for uplink traffic. Simulation results show that our scheme is capable to provide QoS. Moreover it shares fairly the resources among connections of the same service type.
Impaired recognition memory on the doors and people test after damage limited to the hippocampal region

There have been conflicting reports about the importance of the hippocampal region for recognition memory. Vargha‐Khadem et al. (1997) described three patients who became amnesic early in life as a result of damage apparently limited to the hippocampal region. One of these patients (Jon) performed normally on the recognition portion of the Doors and People Test but was severely impaired in recall. To compare adult‐onset amnesia directly with these early‐onset cases, we tested six amnesic patients on the Doors and People Test. Three of the patients have damage thought to be limited to the hippocampal region. All six patients were markedly impaired on both the recall and recognition portions of the test. To account for the difference between our adult‐onset cases and the early‐onset case (Jon), we suggest that some compensation for Jon's injury occurred during development, either due to functional reorganization of cortex adjacent to the hippocampus or as the result of learned strategies. Hippocampus 1999;9:495–499. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Low-Power Variation-Tolerant Nonvolatile Lookup Table Design

Emerging nonvolatile memories (NVMs), such as MRAM, PRAM, and RRAM, have been widely investigated to replace SRAM as the configuration bits in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for high security and instant power ON. However, the variations inherent in NVMs and advanced logic process bring reliability issue to FPGAs. This brief introduces a low-power variation-tolerant nonvolatile lookup table (nvLUT) circuit to overcome the reliability issue. Because of large ROFF/RON, 1T1R RRAM cell provides sufficient sense margin as a configuration bit and a reference resistor. A single-stage sense amplifier with voltage clamp is employed to reduce the power and area without impairing the reliability. Matched reference path is proposed to reduce the parasitic RC mismatch for reliable sensing. Evaluation shows that 22% reduction in delay, 38% reduction in power, and the tolerance of variations of 2.5× typical RON or ROFF in reliability are achieved for proposed nvLUT with six inputs.
GRINDING OF SILICON AND GLASS USING A NEW DRESSING DEVICE AND AN IMPROVED COOLANT SYSTEM

Ductile mode machining of brittle materials such as ceramics is recognized as an emerging technology with important applications. Ductile machining is possible if the depth of cut is less than the critical depth of cut of the machined material. By using a new device for dressing a resin-bonded diamond wheel and an improved coolant system proposed here, ductile mode grinding of silicon and glass was achieved using an inexpensive, conventional surface-grinding machine. The low-cost dressing device also ensured minimum disruption to the grinding operation and a higher level of safety. A flooding supply of coolant at the grinding zone provided better cooling performance and lubrication. A relationship appeared to exist between the surface finish and the lightness values of ground silicon surfaces.
Isolation and serologic characterization of AIDA-I, the adhesin mediating the diffuse adherence phenotype of the diarrhea-associated Escherichia coli strain 2787 (O126:H27)

The adherence of diarrhea-associated Escherichia coli to the small-bowel mucosa is an important step in the pathogenesis of diarrheal diseases. In tissue culture systems, diarrhea-associated strains show three distinct patterns of adherence: localized adherence, diffuse adherence (DA), and the recently described aggregative adherence. To study the molecular basis of the DA phenotype, we investigated the diarrhea-associated DA strain 2787 (O126:H27), isolated from a case of infantile diarrhea. The DA phenotype is mediated by a 6.0-kb DNA fragment derived from a 100-kb plasmid harbored by the wild-type strain. This fragment codes for a 100-kDa protein which can be released from the bacterial cell into the supernatant by mild heat treatment. Recombinant DA+ strains as well as the isolated 100-kDa protein were used to engender specific antisera in rabbits. As demonstrated by Western blotting (immunoblotting), the antibodies engendered by the recombinant DA+ strain recognized a 100-kDa protein in the wild-type strain 2787 and in all recombinant strains showing DA. Immunogold electron microscopy localized the 100-kDa protein to the bacterial cell surface. Serologically related proteins of similar size were detected by Western blotting in other DA+ diarrhea-associated strains belonging to enteropathogenic E. coli serotypes. The 100-kDa protein denoted AIDA-I (adhesin involved in diffuse adherence) binds in a saturable fashion to HeLa cells. AIDA-I-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies--and, to an even greater extent, Fab fragments derived thereof--inhibited bacterial attachment to HeLa cells. This is direct evidence that the 100-kDa protein is the adhesin mediating the DA phenotype of these diarrhea-associated strains and is representative of a group of serologically related proteins in other DA+ strains.
Influence of Recoating Parameters on Thickness of Resin Layer in High-Resolution Stereolithography System

