Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
antiphospholipid antibodies syndrome associated with hyperhomocysteinemia related to MTHFR Gene C677T and A1298C heterozygous mutations in a young man with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism (DiGeorge syndrome).

CONTEXT Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS, or Hughes' syndrome) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by antiphospholipid antibody positivity, which may lead to arterial and/or venous thrombosis. Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), variously associated with 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene point mutations, is also implicated in thromboembolic events. The association of APS and HHcy has already been described but has never been reported in patients with DiGeorge syndrome (DGS), the most common contiguous-gene deletion syndrome (22q11.2) in humans, whose phenotype conversely includes bleeding disorders. DATA ACQUISITION In this report, we present the case of a 19-yr-old patient with a past medical history of learning disability and obesity affected with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, metabolic syndrome, and diffuse vasculitis disorders. He was referred to our endocrinology clinic for the management of severe hypocalcemia. At the time of presentation he had been taking antiepileptic drugs for 2 wk and displayed facial dysmorphism (short neck, micrognathia, a small mouth, hypoplastic nasal alae, eye hypertelorism, and low-set simple ears). DGS was suspected and confirmed by both fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis and single nucleotide polymorphism-array analysis, which revealed contiguous gene microdeletion of the chromosome 22q11.2 in the minimal DiGeorge critical region, specifically at the gene locus D22S75 (N25). CONCLUSIONS APS, revealed by anti-beta-2-glycoprotein and anti-prothrombin antibodies positivity, and moderate HHcy related to heterozygous C677T and A1298C point mutations of the MTHFR gene were identified as a possible cause of thrombotic disorder responsible for the widespread presence of cutaneous and cerebral lesions.
Association between urinary albumin excretion and both central and peripheral blood pressure in subjects with insulin resistance

Background: Central blood pressure (cBP) predicts cardiovascular events. Regarding subclinical organ damage, the relationship between urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and cBP is rather unknown. Objective: We aimed to determine whether cBP is related to UAE, and if this relationship is stronger than that observed with peripheral blood pressure (pBP). Methods: Three hundred and twenty-four hypertensives (61% men, aged 65 ± 10 years) with insulin-resistance (77% diabetics; 23% nondiabetics with metabolic syndrome) were studied. Office pBP and cBP (radial applanation tonometry) were determined. UAE (albumin/creatinine) was averaged from three first-morning-void urine samples. Differences between patients with/without microalbuminuria, and the relationship between UAE and both pBP and cBP were analyzed. The strength of such relationship (cBP vs. pBP) was compared using a noninferiority test. Results: Microalbuminuria was detected in 25% of all patients. After age-adjustment and sex-adjustment, both central and peripheral SBP and pulse pressure (PP) (mmHg) were higher in microalbuminurics than in normoalbuminurics [central SBP (cSBP): 130 ± 20 vs. 124 ± 19; peripheral (pSBP): 147 ± 22 vs. 139 ± 20; central pulse pressure (cPP): 52 ± 15 vs. 47 ± 14; peripheral pulse pressure (pPP): 67 ± 16 vs. 62 ± 16, P < 0.05 for all]. Partial correlation coefficients (age-adjusted and sex-adjusted) between blood pressure (BP) and UAE were 0.175 for cSBP, 0.143 for pSBP, 0.124 for cPP (P < 0.05 for all), and 0.092 for pPP (P = 0.117). Neither cBP nor pBP were superior to each other in their association with UAE or with microalbuminuria. Comparisons between cBP and pBP by means of noninferiority tests revealed no differences in the magnitude of correlation coefficients (P = 0.265 for SBP; P = 0.212 for PP), or differences in means between patients with/without microalbuminuria (P = 0.327 for SBP; P = 0.054 for PP). Conclusion: Although cBP is related with UAE, this relationship is not superior to that of office peripheral BP.
The effect of processing conditions on the characteristics of electrically conductive thermoplastic composites