Performance of recoating system is a key factor influencing building accuracy and fabricating resolution of stereolithography (SL) system. In order to obtain thinner resin layer, a piston recoating system was adopted in high-resolution SL system. To improve the recoating performance of piston recoating system, studies were carried out to investigate the influences of recoating parameters on thickness of recoating layer, and a mathematic model of resin layer thickness has been established. Experiments results show that thickness of resin layer increases with the gap between blade and object, and thickness of resin layer increases with the resin volume added into the vat during recoating. Experiments results also indicate that thickness of resin layer decreases with blade speed and blade thickness. The research provides a basis for optimizing the recoating parameters for the piston recoating system.
Human Detection Based on the Generation of a Background Image by Using a Far-Infrared Light Camera

The need for computer vision-based human detection has increased in fields, such as security, intelligent surveillance and monitoring systems. However, performance enhancement of human detection based on visible light cameras is limited, because of factors, such as nonuniform illumination, shadows and low external light in the evening and night. Consequently, human detection based on thermal (far-infrared light) cameras has been considered as an alternative. However, its performance is influenced by the factors, such as low image resolution, low contrast and the large noises of thermal images. It is also affected by the high temperature of backgrounds during the day. To solve these problems, we propose a new method for detecting human areas in thermal camera images. Compared to previous works, the proposed research is novel in the following four aspects. One background image is generated by median and average filtering. Additional filtering procedures based on maximum gray level, size filtering and region erasing are applied to remove the human areas from the background image. Secondly, candidate human regions in the input image are located by combining the pixel and edge difference images between the input and background images. The thresholds for the difference images are adaptively determined based on the brightness of the generated background image. Noise components are removed by component labeling, a morphological operation and size filtering. Third, detected areas that may have more than two human regions are merged or separated based on the information in the horizontal and vertical histograms of the detected area. This procedure is adaptively operated based on the brightness of the generated background image. Fourth, a further procedure for the separation and removal of the candidate human regions is performed based on the size and ratio of the height to width information of the candidate regions considering the camera viewing direction and perspective projection. Experimental results with two types of databases confirm that the proposed method outperforms other methods.
Calcofluor- and lectin-binding exocellular polysaccharides of Azospirillum brasilense and Azospirillum lipoferum

Extracellular polysaccharides synthesized by Azospirillum brasilense and A. lipoferum were shown on agar plates and liquid flocculating cultures. The six strains used in this work expressed a mucoid phenotype, yielding positive calcofluor fluorescence under UV light. The calcofluor-binding polysaccharides were distributed between the capsular and exopolysaccharide fractions, suggesting exocellular localization. No calcofluor fluorescence was observed in residual cells after separation of the capsular and exopolysaccharide fractions. Cellulose content was significantly higher in flocculating than in nonflocculating cultures. Failure to induce flocculation by addition of cellulose (100 mg/ml) to nonflocculating cultures, together with the sensitivity of flocs to cellulase digestion, suggested that cellulose is involved in maintenance of floc stability. Different A. brasilense and A. lipoferum strains bound to a wheat lectin (fluorescein isothiocyanate-wheat germ agglutinin), indicating the occurrence of specific sugar-bearing receptors for wheat germ agglutinin on the cell surface. The biochemical specificity of the reaction was shown by hapten inhibition with N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. All six strains failed to recognize fluorescein isothiocyanate-soybean seed lectin under our experimental conditions. We conclude that azospirilla produce exocellular polysaccharides with calcofluor- and lectin-binding properties.
N-terminal RASSF family

Epigenetic inactivation of tumor suppressor genes is a hallmark of cancer development. RASSF1A (Ras Association Domain Family 1 isoform A) tumor suppressor gene is one of the most frequently epigenetically inactivated genes in a wide range of adult and children’s cancers and could be a useful molecular marker for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. RASSF1A has been shown to play a role in several biological pathways, including cell cycle control, apoptosis and microtubule dynamics. RASSF2, RASSF4, RASSF5 and RASSF6 are also epigenetically inactivated in cancer but have not been analysed in as wide a range of malignancies as RASSF1A. Recently four new members of the RASSF family were identified these are termed N-Terminal RASSF genes (RASSF7-RASSF10). Molecular and biological analysis of these newer members has just begun. This review highlights what we currently know in respects to structural, functional and molecular properties of the N-Terminal RASSFs.
Higher blood lead levels in rural than urban pregnant women in Eastern Nigeria

While blood lead levels (BLLs) in many western countries have progressively declined over the years, in Nigeria, high BLLs continue to be documented not only in exposed workers but also in ‘unexposed’ subjects.1 Lead is an environmental toxin that is capable of causing numerous acute and chronic illnesses. Pregnant women with elevated BLLs transfer lead to the fetus since blood-borne lead crosses the placenta. Through a consideration of the joint associations of maternal BLLs, demographics, obstetrics variables and plasma enzymes levels, this study has attempted to provide data required for crafting effective public health information with …
Trauma Scores and Neuron-Specific Enolase, Cytokine and C-Reactive Protein Levels as Predictors of Mortality in Patients with Blunt Head Trauma