Carbon black (CB) thermoplastic composites are extensively used in antistatic, electrostatic dissipative, and semiconductive applications, where a relatively low electrical conductivity and low material costs are required. Achieving the adequate mixing levels during compounding is a major practical requirement. The present work studies the preparation by twin-screw extrusion of conductive composites containing ca. 20% weight-in-weight (w/w) CB, by investigating the effects of the processing conditions and of small variations in the filler's feeding rate on the evolution of the relevant processing parameters and rheological response along the extruder axis and of the electrical properties.
Strained Pt Schottky Diodes on n-type Si and Ge

In summary, the reduction of the Schottky-barrier height for the n-type semiconductor under external mechanical strain is observed. This reduction is shown to originate from the reduction of conduction band edge. The boundary condition under uniaxial strain technology is stress-free along the direction perpendicular to uniaxial stress obtain the reasonable agreement between data and theoretical calculation
Chronic kidney disease and 10-year risk of cardiovascular death

Background In recent clinical guidelines, individuals with chronic kidney disease are considered to have a similar 10-year absolute risk of cardiovascular death as individuals with diabetes or established cardiovascular disease. There is limited evidence to support this claim. Methods We investigated the 10-year risk for cardiovascular death in individuals with moderate or severe chronic kidney disease (glomerular filtration rate of 30–60 or <30 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively) in a cohort of primary care health check-ups in Stockholm, Sweden (n = 295,191, 46% women, 4290 cardiovascular deaths during 10 years follow-up). We also assessed the risk associated with diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The inclusion criteria, exposure, study outcome and follow-up period adhered strictly to the definitions of the European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Results The absolute 10-year risk of cardiovascular death was 3.9% and 14.0% in individuals with moderate and severe chronic kidney disease, respectively, but was substantially lower in women and in younger individuals. The risk in individuals with prevalent diabetes and cardiovascular disease was approximately two and three times higher compared to the risk estimate for moderate chronic kidney disease (hazard ratio (HR) 4.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.8–4.5 and HR 6.2, 95% CI 5.7–6.7 vs. HR 2.3 95% CI 2.0–2.6, respectively) while the risk for individuals with severe chronic kidney disease appeared more congruent to that of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (HR 5.5, 95% CI 3.3–8.9). Conclusions Although moderate chronic kidney disease is an independent predictor for an increased 10-year risk of cardiovascular death, only those with severe chronic kidney disease had similar risk to those with diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
Discrimination Power of Vocal Source and Vocal Tract Related Features for Speaker Segmentation

This paper presents an analysis of the speaker discrimination power of vocal source related features, in comparison to the conventional vocal tract related features. The vocal source features, named wavelet octave coefficients of residues (WOCOR), are extracted by pitch-synchronous wavelet transform of the linear predictive (LP) residual signals. Using a series of controlled experiments, it is shown that WOCOR is less sensitive to spoken content than the conventional MFCC features and thus more discriminative when the amount of training data is limited. These advantages of WOCOR are exploited in the task of speaker segmentation for telephone conversation, in which statistical speaker models need to be built upon short speech segments. Experimental results show that the proposed use of WOCOR leads to noticeable reduction of segmentation errors.
Asymmetric Increasing Trends in Dependence in International Equity Markets

This paper investigates asymmetric increasing trends in dependence in major international equity markets. To this end, we develop a multiple-regime smooth-transition copula GARCH model and address several important questions, including the number of regimes and the existence of increasing asymmetric trends in dependence. Our results suggest that two or three regimes are sufficient for describing the dependence trends in international equity markets over the last 35 years with significant asymmetric increases. In addition, the implied time-series of three dependence measures show a wide variety of dynamics, demonstrating the usefulness of our framework to describe asymmetric increasing dependence trends. Finally, we evaluate the economic significance of our empirical finding based on the 99% value at risk and expected shortfall. Our result indicates that both risk measures have increased approximately 20% over the last 35 years in major equity markets.
agriGO: a GO analysis toolkit for the agricultural community