This study evaluated serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE), cytokine and high-sensitivity C-reactive-protein (hs-CRP) levels, along with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Revised Trauma Score (RTS), as predictors of mortality in the early post-traumatic period, in 100 Turkish patients with blunt head trauma. Overall patient mortality was 27%. There was a significant association between age and mortality, and mortality was negatively correlated with GCS and RTS. Head injury severity (GCS) was significantly related to NSE, hs-CRP, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels. Mortality correlated positively with IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and hs-CRP levels. NSE, hs-CRP, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α levels were significantly higher in non-survivors compared with survivors. GCS score ≤ 8, younger age and NSE levels were significant independent predictors of mortality. During the early post-traumatic period, NSE may be an objective alternative criterion to the GCS, in the management of patients with blunt head trauma.
Inhibition of T Cell and Promotion of Natural Killer Cell Development by the Dominant Negative Helix Loop Helix Factor Id3

Bipotential T/natural killer (NK) progenitor cells are present in the human thymus. Despite their bipotential capacity, these progenitors develop predominantly to T cells in the thymus. The mechanisms controlling this developmental choice are unknown. Here we present evidence that a member(s) of the family of basic helix loop helix (bHLH) transcription factors determines lineage specification of NK/T cell progenitors. The natural dominant negative HLH factor Id3, which blocks transcriptional activity of a number of known bHLH factors, was expressed in CD34+ progenitor cells by retrovirus-mediated gene transfer. Constitutive expression of Id3 completely blocks development of CD34+ cells into T cells in a fetal thymic organ culture (FTOC). In contrast, development into NK cells in an FTOC is enhanced. Thus, the activity of a bHLH transcription factor is necessary for T lineage differentiation of bipotential precursors, in the absence of which a default pathway leading to NK cell development is chosen. Our results identify a molecular switch for lineage specification in early lymphoid precursors of humans.
Integrative revision of the giant pill-millipede genus Sphaeromimus from Madagascar, with the description of seven new species (Diplopoda, Sphaerotheriida, Arthrosphaeridae)

Abstract The Malagasy giant pill-millipede genus Sphaeromimus de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902 is revised. Seven new species, S. titanus sp. n. , S. vatovavy sp. n. , S. lavasoa sp. n. , S. andohahela sp. n. , S. ivohibe sp. n. , S. saintelucei sp. n. , and S. andrahomana sp. n. were discovered, in one case with the help of sequence data, in the rainforests of southeastern Madagascar. The species are described using light- and scanning electron microscopy. A key to all 10 species of the genus is presented. All but one (S. andohahela) of the newly discovered species are microendemics each occurring in isolated forest fragments. The mitochondrial COI barcoding gene was amplified and sequenced for 18 Sphaeromimus specimens, and a dataset containing COI sequences of 28 specimens representing all Sphaeromimus species (except S. vatovavy) was analyzed. All species are genetically monophyletic. Interspecific uncorrected genetic distances were moderate (4–10%) to high (18–25%), whereas intraspecific variation is low (0–3.5%). Sequence data allowed the correct identification of three colour morphs of S. musicus, as well as the identity of a cave specimen, which although aberrant in its morphology and colouration, was genetically identical to the holotype of S. andrahoma.
Subtropical Low Cloud Response to a Warmer Climate in a Superparameterized Climate Model. Part I: Regime Sorting and Physical Mechanisms

The subtropical low cloud response to a climate with SST uniformly warmed by 2 K is analyzed in the SP‐CAM superparameterized climate model, in which each grid column is replaced by a two‐dimensional cloud‐resolving model (CRM). Intriguingly, SP‐CAM shows substantial low cloud increases over the subtropical oceans in the warmer climate. The paper aims to understand the mechanism for these increases. The subtropical low cloud increase is analyzed by sorting grid‐column months of the climate model into composite cloud regimes using percentile ranges of lower tropospheric stability (LTS). LTS is observed to be well correlated to subtropical low cloud amount and boundary layer vertical structure. The low cloud increase in SP‐CAM is attributed to boundary‐layer destabilization due to increased clear‐sky radiative cooling in the warmer climate. This drives more shallow cumulus convection and a moister boundary layer, inducing cloud increases and further increasing the radiative cooling. The boundary layer depth does not change substantially, due to compensation between increased radiative cooling (which promotes more turbulent mixing and boundary‐layer deepening) and slight strengthening of the boundary‐layer top inversion (which inhibits turbulent entrainment and promotes a shallower boundary layer). The widespread changes in low clouds do not appear to be driven by changes in mean subsidence. In a companion paper we use column‐mode CRM simulations based on LTS‐composite profiles to further study the low cloud response mechanisms and to explore the sensitivity of low cloud response to grid resolution in SP‐CAM.