Gene Ontology (GO), the de facto standard in gene functionality description, is used widely in functional annotation and enrichment analysis. Here, we introduce agriGO, an integrated web-based GO analysis toolkit for the agricultural community, using the advantages of our previous GO enrichment tool (EasyGO), to meet analysis demands from new technologies and research objectives. EasyGO is valuable for its proficiency, and has proved useful in uncovering biological knowledge in massive data sets from high-throughput experiments. For agriGO, the system architecture and website interface were redesigned to improve performance and accessibility. The supported organisms and gene identifiers were substantially expanded (including 38 agricultural species composed of 274 data types). The requirement on user input is more flexible, in that user-defined reference and annotation are accepted. Moreover, a new analysis approach using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis strategy and customizable features is provided. Four tools, SEA (Singular enrichment analysis), PAGE (Parametric Analysis of Gene set Enrichment), BLAST4ID (Transfer IDs by BLAST) and SEACOMPARE (Cross comparison of SEA), are integrated as a toolkit to meet different demands. We also provide a cross-comparison service so that different data sets can be compared and explored in a visualized way. Lastly, agriGO functions as a GO data repository with search and download functions; agriGO is publicly accessible at http://bioinfo.cau. edu.cn/agriGO/.
Asymptotic Enumeration of Labelled Graphs by Genus

We obtain asymptotic formulas for the number of rooted 2-connected and 3-connected surface maps on an orientable surface of genus $g$ with respect to vertices and edges simultaneously. We also derive the bivariate version of the large face-width result for random 3-connected maps. These results are then used to derive asymptotic formulas for the number of labelled $k$-connected graphs of orientable genus $g$ for $k\le3$.
Corrosion Behavior of 18/8 Stainless Steel and Nickel-Plated Low Carbon Steel in Cassava Fluid

This research work investigated the corrosion resistance of nickel- plated medium carbon steel and 18/8 stainless steel in cassava fluid (i.e. containing hydrogen cyanide). It simulated the effect of continuous use of the materials in a cyanide environment where corrosion products are left in place. Low carbon steel sample was nickel electroplated at 4V for 35 minutes. The plated sample, the unplated and the 18/8 stainless steel were then subjected to a cassava fluid environment for thirty days. The electrode potentials, in mV (SCE), were measured every day. Weight loss was determined at intervals of 5 days for duration of the exposure period. The result showed little corrosion attack on the nickel-plated steel on the fifth and tenth days which quickly dropped to zero by the 15th day and remained at the passive state till the 20th day when corrosion picked up again increasing steadily, linearly until the end of the test day. Corrosion of the 18/8 stainless steel was very low as well decreasing till the last day of the test. The pH of the cassava solution which initially was acidic because of the cyanide content in the cassava was observed to progress to neutrality within five days and to alkalinity at the end of the thirty days test (because of corrosion product contamination of the cyanide). Un-plated steel was found to be unsuitable for the fabrication of cassava processing machinery because of the very high corrosion rate. 18/8 stainless steel was found suitable for use in this environment. The renewed corrosion activity on nickel plated steel after the 20th day (pH=12) of continuous use in cyanide environment makes it unsuitable for use.
Intersection Numbers of Extremal Rays on Holomorphic Symplectic Varieties

Suppose X is a smooth projective complex variety. Let N1(X, Z) ⊂ H2(X, Z) and N 1 (X, Z) ⊂ H 2 (X, Z) denote the group of curve classes modulo homological equivalence and the Neron-Severi group respec- tively. The monoids of effective classes in each group generate cones NE1(X) ⊂ N1(X, R) and NE 1 (X) ⊂ N 1 (X, R) with closures NE1(X) and NE 1 (X), the pseudoeffective cones. These play a central role in the birational geometry of X. By Kleiman's criterion (16), a divisor D is ample if and only if DC > 0 for each C ∈ NE1(X) \ {0}. More generally, a divisor D is nef if DC ≥ 0 for each such C. Divisors in the interior of NE 1 (X) are big and induce birational maps from X. In general, very little is known about the structure of these cones be- yond Mori's Cone Theorem (5, §3.3) and more general finiteness results arising from the Minimal Model Program (2, 1.1.9). Let X be an irreducible holomorphic symplectic variety, i.e., a smooth projective simply-connected manifold admitting a unique nondegener- ate holomorphic two-form. Let (,) denote the Beauville-Bogomolov form on the cohomology group H 2 (X, Z), normalized so that it is in- tegral and primitive. Duality gives a Q-valued form on H2(X, Z), also denoted (,). When X is a K3 surface these coincide with the intersec- tion form. For a polarized K3 surface (S, g), we can read off the ample cone from the Hodge structure on the middle cohomology and the polarizing class. Precisely, the cone of effective curves can be expressed (17) NE1(S) = h C ∈ N1(S, Z) : (C, C) ≥ −2, Cg > 0i .
Heavy Metal Resistance and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Bacteria Isolated from Selected Polluted Soils in Lagos and Ota , Nigeria

Heavy metal pollutants are commonly found in soils, sediments and waste water where they remain persistent, and become toxic to many species above certain threshold concentrations. Bacteria resistant to heavy metals can be used for detoxification and prevent further deterioration of contaminated sites. The incidence of bacteria resistant to heavy metals in soils collected from six contaminated sites in Lagos and Ota, Nigeria was assessed in this study. Heavy metal resistant bacteria were isolated from the soil samples following enrichment by growth on media amended with high concentrations of lead, cadmium and chromium, and identified based on cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics. A total of 11 heavy metal resistant bacteria isolated from the soil samples were tentatively identified as Aeromonas sp (3), Arthrobacter sp. (1), Corynebacterium sp (4), Pseudomonas sp (1) and Streptococcus sp (2). The maximum tolerated concentrations of metals (in basal medium supplemented with lead, cadmium and chromium) ranged from 2 to 10 mM for the Pseudomonas sp. and 2 to 4 mM for the Corynebacterium and Streptococcus spp. The three selected isolates also exhibited resistance to amoxicillin, augmentin, cefuroxime, erythromycin and cloxacillin, and sensitivity to ofloxacin and ceftazidime. The organisms with antibiotic and heavy-metal resistance isolated and identified in this study have potential application in bioremediation of environments polluted with metals and may also help to overcome the inhibition that heavy metals exert on the biodegradation of organic pollutants. In addition, such dual resistant organisms would have the capacity to compete well with antibiotic-producing flora in the polluted environment. Index Term-Heavy metal, resistance, antibiotics, bacteria,
Can the agricultural AquaCrop model simulate water use and yield of a poplar short‐rotation coppice?

We calibrated and evaluated the agricultural model AquaCrop for the simulation of water use and yield of a short‐rotation coppice (SRC) plantation with poplar (Populus) in East Flanders (Belgium) during the second and the third rotation (first 2 years only). Differences in crop development and growth during the course of the rotations were taken into account during the model calibration. Overall, the AquaCrop model showed good performance for the daily simulation of soil water content (R2 of 0.57–0.85), of green canopy cover (R2 > 0.87), of evapotranspiration (ET; R2 > 0.76), and of potential yield. The simulated, total yearly water use of the SRC ranged between 55% and 85% of the water use of a reference grass ecosystem calculated under the same environmental conditions. Crop transpiration was between 67% and 93% of total ET, with lower percentages in the first than in the second year of each rotation. The observed (dry mass) yield ranged from 6.61 to 14.76 Mg ha−1 yr−1. A yield gap of around 30% was observed between the second and the third rotation, as well as between simulated and observed yield during the third rotation. This could possibly be explained by the expansion of the understory (weed) layer; the relative cover of understory weeds was 22% in the third year of the third rotation. The agricultural AquaCrop model simulated total water use and potential yield of the operational SRC in a reliable way. As the plantation was extensively managed, potential effects of irrigation and/or fertilization on ET and on yield were not considered in this study.
Circadian variation in heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and EEG of immature broiler breeder chickens in restricted-fed and ad libitum-fed states

1. Heart rate, intra-aortic blood pressure, deep body temperature and telencephalic EEG were monitored by radiotelemetry in 6 freely moving immature broiler breeders (three in each of two years), during routine food restriction and then ad libitum feeding, over two 24-h periods in each feeding state. 2. Heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature were all higher during ad libitum than restricted feeding, and heart rate and body temperature were higher by day (12 h) than at night (12 h). The decreases in heart rate and body temperature at night were greater during restricted than ad libitum feeding. Blood pressure tended to be higher at night, except in year 2 during restricted feeding. Body temperature and ambient temperature were higher in year 2 than year 1. 3. During restricted feeding, marked peaks in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature in the 15 min after provision of the daily food ration at 09:00 h, when birds were eating, were equivalent to corresponding values seen during ad libitum feeding. 4. Relative powers in delta (1 to 4 Hz) and theta (4 to 8 Hz) frequency bands of the EEG power spectrum were higher at night in year 2 only, while power in the alpha (8 to 12 Hz) band was higher at night in both years. 5. It is concluded that most of the variation in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature between feeding states and times of day/night can be accounted for in terms of variation in food intake and energy expenditure. The greater slow wave (delta, theta) EEG activity seen after lights-off in year 2 may reflect non-paradoxical sleep at that time.
Improvement of Glycemic Control in Insulin-Dependent Diabetics with Depression by Concomitant Treatment with Antidepressants

Background It is still disputable whether negative effects of comorbid depression in diabetics can be diminished by successful treatment of depression. The primary aim of this study was to assess whether addition of antidepressants to existing insulin treatment would further improve glycemic control in these patients. A secondary objective was to assess whether such treatment impairs their lipid and inflammatory status. Material/Methods Total of 192 patients with poorly controlled diabetes (defined as HbA1c ≥8%) in the absence of any uncontrolled medical condition entered the 6-month run-in phase with optimization of diabetic therapy. Depression status was screened at the end of this phase by BDI-II depression testing. Patients with BDI-II ≥14 and psychiatric confirmation of depression (58 patients) entered the 6-month interventional phase with SSRI class antidepressants. Results Fifty patients completed the study. During the run-in phase, HbA1c dropped from 10.0±1.8% to 8.5±1.2% (p<0.001), and during the interventional phase it dropped from 8.5±1.2% to 7.7±0.7% (p<0.001). BDI-II scores improved significantly from 30.4±13.2 to 23.5±11.0 (p=0.02) during the interventional phase. A positive linear correlation between improvement in depression scale and improvement in glycemic control was observed (R2=0.139, p=0.008). Lipid profile and inflammatory status did not change significantly during the interventional phase. Conclusions Patients with poorly controlled diabetes and comorbid depression might benefit from screening and treatment of depression with SSRI antidepressants by achieving an incremental effect on glycoregulation. This therapy did not have any adverse effects on lipid profile or inflammatory status.
Molecular Phylogeny and Taxonomic Revision of the Woolly Lemurs , Genus A vahi ( Primates : Lemuriformes )

Front cover: Revised distribution of the woolly lemurs of Madagascar. The revisions of the sportive lemurs (Louis et al. 2006b) and this publication demonstrate the partitioning of unique Avahi and Lepilemur species by rivers which act as barriers. Each region is defined by a distinct woolly and sportive lemur. Figure created by All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic storage and retrieval systems, except by explicit, prior written permission of the publisher. absTracT inTroducTion
Psychophysical evaluation of animated facial expressions

The human face is capable of producing an astonishing variety of expressions---expressions for which sometimes the smallest difference changes the perceived meaning noticably. Producing realistic-looking facial animations that are able to transport this degree of complexity continues to be a challenging research topic in computer graphics. One important question that remains to be answered is: When are facial animations good enough? Here we present an integrated framework in which psychophysical experiments are used in a first step to systematically evaluate the perceptual quality of computer-generated animations with respect to real-world video sequences. The result of the first experiment is an evaluation of several animation techniques in which we expose specific animation parameters that are important for perceptual fidelity. In a second experiment we then use these benchmarked animations in the context of perceptual research in order to systematically investigate the spatio-temporal characteristics of expressions. Using such an integrated approach, we are able to provide insights into facial expressions for both the perceptual and computer graphics community.